The Perceptions of the High School Students of St. Mary’s College, Quezon City on the Implementation of the Quezon City Anti-Junk Food Ordinance

Abstract

With the newly implemented Quezon City Anti-Junk Food Ordinance, public and private school canteens and stores 100 meters from school premises are now prohibited from selling any food and drink merchandise that the ordinance considers as junk food. Based on the Stimulus-Response Model, changes in the marketing environment could affect the consumer’s decision of buying a product or not. With changes being made to the food items in the canteens of St. Mary’s College, Quezon City, the research’s purpose is to know the perceptions and opinions of the high school students with these recent changes and to know if it would change the number of high school students buying in the canteen. A descriptive quantitative research design was used to be able to identify and describe the opinions and perceptions of the high school students from a broader range of respondents that will represent the whole population. Respondents were 192 high school students of St. Mary’s College, Quezon City, from grades 7 to 12. The researchers distributed survey forms to the selected high school student as a means of data collection and constructed a codebook for the data encoding and analysis. In conclusion majority of the high school students of St, Mary’s College, Quezon City are already aware of the Anti-Junk Food ordinance and agree with the changes made for the directive claiming that it is beneficial for their health. However, data has shown that the number of high school students buying in the canteen would decrease if more food items in the canteen are reduced. This is supported by the Stimulus-Response Model. The researchers recommend that the canteens of St. Mary’s College, Quezon City to include in their food items healthier counterparts of the recently removed junk food items with lower prices to be able to accommodate also the high school students who are still adjusting to the changes in the canteen’s food items. The researchers also recommend conducting qualitative research on the same topic to be able to have a more in-depth view and understanding of how the high school students reacted towards the ordinance.