IELTS WRITING TASK 2: Research has shown that overeating is as harmful as smoking. Therefore, the advertising of certain food products should be banned in the same way as the advertising of cigarettes in some countries. To what extent do you agree...

It is argued that overeating causes as many health problems as using cigarettes, thus, food advertisements should be forbidden like tobacco advertisements. While I accept that this idea may suit many people, I believe that the advertising of food products should not be prohibited.

On the one hand, food advertisements may bring about some certain serious problems. Firstly, the advertising of junk food on broadcasting television is definitely harmful to many people, especially kids. If small children watch TV regularly and see the advertising of some fast food restaurants like KFC or McDonald, they will choose to eat these toxic food instead of eating healthy ones like vegetables. In long term, children could be prone to obesity, which may cause some detrimental health problems such as heart-related problems. Secondly, some food companies would like to invite some celebrities like pop stars and movie actors, who are known as trend-setters, to appear in their advertisements. By having the celebrities endorsement, many fans of those stars will buy the products like trend-chasers to support for what their idol advertise without knowing that the products are actually bad or good.

However, despite the problems mentioned above, I disagree with the idea of banning food advertisements. One reason is that not all food advertisements are bad. Some of them are healthy products and it will be unfair if these advertisements can not broadcast on television or social networking sites. Furthermore, people who suffer from some health problems like eating disorders will find food advertisement useful because it stimulates them to eat more and more.

In conclusion, it is certainly true that the advertising of food could lead to some problems but this is by no means should the advertisements be forbidden.