If you had asked me 10 years ago what my idea of a perfect day was it would go like this. I would wake up in the morning and have a big bowl of Coco Puffs. I would then proceed to watch cartoons all morning until I grew tired and took a nap. When I woke up I would beg my father to take me to Taco Bell for my fix of soft tacos and cinnamon twists. After a filling meal I would then play video games until dinner time when my hunger returned. This time I would beg my mother to make a stop at  McDonalds for my beloved happy meal. She would return, I would have gotten my food and cheap toy and I could go to bed a happy child. Back then I wanted fast food all the time. Back then I was considered by doctors to be overweight and at risk of diabetes. Now I realize that the only reason I wanted fast food was because they wanted me to want fast food. I was brainwashed.

Fast food corporations purposely target small children. Their goal is to establish a connection with the youth so that they grow up with the company and become a lifelong customer. If you were to watch an hour of Nickelodeon today chances are you will be barraged with nothing but commercials for McDonalds, Wendy’s, Burger King and various toys. Using tricks of propagandists they convince kids that they want to go to their establishment. With their enticing cheeseburgers, tempting milkshakes, mouthwatering french fries, and of course the irresistible, all powerful, wait for it… toy! What child would not plead to their parents to get these items?

Corporations are wrong for their marketing towards children.They are molding the minds of the young to think that fast food is a healthy everyday thing. Marketing towards today’s youth is the easiest way to make money and they are right to want to do that. But corrupting the minds of children is not the most morally just thing to do. Fast food is unhealthy. It is filled with fat, sugars, sodium and very high in cholesterol. It is arguably the reason that Americans on average are so much larger compared to people from other countries. Knowing that, I still eat it. I still have my cinnamon twists every now and then and am prone to eating an occasional McChicken  and I am a perfectly healthy teen. The thing that has changed between now and then is frequency. With moderation fast food is nothing but a speedy option to fill up your stomach. Being older I realize this, but no 5 year old will ever understand. They will just want, want, want until they end up in a hospital bed. If companies would stop targeting children and aim towards an older audience, than children would be less exposed to these junky foods and be more healthy.