Is Fast Food the New Tobacco? Should the obesity issue be government regulated or remain personal responsibility?

     With the height of consumerism and late-stage capitalism in this day and age, is fast food becoming the new tobacco? And is it possible for the government to make any regulations on obesity? One might think that this is highly impossible and that there is really no way to control what people consume on a daily basis. And the only way for this to work is to make insurance companies control what a person eats or start having restaurants label their food items, which is highly unethical, and no company can force someone to do things that they don't want to do with their body. However, obesity as a whole is not by choice; there are millions of people in the United States and around the world who are genetically predisposed to getting it, taking certain kinds of medications, not having access to high-quality foods if they live in a food desert area, and simply not being able to afford it. If the United States government still has a longing to try to regulate obesity, there need to be more programs and education tools to help provide focus to making this happen and other resources like different kinds of food to combat this issue. 

   Thus, in this week’s blog post, we are going to explore the question of whether the obesity crisis should be regulated by the government or whether it should remain an individual one. To help us better understand and answer this question, we are going to be using two articles called “What You Eat Is Your Business” and “Don't Blame the Eater” to gain some more insight. In the article called “What You Eat Is Your Business,” written by Radley Balko, the importance of personal responsibility is highlighted. Throughout the article, Balko makes a connection between the fast food and tobacco industries, making the argument that since the government doesn't ban tobacco smokers from getting lung cancer or blame the cigarette companies for getting millions of people addicted to their products, exercise and diet are about personal choice, like smoking. As a result, Balko concludes that it is up to each individual to make the right decision and be able to manage their health. “We’ll all make better choices about diet, exercise, and personal health when someone else isn’t paying for the consequences of those choices” (Balko 398). Next, on the other side of the argument in David Zinczenko's article "Don't Blame the Eater," the focus shifts to the challenges that adults and children face when trying to make healthy food choices in a world that is predominantly dominated by fast food. Zinczenko argues that the fast food industry only markets its products to children without any caution or warning labels on them. “Fast-food companies are marketing to children a product with proven health hazards and no warning labels” (Zinczenko 393). Which can result in fast food companies contributing to the obesity crisis. Nevertheless, the stance that Zinczenko takes highlights the influence of consumer choices on the fast food industry. 

    Moreover, the issues with obesity are a subject matter of the past, but we can often see the aftereffects of issues like this one before we have an understanding of the causes of this topic, and obesity is no exception. On a societal scale, we can all see the subtle changes in the aesthetics of American society and the public. It can be noticed that there is a huge amount of substance on this very issue, and the topic is aging rapidly while its remains date from the earlier 2000s. At the peak of this conversation, First Lady Michelle Obama spoke at the White House, and her main focus was to bring attention to children's health. While her efforts were very courageous, it seems that the general public has forgotten about them. And in the time that she made the program, there were many things said that people would disagree with her efforts. In addition, the movie “What the Health” speaks about the secrets that could prevent and even cure certain chronic diseases. The movie also goes into why, on a larger scale, the common people don't know about these things. And the main points of this movie are to show the corruption of the government and how big companies are able to make trillions of dollars in order for the American people to be sick and not be able to get better from their sicknesses. There is no mistake as to why these types of things are happening even well into 2023. This also goes into things like the BMI scale, which is a scale to determine someone's body mass. The BMI scale was created with men and their body mass in mind, but as time went on, this scale as a whole did not accurately represent weight in the way it should. This scale is also deeply racist and doesn't make sense to keep in the modern age. 

    As we enter a new era of what it means to be body positive, or the body positivity moment as a whole, despite the critics, it is not to accept unhealthy lifestyles; it is completely a new way of thinking, feeling, and speaking about our bodies. With the body positive moment, there is no saying or slogan that states that obesity is either good or bad. This movement is to show the significance of accepting all kinds of body types because, in the past, there was a clear line between who was acceptable to meet these standards and who wasn't. Although modern beauty standards were created and crafted under the phenomenon called the “male gaze,” they were meant to make women objects of desire. This type of ideology perpetuates the patriarchal society that the United States is under, and through the media, it has been widely controlled by the likes and desires of men. Many could argue that these kinds of beauty standards can have such an impact on the trajectory of the state of American health that even if a common person were to live up to those standards, it would be completely hard to obtain an image that is impossible to maintain. With the increasing inconsistency between consumable foods and fast food, and with access to the internet and technology, it is completely controlled by the relationships we have with our bodies and food. One of the main goals of body positivity is that it helps motivate us to love and learn about our bodies and the versions of ourselves we have, no matter where we are in life or how we look. Once we learn how to love ourselves for who we are, there will be more initiative that will allow people to take better care of themselves instead of trying to achieve a goal that is unattainable. What this means in the grand scheme of things is that we are breaking down the ideas that are centered around what a “healthy” body looks like and being able to accept health and wellness in different ways for people. 

   ("Body Positive Campaign" via Pen State Sites)      (Selling Shame: 40 Outrageous Vintage Ads Any Woman Would Find Offensive via Collectors Weekly)

    ("Selling Shame: 40 Outrageous Vintage Ads Any Woman Would Find Offensive" via Collectors Weekly)

    Even if we look back twenty or so years, the world has become a very different place than most of us realize. And if you continue to go back in time, the difference is striking. For the last fifty years or so, there has always been a market for technological development that has completely changed how we live in this day and age. Through the changes in the world, it only makes sense to be changing how we view wellness and health because technology has altered how we view these things, and we must adapt to these changes. The adapting process starts with identifying the issue, like obesity, then investigating similar issues to get better information and create things like the Body Positive Movement. Finally, with body positivity, there need to be avenues that allow people to find ways and lead them to be the healthiest version of themselves on their terms. 

    All in all, now to come back to the question, is fast food becoming the new tobacco? And is it possible for the government to make any regulations on obesity? I personally think that fast food as an industry is not causing the obesity crisis to rise in large numbers, but it is up to the individual to know where the line needs to be crossed if their health is being deeply affected by their own choices. And what it comes down to is that if the foods that we get in the United States weren’t so heavily processed, then there wouldn't be an obesity crisis in the first place. It also prevents people from feeling ashamed that they are shopping at their local Walmart and instead at places like Whole Foods because their foods are marketed to be more “organic” than other places. However, I also don't think it is morally right for the United States government to make any regulations on obesity because not everyone is the same when it comes to being obese. And not everyone chooses to be obese; there are factors that come with this.

Sources:

1. Balko, Radley. “They Say/I Say”: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing: With Readings. W.W. Norton & Co., 2012. pp 398.

2. Hix, Lisa. “Selling Shame: 40 Outrageous Vintage Ads Any Woman Would Find Offensive.” Collectors Weekly, 10 Jan. 2014, www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/selling-shame-40-outrageous-vintage-ads-any-woman-would-find-offensive/.

3. Kelsey. “Body Positive Campaign.” Kelseys RCL Discussion Blog, 29 Nov. 2018, sites.psu.edu/harringrcl/2018/11/29/body-positive-campaign/.

4. Zinczenko, David. “They Say / I Say”: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2012. pp 393.