Ad-itude: Commercials Make Kids Fat

This is going to be more rant-y than my usual posts, but I couldn't help but feel a little crazy as I sit at my local VW dealership, waiting for my car, reading the news. There was an article posted on Yahoo entitled Fast-food ad ban could cut child obesity: U.S. study. The article states that childhood obesity rates will go down if kids see less fast food commercials. Who are the idiots who came up with this theory? They are forgetting one crucial piece of information -- KIDS CAN'T DRIVE. Therefore, they are somehow getting to the local McDonalds. There is a middle man -- Mom and Dad. Someone is buying these kids triple bacon deluxes with a side of giant fries. If the kids never saw the commericals again, I doubt they would forget about Happy Meals. Plus, the reason why kids are so fat is not because of an occaisional Happy Meal -- it's the food that is stocked in their kitchens for snacks, sugary cereal breakfasts, processed food lunches (Lunchables in the lunchbox and pizza in the school cafeteria), and the fast food dinners mom and dad grab nightly on the way home. Far be it from me to defend either advertising or the fast-food industries because lord knows they are guilty of contributing. But let's remember who's really feeding our kids -- and not turning the TV off. It ain't Ronald McDonald reaching through the screen. Gotta go now, there's still some cookies left on the dealership's counter behind me. . .