Within the last ten years, the number of overweight and obese children has risen dramatically. Some people have blamed it partially on businesses advertising unhealthy food to children. They believe that young children do not have the mental capacity or maturity to discern when they are being manipulated into consuming junk food that is bad for them. As a result, several European countries have made the decision to ban advertisements that are normally aired on children’s television networks, because they feel that they are negatively affecting young viewers. Ethics plays a role in this issue as it has led to a rise of “questions of potential harm resulting from exposure,” according to the American Psychological Association (American Psychological Association, 2018). With today’s technology, most kids have a T.V. in their bedroom or access to one where they will likely view at least 40,000 commercials every year. Children are exposed to commercials featuring foods that cause unhealthy habits and toys that cause materialistic views.
In 2010, the McDonald’s fast food chain was sued by a mother in California, because she claims that McDonald’s adverting tactic of including a toy with their Happy Meals is deceptive and is causing children to adopt poor eating habits. The McDonald’s corporation’s response was that “the vast majority of its customers
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First, they could have started by polling their customers to see if they thought that their advertising technique was ethical. The feedback that they could get could help them to decide whether action should be taken or not. McDonald’s could have possibly responded by not advertising the toys that kids could get in their Happy Meals, but focus only on the food. This would eliminate the deceptive nature of their advertisements, but McDonald’s would not have to change their Happy