Honors Theses
Date of Award
Spring 5-10-2025
Document Type
Undergraduate Thesis
Department
Public Policy Leadership
First Advisor
Kyle Fritz
Second Advisor
Melissa Bass
Third Advisor
Emmy Parkes
Relational Format
Thesis
Abstract
According to the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention, one in five children in America have obesity. Black and Hispanic children experience obesity at higher rates than children of other racial groups. With obesity rates increasing, what should be done to stop this increase? One partial solution is to restrict the advertisements of foods high in sugar fat, and/or refined grains directed towards children. Advertisements may be restricted in their mode (i.e., the media through which they are viewed) or their content (i.e., the substance of the advertisement or product packaging). While these restrictions on advertising may help lower overall obesity rates, there remains a question about whether different racial groups would plausibly benefit from these restrictions more than others. For example, if advertisements on television are restricted, and white children watch more television than children from minority groups, white children may benefit more from this type of mode restriction. When trying to lower obesity rates, justice demands that we not only lower overall rates, but lower rates in a way that benefits those who are least well off—in this case, Black and Hispanic children. Using John Rawls’ maximin principle, I study the habits of children in different racial groups and make inductive inferences about how effective certain types of mode or content restrictions on advertising might be at reducing obesity rates in those groups. I find that while both types of restrictions may be justified, restrictions on mode will plausibly have a greater impact on Black and Hispanic children, so mode restrictions should be prioritized
Recommended Citation
O'Neal, Riley M., "The Ethics of Advertising Unhealthy Food to Children: A Study on Potential Advertising Policy Restrictions and their Effects on Children of Disadvantaged Minority Groups" (2025). Honors Theses. 3227.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/3227
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