Studies have indicated that eating too much food than necessary threatens individuals’ health. To address this problem, some people suggest that advertisements for some foods should be legally forbidden. While this method may have some effects, I believe other solutions should also be taken into consideration.
On the one hand, advertising is the most effective way of promoting products. Consumer psychology has shown that commercials create desires of consumers, manipulating people to buy more items regardless of whether they really have the need. Thus, if governments banned advertising, the sales of these foods would greatly be reduced, which then contributes to the problem of overeating.
However, even without commercials, people who have already developed an addiction to those unhealthy foods would continue to buy them, just like even in countries where tobacco advertising has been limited, smokers still exist. Therefore, legally banning the advertisements is not a fundamental solution.
I would argue that governments should make education a priority. For example, they can launch campaigns to encourage a healthy lifestyle and persuade people to reduce their use of certain food products. Obesity and health-related issues should also be included into school curriculums to cultivate a reasonable diet from early childhood on. Besides, governments can impose a greater tax on certain food commodities. Higher taxes will lead to increased prices of these items, which will discourage people from overbuying these merchandise.
In all, I believe it is an effective way to put limitations on food advertising. However, other steps of governments should be taken to mitigate the problem.