Selling Obesity to Kids
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors Land Use Committee will vote today on an ordinance to limit toys in children’s meals with excessive fat and calories. It would be the first city in the nation to consider such action, in an effort to address the high instances of childhood obesity and juvenile type-2 diabetes. McDonalds and its competitors spend millions of dollars each year on toy promotions to encourage kids to eat children’s meals full of fat and calories.
The overall message of the release is that advertising to children using toys as an incentive is an example of predatory advertising practices, and more cities should join San Francisco in enacting ordinances of this nature. It uses quotes from doctors and health care professionals to give their claims more authority, and most of the release talks about the health effects of fast food rather than the news of the ordinance.
It’s a fairly effective release because it uses its sources well to give credentials to the claims it makes. It gets the reader on board with the message so they have no choice but to agree that toys in children’s meals contributes heavily to childhood obesity. It uses lots of facts and statistics to give even more credibility to its claims and makes a great argument for getting the ordinance passed and encouraging other cities to do the same.