The first thing I saw when I walked into a supermarket this afternoon, were the stacks and stacks of chocolate boxes. Then as I walked further in, I saw a huge variety of junk food on display at checkouts and end of the aisles, catching people’s eyes as they walked past. But are the dazzling displays of unhealthy food more dangerous than we think?

Junk food is defined by Oxford Languages as “pre-prepared or packaged food that has low nutritional value”.

An NHS survey estimated that in 2016 28% of children aged 2-15 in England were overweight or obese. According to Bupa, the UK has one of the highest rates of childhood obesity in Europe, with around one in five children aged 10 to 11 classified as obese. One question we might ask ourselves is, are supermarkets partially to blame for this?

Often there are very tempting deals on junk food such as ‘Two for One’ and ‘Half Price’, making it even more appealing. When I was younger, I remember going to the supermarket to do the weekly food shop and whilst we were going around, I would constantly see chocolate, sweets and cake, to name a few. I would constantly ask my mum to buy this food, and, the majority of the time, she would say no. Clearly, at the time, being around the age of seven or eight, I was extremely bitter, but now I see the benefits of having a healthy diet. These deals make it all the easier to buy more and more unhealthy food.

There are many deals on junk food, but arguably less on more healthy foods. This could be a huge factor in high child obesity levels as foods such as chocolate are low in nutritional value and high in fat. Child obesity could in the future create problems for the NHS as obese children are more likely to be obese adults. Additionally, they may get further health problems as a result of being obese such as cardiovascular disease and cancer, which will end up being expensive for the NHS. This is particularly relevant with the current Coronavirus pandemic with growing concerns over increasing amount of deaths due to Covid-19 being linked to obesity.

In defence of the supermarkets, their aim is to make as much profit as possible and these marketing methods allow them to make more profit. However, we need to weigh up whether this is a worthwhile trade-off for potential high levels of obesity.

In conclusion, I believe that supermarkets have the power to influence child obesity levels through where in the shop it displays junk food and the deals which they put on it. The decisions these companies make could have the potential to change many children’s futures.