Response To Eric Schlosser's 'Fast Food Nation'

Fast food marketing is a dirty political game. Marketing is a tool of power, more specifically money power. Successful marketing strategies propelled fast food and beverage companies to some of the most stable corporations in the world. But how did these mom and pop shops dominate the competition? They created a commodity through marketing. Cool people drink coke not pepsi. Ronald and his friends hang out at McDonalds, and so should you, were the implications. Marketers went as far as advertising in schools. Coke or Pepsi for lunch instead of water and milk. Big Cola poured Millions of dollars into the struggling public education system. This accomplished a cradle to the grave type of marketing for beverage and fast food companies. Things changed so fast and the public made huge illogical leaps in the name of saving time. And in doing so, endangered our children.

Did you know that “every day 1 in 4 Americans visit a fast food restaurant? If that’s not alarming to you, then consider this, left unabated, obesity will surpass smoking as the leading cause of preventable death in America.” (Clark, Charles) Fast food has become a part of American culture. With the way the world is today who wouldn’t want to eat somewhere that can have you in and out in five minutes for fewer than five dollars? It has been made very clear that Americans love to eat as we rank number one most years as the world’s most obese nation, but it’s not just America. In his documentary, Morgan Spurlock notes that, “Popular fast food chains like McDonalds, now operate in more than 126 countries in six continents having more than 31,000 restaurants globally.” (Spurlock 2004) The most alarming part about all of these statistics is the groups they most affect. The catchy advertisements and addictive qualities of the food is what has everyone coming back for more. Fast food companies advertisements targeting the young and lower classes are the cause for the obesity epidemic in America.

“Fast food is popular because it's convenient, it's cheap, and it tastes good. But the real cost of eating fast food never appears on the menu.” – Eric Schlosser --

The All-American meal takes more out of Americans to make then at first glance. Eric Schlosser’s book Fast Food Nation delves deep into the intricate workings of the fast food industry to expose mistreatment and cruelty towards workers in the business, just as Upton Sinclair had done in the early 1900’s regarding the meat packing industry. Schlosser is able to bring light to the darkness behind the All-American meal through extensive research and personal confrontations of which he has high regards for.

In the book Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser talks about the working conditions of fast food meat slaughterhouses. In the chapter “The Most Dangerous Job,” one of the workers, who despised his job, gave Schlosser an opportunity to walk through a slaughterhouse. As the author was progressed backwards through the slaughterhouse, he noticed how all the workers were sitting very close to each other with steel protective vests and knives. The workers were mainly young Latina women, who worked swiftly, accurately, while trying not to fall behind. Eric Schlosser explains how working in the slaughterhouses is the most dangerous profession – these poor working conditions and horrible treatment of employees in the plants are beyond

The intense advertising and responsibilities is not the only thing we saw in Fast Food Nation that effected children. The quality of the meat that is fed to children in school and at the fast food restaurants is in some cases horrendous. Children are not the only age group that eats this tainted food, but they are more greatly

This article incorporates essential realities about the fast food industry. Likewise, has late news and moves made by well known fast food organizations. The site likewise has tabs that clarify the wagers and most noticeably worst kid’s meals and after that another tab that includes the calories in kid’s meals. The site additionally discusses the different advertising to children and adolescents that the fast food industry does. Most of the data

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.

Fast-food industries may try to “target children in their ads”, but it ultimately comes down to the adults-the parents- choosing to dine at these places and pork up their kids on the high-sugar sodas, salty French fries, and greasy burgers. If they would just take the time to look out the window, they would see the healthy alternatives to fast-food, and how the alternatives are literally right in front of

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

They also offer a false sense of control. You appear to have many choices - a Big Mac, a cheeseburger, a quarter pounder, a double quarter pounder or a "Big 'N' Tasty" - but they're all pre-packaged, frozen, pre-cooked hamburger. If you want to be radical, have fried chicken, fried fish pieces, even flatbread sandwiches. But you have no control over portion size, or the way your meal is cooked. One of the ways we learn who we are is by the choices we make. Americans let this happen. Now fast-food corporations are infiltrating our public schools, in the form of funds in exchange for advertising. The deliberate marketing soft drink and fast-food companies direct at the youngest of children is wrong. It seem that Americans have just become so used to the fact that McDonalds is always there for when they are running late and do not have time to fix dinner. Or to calm their children down if they are acting up. Fast food industries make it so easy for people to be lazy. The number of obese adults and children in America has risen directly alongside the increase of fast-food restaurants and has extracted high personal, physical, and financial cost to the nation. In the end Americans are like guinea pigs for the fast food industries, being used to see what they can do and how far they can go.

Even though some advertisements stimulate our appetite, those advertisements don't say that their fast food is healthy. Moreover, it has been often said that fast food has bad effects for our health, through newspaper, television, and other media. Most people should know these facts. To add to that, as I mentioned before, there are some fast food shops which serve health foods compared to other fast food shops, so if people are really concerned about their health, they can choose those fast food shops. Therefore, the problem should be attributed not to the fast food companies, but to individual choice.

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.

We live in a world that is in a continuous process of transformation, considering that progress manages to control all the aspects of individual's life. Being part of a society which is always changing makes it essential for people have to adapt to all these aspects. One of the biggest problems for the American society is that it has no time to eat, since it is always on the run. Fast food came as the greatest solution for this problem. Since the process of modernization of the American society is accelerated day by day, the fast food industry has gained its place on the market. Even if individuals are well aware of the problems they can and will encounter if they eat fast food, they are forced by the circumstances to fall back on it.

The New York Times bestseller Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal is one of the most riveting books to come out about fast food restaurants to date (Schlosser, 2004). Fast food consumption has become a way of life for many in the United States as well as many other countries in the world. The author Eric Schlosser an investigative reporter whose impeccable researching and bold interviewing captures the true essence of the immense impact that fast food restaurants are having in America (2004). Beginning with McDonald’s, the first fast food restaurant, which opened on April 15, 1955 in Des Plaines, Illinois to current trends of making fast food a global realization McDonald’s has paved the way for many fast food