Free Teenagers and Appropriate Food Choices Essay Sample

Teenagers are increasingly making independent choices such as how to spend their time, either with friends or family. In addition, they have gained a sense of financial independence and dictate what they want to buy or consume. Today’s world is highly liberal and parents, who have to spend most of their time working, are finding it increasingly hard to influence their children’s decisions. Neighborhoods are saturated with advertisements which advocate for both healthy and unhealthy food choices. In such environments, the most popular food choice may be unhealthy. Hence, teens are facing a huge challenge in selecting a healthy food choice. Marketing plays a significant role in helping teenagers to make healthy food choices because it allows teenagers to decide which foods are healthier than others. In this essay, I will explain how marketing, through creative advertising and offering competitive products, allows teenagers to decide which foods are healthy. In so doing, healthy food options are availed for consumers who additionally gain confidence in such products, more so when they choose the right one.

 
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In order to make a right choice, there is a need to avail different products satisfying a particular need. In addition, these commodities should be provided on an equal platform. This means that none of these products should eclipse the need to have other products in the market. As the article clearly states, milk has always been offered alongside other products in the market. Although it is highly nutritious and rich in calcium, it faces stiff competition from other beverages that serve to quench one’s thirst but do not provide the aforementioned benefits. However, these beverages have managed to gain popularity among teens. This implies that there is a need to formulate adverts which target teenagers directly. If such adverts are to capture the intended audience, firms have to consider various creative marketing techniques.

First, stiff competition has been instrumental in the formulation of creative adverts and provision of a wide variety of competitive products. Firms providing healthy food products have been known to assume that the fact that their products increase one’s health will solely market the product. This perception has been completely eroded by the aggressive marketing demonstrated by rival forms.  Advertising is a two-edged sword in that it increases the sales associated with both healthy and unhealthy products. Adverts, therefore, help teens to associate with a product and purchase it more. In addition, they force rival firms to look for alternative means through which to increase their product’s popularity.  As outlined in the article, the California Milk Processor Board (CMPB) had to change the perception that milk should be taken just because it was healthy. Whereas teens are interested in their health, the care deeply about identity and like to change the status quo or what has been customarily associated with those older than them such as their parents. Hence, when firms that offer healthy products are under stiff competition, they are forced to come up with creative marketing strategies so as to hold on to their customers. This leads to informative and catchy adverts that ensure that teenagers make the right food choices.

Secondly, marketing has ensured that adverts are geared towards influencing teenagers towards making the right decisions in regards to food choices. Teenagers are associated with ‘cool’ and ‘catchy’ items. As Goodby’s team found out, teens were of the view that milk was ‘boring and old-fashioned.’ So as to popularize milk, they had to make it ‘cool and interesting.’ Teenagers were well aware of the nutritional advantages of healthy foods but continuously chose to consume unhealthy foods. Rather than dwell on the nutritional advantages, firms that manufacture healthy foods should concentrate on making their products just as catchy as those of competing firms. They should formulate adverts that incorporate a sense of humor and go a step further to ensure that it has a wide variety of goods that reflect what teens want. In so doing, it captures the teens’ attention. So as to retain these new users, a firm must roll out an advertising strategy that is continuously in the limelight. For instance, the ‘got milk?’ campaign was continuously redefined so as to retain its relevance. Creative adverts retain the attention of the teenagers, which ultimately leads to higher consumption levels.

Thirdly, marketing has popularized healthy foods through co-branding. Healthy food manufacturers can co-brand their products with food other popular food items so as to ensure teens enjoy a healthy diet. There are various food items that have remained teens’ favorites over the years.  If a firm is to market a healthy product successfully, it needs to brand its goods in conjunction with such items. As Goodby found out, co-branding milk with Oreos cookies led to increased sales. Most people, including teens, are known to have a fetish for ‘sweet and sticky foods.’ Companies that sell healthy products should take advantage and incorporate complementary products in their marketing strategy so as to lure teens into consuming these food items. In so doing, teens will have made the right food choices.

Finally, rival firms producing unhealthy foods are known to symbolize healthy food products as unimaginative and old fashioned. Manning, in his research, found out that people felt that ‘milk was boring.’ On the other hand, competing products had taken a new and catchy identity depicting a ‘youthful rebellion, eclectic individuality, and street-smart fashion.’ So as to overcome this hurdle, companies supplying healthy products have to come up with adverts that promote its products in a manner that overrides this notion. Firms offering unhealthy products are known to offer misleading information through their adverts. So as to counter these cheeky notions that at times paint a healthy product in bad light, there is a need for intensive marketing that will ensure that teens make the right food choices. 

 

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