Pink Poogle Toy Forum

I dunno Neopets also has a ton of healthy food to feed the pets. o.o

My mum's a gasterinterologist and pediatric nutritionist, so this is really her field. From what she says, genetics have a lot to do with kids' weight, and so does excercise. It has a lot less to do with what you eat than what people think. And really, you can't blame Neopets and ads and such for kids eating unhealthily and too much. You blame the parents, as they are the ones who really control what their children eat. It's just stupid to blame a website for obeisity. People look for other things to blame instead of taking responsibility, but really it is their choice what they eat! It's not like Neopets is magically making them overweight!

Might as well ban snacks, neopets, internet, tv, video games, music, and other stuff (like what br00ster said)

Aww, what the heck, ban Food all together! Its whats causing the kids to get fat anyhow!

Media always has to find somebody to blame, its just how it is ><;; i hate you media and your crappy research...

People will blame anything but themselves for obesity. Parents dont want to take responsibility for what they do, and thus they will blame everything around them instead. I worked in fast food for awhile and i would see little kids come in and order triple cheeseburgers extra large cokes and huge fries and their parents would ask if they wanted desert with that too.

Neopets has every kind of food, junk food, health food, imaginary foods. You dont get a reward for feeding your pets junk anymore than you would healthy foods.

And as for McD's giving out prizes that children actually like with their happy meals(oh the horror!) thats just competitive marketing. Kids eating kids meals from time to time is not that unhealthy, and at both McDonalds and Wendys there are healthy options to replace fries and soda...parents can easily get those for their children instead, but they opt not to.

...because Heaven forbid we blame the PARENTS who let their kids guzzle all these fatty snacks...

They are obviously missing the DNA that lets them say 'no' to their five-year-old... as well as their brain stem Nope, it's Neo's fault for trying to run a successful business!

And that guy's writing? It sucks. Sorry, but I can write better than that. As can many people here, I'll bet.

Let's all light our torches and pitchforks and chase Neopets outta town because they're subconciously making us eat Large Fries, Big Macs and chocolate milkshakes.

What is the world coming to when all people have to blame for obesity in children is a virtual pet site?

You think that's bad, my vocational school isn't even allowed to serve junk food deserts anymore because a parent gives their kid two lunches and five dollars and the deserts are making the kid fat.

The first sentence isn't true. *points to self* I'm under weight. xD I wish I was fat. TOT

I blame NeoPets for making me thin Here I am 6 foot at 140 lbs. THEY did this to me. I honestly can't understand why we try to blame everyone for what we are doing to ourselves. If I ate a Jumbo Burger Meal every day for a month and sat on my posterior, you can bet that I would be fat. However, since I (probably) eat at a fast food twice a month and ride my bike every day during the summer and ski once a week during the winter (it's hard to ride on the ice), I find myself in pretty good shape. Maybe I should write a diet & fitness book.

Anyway, America is full of morons. We do what we like. What we like is not good for us. Ergo, morons are unhealthy. Get used to it. It's life.

At first I thought this was like a tabloid. Seriously.

Now down to the /real/ problem. The media is wasting their time reporting on things such as these which have no factual basis, and include incorrect information in the first place.

How dare Neopets not pick up the slack for irresponsible parents who are unable to control their children and make mature decisions for their health and well being because its easier to throw something in the microwave or go through the drive thru!!!!

For shame, Neopets. For shame.

That article is total bogus, and that's coming from a member of the second most obese country in the world (AKA Australia), seriously I have a friend who eats sooooo much every day (and admits it) and people think she's anorexic

All these articles, which have no factual basis, are sooooo stupid and annoying. We should all really try to do something to stop these stupid articles from coming out before some stupid company attempts to ban Neopets forever

Whoa... When I first posted this article, I had no idea it would hit such a chord with people. Personally, I don't believe the journalist was lambasting Neopets -- he was pointing out that critics object to immersive advertising aimed at young children. And it's not just Neopets that uses the concept; cartoons are notorious for it also. I do wish he would have named the critics he refers to, though. I remember a couple of years ago that the Ralph Nader consumer activist group protested immersive advertising at Neopets.

There are a lot of people who do have genuine concerns regarding marketing tactics and subliminal advertising. If advertising didn't affect any of us, it would be worthless -- people wouldn't bother spending mega-bucks for ads. And universities wouldn't offer Marketing Psychology classes. Just my 2 cents for what it's worth.

The problem is, the link that you posted isn't actually an article. It says it is, but it turns out to be just a small commentary on one website.

Nowhere, as you mentioned, are what the 'experts' say about immersive advertising. Nowhere are the experts commenting on Neopets. Infact there are no quotes or sources at all in the article.

Normally, when discussing and debating a topic, you give more than one example to back up your views. The topic of the article was immersive advertising affecting childhood obesity. It gave no statistics, and directly quoted no research. It didn't discuss immersive advertising on any other website, or for that matter, any other media but online - It did give brief mention to television advertisements ect, but it cited nothing specific.

If it was a real article about immersive advertising, there would be all of the above. This is just a negative commentary on one website.

This reminds me when a parent decided to sue Nintendo because her EIGHT year old FORCED her to buy Pokemon cards.