According to a 2012 article on the Food and Water Watch website, kids and adolescents get bombarded with junk-food marketing campaigns. Companies spend almost $2 billion a year to advertise to this age demographic, and such advertising works. The Public Health Law Center attributes the skyrocketing rates of childhood and adolescent obesity to these companies' efforts. When junk food and soda companies are allowed to market on campus, kids and teens gravitate toward these quick foods. They often have limited time to eat between classes, and these foods are quick. However, in an effort to combat the issue, the Center for Science in the Public Interest proposes that fast food and beverage companies not be allowed to offer foods on campuses.
Both former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, First Lady Michelle Obama and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack have spoken out against the proliferation of junk foods and soda sales on campus. Following their lead, 22 states moved to remove these foods and beverages from elementary and high school campuses, although there is still some concession to sell sodas on campuses. Additionally, the Agriculture Secretary and the First Lady have spoken about some positive changes to school meal programs. Measures take suggestions that fast food and beverage companies not be allowed on campuses one step further; with the backing of the USDA, foods and drinks sold in schools as snacks will have a calorie limit and adhere to more strict nutritional guidelines.
Richard J. Codey, former governor of New Jersey, suggested the foundation for good health, including a body free of the diseases brought on by obesity, starts in a person's youth. While it's difficult to combat the reach of advertising aimed at young people, preventing such companies from selling on campus takes away one avenue in which these companies can reach kids. According to Codey, when looked at this way, this is not taking away people's rights to choose their food; it's allowing the government to help schools solve a problem that now affects the nation.
The people who have spoken out against limiting the snack food and soda sales on school campuses have done so in the name of giving more district and state control to the schools as well as the young people in these schools. According to an op-ed piece for Scholastic by John Dively, executive director of the llinois Principals Association, deciding for kids and teens what they can eat does not promote good problem-solving skills. He questions these students' abilities to make healthy choices in the future if they've never been given the chance to choose during their formative years. Commentary on the Public Health Advocacy website further elaborates this issue by saying that each person should decide on his own food choices.