You crave a salty snack, but you're watching your waistline. How about some broccoli-flavoured potato chips? North American snack, beverage and fast-food marketers are beginning to introduce better-for-you offerings - veggie-laced potato chips potentially among them - in response to burgeoning concerns about obesity, and subsequent consumer yearnings for healthier alternatives.

This summer, the U.S. Surgeon-General warned that obesity had reached epidemic proportions south of the border - 61% of Americans are now significantly overweight, compared with 55% in the early 1990s, and the excess girth is costly, generating US$117 billion in annual medical bills.

While Canada's collective waistline is slimmer, the pounds are packing on here too. Obesity Canada, an organization developed by a team of healthcare professionals, reports on its Web site that between 10% and 25% of all teens and 20% to 50% of all adults are overweight.

Critics surface

As a reaction to the hefty numbers, many special-interest groups have become publicly critical of so-called "junk food" marketers, who they believe contribute to the crisis with indulgent treats supported by huge marketing dollars. Kalle Lasn, founder, publisher and editor in chief of Vancouver-based Adbusters magazine, says junk food will confront the same pressures that big tobacco has in the past, which will lead to government restrictions on advertising. He says, "For many years, tobacco was the big pariah industry and it took a while to wrestle it down to the point where it's on the defensive. I believe...junk food won't be far behind."

Despite the fact that chow isn't in quite the same category as tobacco - it's not a "killer product," Lasn says - parents now recognize the relationship between junk food marketing and health problems related to obesity. "Parents realize there is a huge industry that recruits young people at a very early age," he says. "They realize that this kind of advertising pressure influences kids as they grow up. Parents need to take back the nutritional agenda."

In some cases, they are attempting to do that. Medical experts in Europe, for instance, are asking the European Union to ban advertising for food and drinks that are targeted at children, while in the ever-litigious U.S., citizens are suing McDonald's again, this time blaming the fast-food giant for their stout statures. A recent lawsuit condemns the restaurant chain's ad campaigns, specifically Happy Meal toy premiums, for enticing young consumers.

Not wild about Harry and Coke

For similar reasons, Coca-Cola came under fire last year when 40-odd organizations from around the world banded together to rebuke its promotional tie-in with the Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone flick from Warner Bros. A Web site called SaveHarry.com was established in the U.S.; it invited visitors to sign a petition to Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, which declared that "Coke and other soft drinks are JUNK and certainly not what Harry would want kids to drink."