Suddenly, you’ve stumbled upon another classic: McDonald’s “Hope” commercial. Children happily open their red boxes anticipating to delve into their Happy Meals and curious of the surprise toy they will find inside. The ad is quite ironic though, children like being rewarded for behaving well and performing good deeds, then why are parents commending kids for eating junk food? The 600-calorie box of fat-packed goodness, that’s also high in sodium, can do nothing more than expose children to their long and hopeless journey into obesity.

“Hope. I don’t see any hope in here,” a child actor says. There’s only one thing I’d tell that poor little soul, “You ate the hope and there’s none left.” Reality check to children: stop searching in that red big box. It certainly promises nothing more than making you fat.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Therefore, this month the San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance to ban McDonald’s Happy Meals. They also forbade giving toys away with meals high in calorie, sugar and fat. According to L.A. Times, San Francisco is the only major city in the country to take such strict measures to date.

Two thumbs up for San Franciscans, although taking measures to prevent childhood obesity is on many politicians’ lists, no one took the initiative to intervene in the business of such a big corporation like McDonald’s. Now, children will only receive toys for eating their fruits and vegetables.

Although spending too much time in front of the television has been linked to childhood obesity for quite some time, researchers suggest it’s not the T.V. but the number of junk-food commercials that are making kids fat, according to a New York Times article, “Commercials are the Culprit in TV-Obesity Link,” by Tara Parker-Pope. Therefore, children tend to crave the foods they see advertised most on T.V. which causes them to overindulge on unhealthy meals.

It’s disheartening to see the powerful impact media has on children. Advertisers are quite clever, and surely have all the tricks up their sleeves. They’re always ready to manipulate kids’ emotions and to make them crave the foods they should consume least. Ninety-five percent of commercials are for fast-food, sugary cereals, sodas, candies and even cakes, according to “Planet Twinkie and the Junk-Food Assault on our Kids,” an article from commercialalert.org.

It is no wonder that children crave everything advertised on TV, because they’re exposed to about 30 hours of food-related advertising annually, according to Parker-Pope. Sometimes, we just get fooled from the tasty yet unrealistic image “make-up artists for foods” create. We just have to be keen about our decisions. 

Next time you’re watching TV and stumble upon the conniving grips of food advertisements, be sure to click away. You’ll save yourself the trouble of craving junk food and giving into the temptation of consuming it.