Project Abstact Youth obesity is increasing at an alarming rate and influenced by a number of factors. The rising costs of obesity include related illness such as diabetes, eating disorders, depression, and eventual disability or worse, death, can be avoided. This is possible by working together as individuals, part of a greater system to change our lives. We found out why the media has only chosen to focus on the issue now, in 2007. The obesity epidemic is a problem for all ages, and we felt that it was most important to educate children on the negative effects that advertising can have on youth obesity in order to get them off of their couches and on the run, fixing one of the many causes of youth obesity, sedentary behavior. Since the media is a powerful tool for or against children, the media has a responsibility of aiding in prevention rather than helping cause the epidemic.

Project Context and Contributions Mary Catherine and I both came together this semester with a common interest in youth obesity. My minor at CSUMB is International Health Policy. Within this major we have learned many things about the issues that affect the health status across the globe. I have a love for helping people and realized that with a major in Human Communications and a minor in health, I could really make a difference. Working with youth has been a passion of mine for a long time. As for me (Mary Catherine) I have always been interested in health and continue to be health conscious in my life. I continually see children making bad decisions regarding food choices. I really think that it is imperative to educate children on the dangers of obesity and bad eating habits. Serena-My sister is a very beautiful little girl who is made fun of at school for being overweight. My family does not have the funds or transportation to put her in after school programs or sports. With little or no money it is difficult to get her the healthy foods she needs. My family does not have the education they need in order to understand what they should be doing to prevent youth obesity cases from occurring. Serena-In my Service Learning class we teach children at the Salvation Army Youth Center how to look at the media and question it. Through this teaching I have also learned that the media has done little to help my sister. Why has the media ignored this problem, why is my sister eating so poorly in schools, and why are obesity cases on the rise? Mary Catherine-In my Service Learning class, I work at Juvenile Hall. Many of the kids there are overweight due to poor diet and health. I think that teaching children about youth obesity will help put a stop to the continuing weight gain of children that is occurring in America. I really feel that I can make a difference by educating these children on healthy food choices. Serena and I both are firm believes that educating the public and children will help decrease obesity rates in youth. Becoming aware of the unhealthy types of food that media advertises try to sell youth, shoppers will become more health conscious and make better food choices.

Project Format Our project is in the form of a research paper. Serena and I did extensive research on youth obesity and put together a beautiful research paper. The reason why we chose this method was because we felt that it was the best way to show our extensive research on the subject. We think that it is important to write a scholarly paper on a subject that is affecting Americans on a daily basis, especially our youth.

Links of Interest American Obesity Site

Source: http://www.thefatproblem.com/images/obese_kids_4.jpg

Research Questions 1. How has the problem of child obesity been ignored through the media? Then, 2. Why has child and adolescent obesity remained ignored until now, 2006? 3. What are the consequences of the media's decision to ignore youth obesity? 4. How can the media now help prevent the same consequences from occurring in the future? 5. What is the hidden agenda in the media's decision to ignore the problem? 6. What is being done today to stop youth obesity? 7. What other factors besides media are contributing to youth obesity? 8. What can be done to prevent youth obesity? 9. Are there certain chemicals that are added to foods that contribute to weight gain? 10. Is the lack of physical activity causing youth obesity? 11. Is technology contributing to kids being less active and gaining weight?

Key Findings Society needs to stop the obesity epidemic by teaching our children to become smart consumers. Focusing advertisements on nutritious foods and physical activities will lower rates of obesity and educating parents is essential. It's easier for the media to focus its attention on their positive influences on society that they make because taking the blame costs money. In comparing gains and losses, the lives of human beings outweigh any dollar amount. .1.1 Although progress has been made, there is still more to be done. Public policy can be used to conduct a multi-front effort to change this rapidly overwhelming increase of health related problems linked to poor nutrition and exercise. It is no wonder that government has relied on the efforts of community based organizations and schools to help in the fight against childhood obesity and malnutrition since advertisers will not take the blame and bring the issue to the forefront. Children are a good population to influence, because their eating and exercise habits are still malleable, and if there is hope to make a difference, it lies within them. Youth obesity, as we stated takes a huge community effort to overcome. If we start at the root of the problem, starting with educating the children, we can aid in future generations. Learning now, that child obesity is a leading factor in youth obesity, should teach parents a lesson about what they feed their children. Although it will take time to educate and implement new policies to end youth obesity, it is not out of our reach. Families and educators are doing their part, now it is the media's turn. Being obese is causing many financial burdens for families, but most importantly the reason ending obesity is so important is due to the fact that these health issues can be prevented.

Evidence Our primary goal is that our readers understand the significant connection between advertising and obesity. As soon as this happens, we will be able to examine the correlation and discover prevention strategies to aid in society's efforts to lower the youth obesity epidemic rates. For our primary sources we looked into different organization's websites that were related to the obesity epidemic and that are already making efforts to change the media's perspective on obesity rates. We chose to study children because children are a good population to influence, because their eating and exercise habits are still malleable, and if there is hope to make a difference, it lies within them. We both have personal experiences with children who suffer from obesity, and are tired of hearing about their day to day struggles. Since children are not considered "[...] full-fledged economic actors like adults" (Young, 442), it can be understood that children and the effects of advertising on them, is a portion of research that often goes ignored. For this reason, the author of "Does food advertising influence children's food choices: A critical review of some of the recent literature," a piece in the International Journal of Advertising, looks at children as active decision-making consumers. He claims children are able to understand that advertising is different than a movie, story or sports program, between four and seven years old. However, it may take until age 12 for them to understand the economic and persuasive functions of advertising. A further aspect of this is that even after children are able to understand how advertising works, they do not use that understanding to evaluate and make reasoned decisions regarding their role as consumers. Studies suggest that consideration regarding advertising to children must take into account "...the importance of cued information processing until 10-12 years of age is recognized. Children may understand buy applying this understanding to a viewing situation may be limited in children until late childhood (447). Through the use of six secondary sources found in credible journals and world reports we discuss the role of the media and the effects on children as well as the direct effect on youth obesity. We found one world report, one brief and one journal using the research database EBSCOhost. Using the keywords "advertising" and "children," this search provided us with 2,892 results. We then added the keyword "consumers," narrowing our research to 229 results. Combining the words "advertising" with "children," we then narrowed our findings to 29 credible resources and read through the many papers until we found the ones most relevant.

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