Can Disney Fight Obesity by Banning Junk Food Ads?

by SodaHead TV Posted 2012/06/05 22:00:00

Related Topics: Disney, Obesity, Lifestyle, Junk Food, Junk Food Ads, Junk Food Ban, Food

706 votes
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	Yes	269 votes	38%
	No	437 votes	62%

Instead of waiting for the government to start banning junk food ads after the watershed, as it's already done in the U.K., Disney has decided to take on that responsibility itself. The multinational company announced that by 2015, it will require all food and beverage companies that advertise on its children's programming (Disney Channel, Disney XD, Disney Junior, Radio Disney, Disney.com) to meet certain nutrition standards.

Disney CEO Robert Iger said in a statement, "Parents can be confident that foods associated with Disney characters or advertised on Disney platforms meet our new, healthier nutrition guideline." According to USA Today, the company's standards will reflect government regulations. Health-focused consumer groups are calling it a "landmark" because a private company is preemptively regulating itself. Do you think Disney can fight obesity by banning junk food ads on its medium?

+26

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RoyJLores 2012/06/05 22:56:02

No

+11
it's the parents responsibility what their kids eat no one else's
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democoach to rosebud 2012/06/06 21:07:06

not sure i believe that!
http://www.drhandley.com/Urba...

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Christiaan McPherson 2012/06/06 16:58:13

No

+1
I applaud them for the effort but unfortunately children don't become fat and lazy becuse of food ads. They become fat and lazy becuse they have fat lazy parents the feed them crap.

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democoach to Christi... 2012/06/06 21:08:35

the parents aren't necesserily fat! they just don't care for their kids,

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FanOreilly 2012/06/06 16:56:16

No

+5
I have a better idea.

Tell your kids to turn off the Disney channel and go out and play.

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jc to FanOreilly 2012/06/06 17:34:40

+1
YES!!

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democoach to FanOreilly 2012/06/06 21:08:46

+1
thats even better

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Saye Saye 2012/06/06 16:56:01

Yes

Parents & kids look up to the Disney brand.

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EB 2012/06/06 16:53:17

No

+1
It will take a concerted effort on the part of food producers to reduce sodium and sugar in processed foods.

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democoach to EB 2012/06/06 21:10:00

or they will just make up a toxic chemical replacement to dodge disneys demands.

already happened in any "zero" products like coke zero, the stuff in there like aspertaim and fenilalaline is worse for you then the already bad for you regular pop

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tinky_tink 2012/06/06 16:48:15

No

+1
Just another example of our rights slowly being wiped out!

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Christi... to tinky_tink 2012/06/06 17:01:59

Omg so true. Not being able to watch junk food ads on Disany is a true sign of the apocalips and the decline of western civilisation. We need to show them that we won't stand for this any longer and go out and eat as much junk as we want and get diabetes and die. That will show them!

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tinky_tink to Christi... 2012/06/06 17:27:33

+1
I don't know if your response is sarcasm or genuine... but my point is simply this... Don't we have the RIGHT... if we so choose... to eat... to drink ourselves fat? For me, it comes down to idea that government is trying to regulate what THEY believe can be harmful... and thinking I lack the tools to decide for myself

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MentalC... to tinky_tink 2012/06/06 17:11:57

+1
Our right to eat junk food?

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tinky_tink to MentalC... 2012/06/06 17:33:16

Who has the right to tell me or anyone... what I should or should not eat?

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MentalC... to tinky_tink 2012/06/06 17:37:20

Well you died because you ate too much junk food.Therefore,you have no rights anymore,cause you ceased to exist.So no right to eat junk food.

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tinky_tink to MentalC... 2012/06/06 17:40:08

+1
lmao... um... so who's replying here... my ghost? And sweetie... it's personal responsibility... and personal choice... quite simple actually!

