Mexican states are moving to ban the sale of junk food to children

When I was a kid my parents only let me watch PBS. No saturday morning cartoons -> no sugary cereal commercials -> no desire/nagging for sugary cereal.

Install adblockers on any computer your kids use. Cancel your cable television subscription. Deny these corporations the opportunity to pump their propaganda into your kids.

Agreed, but laws cannot be created in a vacuum. You must take the real world into account, and take a practical approach.

As someone who knows a little bit about Mexico, this seems like a law that completely ignores reality.

Would you agree that government should avoid creating laws that in practice do more harm than good, even if the idea behind the law is good and just?

17 years ago there was a candy or confection sold in Mexico containing lead. I know this because I briefly contracted to a California state agency charged with reducing lead poisoning among children. Apparently lead, like many metals, imparts a kind of sweet taste, which is why there was, and probably still is, a problem with children eating old flaking paint containing lead.

I have not followed this situation since. Does anyone know if this confection is still legal and available in Mexico? This was a lot more dangerous than any junk food.

Have you been to Mexico? Or even SoCal?

I don't think I recall having eaten any of near thousand tacos, even those for $0.50, that had "relatively little meat" and "are mostly carbs" and most often heard the sentiment of not understanding how you were getting such a great deal from non-natives, and natives typically informing inquirers that that's just... how things are and have been.

Maybe deeper in South America? I don't know, haven't been and haven't done much research. But North America? I very much disagree with you and believe that most others would too.

You're ignoring the point. The issue is one of culture (and parenting when it comes to children), in Mexico and in all other countries.

Corporations are an easy scapegoat that also fits a political ideology on the left.

It's also a complete fallacy to claim that people cannot see through things. People are not stupid they know that it is their diet that makes them fat. People deserve at least this credit and respect.

Alcohol and cigarettes sales to children are obviously completely different and a very poor analogy.

So... Following the logic, either we accept that people are free to make their own decisions, that parents are responsible for their children, or we take children away from parents because the state knows best.

Personally I think we should do the maximum we can to teach good diets at schools, and perhaps provide classes for adults, and to label products then people can do whatever they want but live with the consequences.

But I think the likely outcome (as we start to see in some countries), which must be politically acceptable and cheap, will be similar to the path taken for cigarettes: PR campaigns and tax. This is a way to let people do what they want while nudging them, and to let them pay for the consequences (healthcare where it is financed through tax).

When it comes to children parents won't be blamed (although they should be) because this is not good to win votes. It will be easier to continue blaming ads and corporations, and to ban things.