Did you know that 35% of the American population is considered obese? Also, 66% of the population is considered overweight or more? (Saint Onge 2014) Even more frightening, in 2012, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported that more than a third of American children and adolescents were overweight or obese (CDC 2014). The media sources used explore the political, scientific, historical and cultural reasons for the childhood obesity epidemic in America. Obesity is a rapidly growing epidemic in America and these sources present the facts behind this epidemic. As well as the way in which children in American society are wrongly influenced by the media, especially advertising. (Greenstreet 2008). In the documentary Killer at Large, former Surgeon General Richard Carmona noted that “obesity is an inner terror. This is destroying our society from the inside out and if we do nothing, the magnitude of the dilemma will dwarf 9/11 or any other terrorist event you can point to...” Carmona is indeed right, with the rapid rise in the number of obese children in America. is on track to produce a generation with a shorter life expectancy than its peers. One of the main factors is the media portrayal of obesity (Greenstreet 2008). In today's society, parents are not only worried about the influence of television on their children's behavior, but also about their weight and health. According to a study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, which studied the role of media in childhood obesity, obesity increased by 2% for every hour of television viewing among adolescents aged 12 to 17. Food and drink advertising has a very strong influence. on children. Most products are advertising... middle of paper ......s: a media problem? » ABC News, February 24. Accessed April 22, 2014. (http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Living/story?id=118227)Sutherland, Lisa., MacKenzie, Todd., Purvis, Lisa., Dalton, Madeleine. “Research shows that the placement of food and drink products in films can be a powerful source of advertising to children. » Hood Center for Children and Families. Retrieved April 22, 2014. (http://hoodcenter.dartmouth.edu/FoodProductPlacement.html) Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. 2011. “Media Influence on Overweight and Obesity Among Latino Youth.” » Accessed April 23, 2014. (https://salud-america.org/sites/saludamerica/files/SocialMediaBrief.pdf)Mayhew-Russell, Shelly., Mcvay, Gail., Bardick, Angela., Ireland, Alana. “Mental health, well-being and childhood overweight/obesity. » Journal of Obesity. 2012: 9. Accessed April 23, 2014. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22778915)