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MentalC... to tinky_tink 2012/06/06 17:46:55

I was hypothetically speaking,sweetie.As a matter of fact,you can go on a trip to TacoBell and buy yourself a nice juicy 49 layer burrito.

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tinky_tink to MentalC... 2012/06/06 17:56:07

lol, i'd rather not, but thank you for allowing me the personal freedom to do so ;)

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democoach to MentalC... 2012/06/06 21:11:19

your an idiot! you can't tell me what to eat or what not to eat! i have the choice to eat healthy or not

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MentalC... to democoach 2012/06/07 05:37:06

First of all,learn how to write and then start insulting me.Secondly,I didn't tell what to eat or what not to eat.You can go stuff your face with junk food as much as you want and become a fat loser.

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mikeyllo 2012/06/06 16:44:53

No

+3
It is really tiring to see the things that we should be responsible for on an individual level being governed by outside entities. So, if the ads that appear on Disney meet a certain criteria, what happens when the parents continue buying whatever they want, or the kids see the items on other channels, or the kids are forced to eat some of the slop disguised as food at their local schools? Junk food is not that bad for you if it's consumed in moderation. Individuals need to take responsiblity in monitoring their consumption, not Disney or any other company.

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cents-less 2012/06/06 16:39:51

No

+4
Will they stop selling junk food at their amusement parks?

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Christi... to cents-less 2012/06/06 17:04:11

That's just what I was thinking. How funny if they replaced all the coke machines with kombucha. It would be kinda awsome but it will never happen.

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lynn 2012/06/06 16:35:30

No

+1
Bans of any sort are nothing more than a symbolic gesture and/or a "feel good" response to a perceived problem. Most importantly, such actions are an affront to everything America is supposed to stand for, chief amongst it personal freedom and personal responsibility. Up until the 1980's, there were no bans on particular foods, drinks, or tobacco, and we were a much healthier, more successful nation. One of our highest points was in the 1950's-early 1960's, and people ate and drank whatever they wanted. There was no obesity issue then, because people got out and actually did things together, and kids played outdoors instead of sitting in front of a monitor playing video games. The legal drug cartels had not deluged the nation with pro-drug propaganda as they have now. We had commercials for alcohol, beer, and cigarettes, but very few for drugs. Now it seems one cannot watch a single hour of television without sitting through at least two or three advertisements promoting this drug or that drug. "Just ask your doctor!" So it's politically incorrect to use tobacco products, or eat fast food, or enjoy soft drinks... let alone have a firearm in the house. But it's perfectly fine to pop a pill for every possible ailment the conventional medical syndicate can think up, and...

Bans of any sort are nothing more than a symbolic gesture and/or a "feel good" response to a perceived problem. Most importantly, such actions are an affront to everything America is supposed to stand for, chief amongst it personal freedom and personal responsibility. Up until the 1980's, there were no bans on particular foods, drinks, or tobacco, and we were a much healthier, more successful nation. One of our highest points was in the 1950's-early 1960's, and people ate and drank whatever they wanted. There was no obesity issue then, because people got out and actually did things together, and kids played outdoors instead of sitting in front of a monitor playing video games. The legal drug cartels had not deluged the nation with pro-drug propaganda as they have now. We had commercials for alcohol, beer, and cigarettes, but very few for drugs. Now it seems one cannot watch a single hour of television without sitting through at least two or three advertisements promoting this drug or that drug. "Just ask your doctor!" So it's politically incorrect to use tobacco products, or eat fast food, or enjoy soft drinks... let alone have a firearm in the house. But it's perfectly fine to pop a pill for every possible ailment the conventional medical syndicate can think up, and to develop addiction to said pills-- but don't dare get caught with marijuana, that's one the pharmaceutical industry doesn't make a profit on, thus it remains illegal. Am I the only one who sees the real problem here?
(more)

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greyhound58 2012/06/06 16:22:27

Yes

+2
Can Disney fight obesity? Yes of coarse they can pick and choose who can advertise on there channel. But, will it work and will it last are the true questions here.
In my opinion it won't work on it's own. We as a society have stopped going outside in our free time. More and more time is spent sitting in front of the "tube" stuffing our faces with any number of available. Infertile food. We don't show our children the joy of being outside or the value of limiting "a good" thing such as time spent online or playing games on TV. Bottom line here is that nobody else is going to change things for the better; we need to step up and do so ourselves.

