This. If the ad industry put half as much effort into promoting healthy eating, we wouldn't train everyone to eat poorly and/or excessively at a young age.
FFS, look at how long it took to get calorie counts on menu signage! And that's the lowest hanging fruit.
1. Fix fast food + the ad industry by financially penalizing pushing unhealthy food.
2. Rework the food supply chain to support healthier eating. (Less ultra-processed, shelf-stable items, more easy-to-cook healthy options + increase availability in food deserts)
Between lost productivity and end of life health expenses, I can't believe there isn't an economic argument for this.
It's difficult to drive systematic changes in the food supply chain because there are so many different entities involved, each trying to maximize profit. But we are finally seeing limited positive steps with some states banning junk food purchases with food stamps (SNAP) and the FDA banning some synthetic food dyes.
For the most part, supply follows from demand than the other way around. If people cared more about healthy food more than convenient and tasty food, then companies will sell and advertise healthier food. Chinatowns were historically poor, but they never turned into food deserts because vegetables are a quintessential part of Chinese cuisine.
Taxing unhealthy food may work, but that would also piss a lot of people off who have their palates destroyed from eating too junk food, especially since you'd need taxes to be high enough to basically force people to change their habits. Subsidies for healthy food tend to benefit the the upper-middle class the most. Subsidizing school lunches that are both healthy and not disgusting is the only option I see as both feasible and effective.
> Chinatowns were historically poor, but they never turned into food deserts because vegetables are a quintessential part of Chinese cuisine.
The key component you're talking about here is culture, which is absolutely malleable to advertising over intermediate timespans.
Look at the Chinese shift towards greater amounts of meat consumption, driven by its promotion as a symbol of wealth.
And many of these beliefs are set in childhood. Imho, the rest of the world would do well to follow the Japanese/French tradition, where introducing children to healthy food options is taken seriously.
FFS, look at how long it took to get calorie counts on menu signage! And that's the lowest hanging fruit.
1. Fix fast food + the ad industry by financially penalizing pushing unhealthy food.
2. Rework the food supply chain to support healthier eating. (Less ultra-processed, shelf-stable items, more easy-to-cook healthy options + increase availability in food deserts)
Between lost productivity and end of life health expenses, I can't believe there isn't an economic argument for this.