Junk Food Marketing Sparks Global Obesity Epidemic.

In 2025, Anam Farzand and a team from Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin reviewed how food ads push junk food high in fat, sugar, and salt, influencing people to eat more unhealthy stuff. They looked at studies showing kids see 4,000 food ads a year, making them crave sweets and snacks, while low-income groups face 80% of ads for bad foods, leading to weight gain and health problems.

The findings showed ads use tricks like fun characters and emotions to double kids' junk food intake, worsening obesity in poor areas. Weak rules let companies target vulnerable people, ignoring ethics and causing 30-50% higher obesity rates in exposed groups.

Cut junk food ads from kids' media and push for tougher rules to fight obesity.