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Seonag 2012/06/06 16:18:17

Yes

+3
But the end responsibility falls to the parents!

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luvyooo 2012/06/06 16:03:00

Yes

+1
Its a great initiative and I think it will 'help' but, the bottom line is that kids will eat how they want or how they're taught by their parents.

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Ms.*Dimplez* 2012/06/06 15:41:42

No

+2
we still gonna eat it

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Sperry23 2012/06/06 15:34:15

Yes

+1
Meh. It couldn't hurt.First and foremost, define "junk food". And considering Disney (which owns the ABC network) is only endorsing the ban on their "branded" media, I doubt we'll be seeing any real change. Still, does this mean we won't be seeing Micky Mouse Brand Cheezy Kurds? (Marketing misspelling intentional)

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JCLadybug 2012/06/06 15:31:02

No

+2
I doubt it will do much good, but I also (in this case) don't see the harm. That said, last time I checked disney channel only had ads for their own shows and didn't show any real ads. I think they did ad a few but they weren't a typical ad...they always had a disney announcer. So really, this isn't a change...but maybe in the UK they had real ads.

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sam 2012/06/06 15:30:42

No

+2
OOh Please, are they going to pull the Brand from boxed cookies, cereals.

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Kenken 2012/06/06 15:29:49

No

+1
Its a great idea!! It sounds awesome and looks good on paper but in the end is it really going to work? I think not. First of kids are always going to want what "looks" on the shelf the commercials won't matter by the time the kids actually get to the store. They will still go down the cereal isle and sun straight for the lucky charms. And parent are going to by it for them. Which is the other thing. Parents are the ones that buy the kids the food so shouldn't the parents programming be the one directed toward better health?

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faustbc 2012/06/06 15:27:02

No

+1
I don't know what's happening with some parents nowadays, expecting to be considered parents when they don't parent lol
Kids are educated at home, including their eating habits. Instead of expecting TV to show your kid what to eat, teach your kid to eat properly.

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Lucy Pannell 2012/06/06 15:26:18

Yes

+1
Good eating habits start early so if the children watching are seeing ads for healthy food more than likely that will translate into healthy food requests being made by the child. Which hopefully will translate into healthy food choice shopping by parents. We have to start somewhere...

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Jaroslav Dantes 2012/06/06 15:24:14

Yes

ham, ham, ham, ham, ham ..... Mooommmm, my tummy huuuurts , buububuubuuu.......

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MHA 2012/06/06 15:24:09

No

+3
Parents are the ones in charge of their kid's nutrition, not Disney. (Not to mention their own.) Sadly, because of the fast foods available and people's lifestyle today, we consume more junk food than we should.
I must add though, if Disney wants to help with nutrition, they should do something about all the crap they sell at their own parks around the world.

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Plantgypc 2012/06/06 15:23:26

No

+2
Go to the grocery store. Disney is forgotten as soon as the kids see the cookie aisle.

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Maiko 2012/06/06 15:15:05

No

This is ridiculous! Yet another axe at personal reponsibity! Banning this and that is going to do what? People are going to choose to eat as they want regardless what they see on ads or not. This war on obesity needs a different approach that doesn't involve banning things and/or stripping people of their rights and removing personal responsibility for their own actions......

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BigFig#9 2012/06/06 15:11:07

Yes

+1
Only part of the solution but Disney holds a unique cultural place and the symbolism alone is important....

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BigRed 2012/06/06 15:10:38

No

+3
Parents need to be more responsible, not Disney.

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