Globalization of the Fast Food Industry Essay

The investigative journalist, Eric Schlosser, has written a book to illuminate an epidemic that started in America and is now becoming one of the world’s largest problems. In Fast Food Nation, Schlosser frames today’s Fast Food giants in history,American entrepreneurialism, and over consumption in respect to consumer and employee wellbeing. The power of all modern Fast Food giants combined have eclipsed the power of any one government. Marketing has become a key component to luring consumers to fast food. Schlosser makes the argument that a once All­American ideal, fast food has grown too big to control.

“In many respects, the fast food industry embodies the best and worst of American capitalism at the start of the twenty-first century – its constant stream of new products and innovations, its widening gulf between gulf between rich and poor” (Schlosser 6). In 2001 Eric Schlosser published “Fast Food Nation.” Eric Schlosser’s early 21st century muckraking text, “Fast Food Nation,” attempts to shed light on the consequences of the fast food industry on American society. The rise and growth of the fast food industry, like the meatpacking industry, illuminates the evolution of the American dream in post-World War II America. “Fast Food Nation” is a book about fast food, the values it embodies, and the world

With the two of the world’s largest fast food behemoths vying for a bigger market share of the new gastro phenomenon that are black burgers – burgers with black buns, black cheese and black sauce – one can only begin to fathom the extent to which fast food have on our lives. Fast food did not gain popularity until the 50’s, with the advent of Macdonald’s and, to borrow George Ritzer’s term, the ‘Macdonalization’ of things. Copycats quick to jump on the lucrative, but more importantly, efficient way of producing foods on the cheap soon started creating their own brands, and the world has forever changed since then. Things, however, are not as simple as it seems. There are many underlying causes to the boom of fast food culture, particularly

Schlosser was able to partially satisfy the criteria that a nonfiction book should include relevant anecdotes that help the reader connect to the fast food industry that causes health risks for its workers. He started the book off with chapter one solely on the relationship of Ray Croc, the owner of McDonalds, and Walt Disney. However, he was unable to incorporate the importance of the relationship into his overall claim regarding the disregard of workers and consumers health by the fast food companies. After he finished with the overly drawn out anecdote, he began to provide relevant anecdotes from actual workers in different jobs associated with the business. First he started with Elisa, a sixteen year old McDonald’s employee that wakes up at 5:15 every morning and spends seven hours behind the counter on her feet, and when she gets home her feet hurt. (pg. 68) He uses Elisa’s anecdote wisely since his readers can easily connect with her story

Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser, is a stark and unrelenting look into the fast food industry that has ingrained itself in not only American culture, but in culture around the world. There is almost no place on earth that the golden arches has not entered. Aside from Antarctica, there is a McDonalds on every continent, and the number of countries that have fast food restaurants is growing on a daily basis. Schlosser describes in detail what happens behind the scenes, before the hamburger and fries come wrapped in environmentally safe paper and are consumed by millions of people daily

Working in a slaughter house is one of the most dangerous jobs on earth. Workers in these factories risk their lives and limbs on a daily basis, all the while making the factory owner's rich. These blue collar jobs are becoming increasingly dangerous as can be seen in both “The Jungle” to the “Fast Food Nation”. Through both the works of Upton Sinclair's “The Jungle”, written in 1906, and Eric Schlosser’s “Fast Food Nation”,, published in 2001 it is clear that the behind-the-scenes picture of the meat-packing industry, not much has changed in the past hundred years.

This book discusses the fast-food industry and seeks to describe the impact of the industry on the U.S. economy and society. Also, it talks about the guys who has been investigating the fast food industry for many years. From his broad research, he has uncovered an abundance of little-known, frequently unsettling truths about the fast food industry.

The story of the fast food industry and its effect on the world is well told in the book Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser. Schlosser makes the claim that, what started out as a special treat for the kids eventually ended up defining a way of life. During a brief period of time, the fast food industry has helped transform not only the American diet, but also our countryside, economy, workforce, and popular culture. The book thoroughly describes how important the two factors of money and power are in today's society. The book clearly establishes the broader thesis that as consumers, we should know what we eat even if it makes us uncomfortable by the knowledge.

Schlosser also focuses about how the fast food chains market their products. "A survey of American schoolchildren found that 96 percent could identify Ronald McDonald. The only fictional character with a higher degree of recognition was Santa Claus. The impact of McDonald 's on the way we live today is hard to overstate. The Golden Arches are now more widely recognized than the Christian Cross" (P.4). By this quote you can see who fast food chains marketed towards. They did this because if children went they also

In “Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal” (2002), Eric Schlosser argues that “… Fast food is solely responsible for every social problem now

One of the most shocking books of the generation is Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation. The novel includes two sections, "The American Way" and "Meat and Potatoes,” that aid him in describing the history and people who have helped shape up the basics of the “McWorld.” Fast Food Nation jumps into action at the beginning of the novel with a discussion of Carl N. Karcher and the McDonald’s brothers. He explores their roles as “Gods” of the fast-food industry. Schlosser then visits Colorado Springs and investigates the life and working conditions of the typical fast-food industry employee. Starting out the second section, Schlosser travels to the western side of Colorado to examine the effects presented to the agriculture world in the new

From a study completed by Chicago-based Research International USA completed a study called “Fast Food Nation 2008. The panel consisted of 1,000 respondents of ages 16-65 who provided their inputs with an online survey which was conducted between March 13 through 2008. Which was based on results on fast food restaurants like McDonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy’s are gaining popularity even through the economic hardship and recession. Marketing strategy has become more of influence on kids and young American’s. As population grows and the demand increases of fast food restaurants are expanding their stores to capturing more consumers. Fast food chains are also willing to change their menus to continue to gain and retain repeating customers.

Eric Schlosser’s novel Fast Food Nation provides a deep insight into the systematic and unified world of the fast food industry. From the title alone, readers develop a clear sense of the author’s intention for writing this book. Schlosser’s purpose for writing the novel is to raise awareness about the impact and consequences of fast food industries on society. The purpose of the novel is achieved by the author’s use of personal stories, and by relating fast food to various aspects of society.

Eric Schlosser is one of the authors who describes the fast food phenomenon in his book Fast Food Nation. According to him, the biggest problem is the fast food industry that is increasing day by day. Fast food has affected not only the restaurants and the market, but also all the sectors of people's life, from the professional life to the personal one. This affirmation is sustained by Schlosser's statement: "Fast food has infiltrated every nook and cranny of American society. " ( Schlosser 3 ) The fast food industry has got into institutions and parts of the world that no one believed would be affected. Moreover, the power of fast food can be seen by taking a look at the American individual, who gives fast food different

Current estimations indicate that about 500 million adults are obese with 120 million residing in the developing nations. This is the first in the history of man society that the world has more overweight individuals than underweight population. The World Health Organization (WHO) refers to this pattern as the concept of 'globesity'. This is an indication that obesity is a global problem affecting poor and low-income nations in the past two decades as opposed to the previous notion of its influence in the context of Western nations. The main objective of this paper is to evaluate the relationship between the concepts of globalization of the American fast food corporations and global obesity. This relates to the examination of the statistics on YUM Brands, PepsiCo, and McDonald's dominance in markets around the globe. The research paper will also correlate the dominance of the first food entities to the increasing rate of global obesity problem. The focus will be on the examination of the implications of the fast food products on the global culture thus influences on the global obesity problem.