Final Essay : Topic A

Julio Cruz

12/10/13

Final Exam

            Fast food is a huge part of the consumer society that we live in today. You can’t drive for a few blocks without passing by a few McDonald’s or Burger Kings. The fast food companies major success is due to their peed and usually great tasting inexpensive food. Americans are heading towards a trend where sometimes there isn’t enough time to get home to cook. So most of us find a practical convenience in fast food considering how quick and easily it can satisfy our hunger. However, fast food has a danger that most people already know about but relatively seem not to care about. The choices given in fast food restaurants aren’t healthy or natural and may pose a serious threat to someones health. Fast food is not supposed to substitute a traditional home cooked dinner. But most people ignore this because they simply do not have the time or the energy to cook so instead.

            There is no denying that fast food has become a part of American mainstream culture. It’s not uncommon for a childs parent to take them to a fast food restaurant three times a week. During childhood, in the United States especially, kids are the ideal demographic for marketing. McDonald’s commercials are targeted at children promising a toy with a purchase, a catchy tune and a happy almost magical tone to go along with it. The company’s goal is to have children associate their company with good feelings at the youngest age possible to ensure future customers. By having kids become over excited about a trip to McDonald’s in the future, these kids will become adults and have good, nostalgic feelings about the restaurant and are more than likely to go back.

            While fast food might be an easy alternative for a parent to feed their child, is it worth it in the long run? Fast food is nowhere near a good diet for people. The food can have negative effects on ones health and can develop very serious conditions like a heart attack or obesity. Most parents don’t take this threat into account when they take their children out to eat. However, the amount of time and money saved is usually what convinces a parent to take their child out to McDonald’s. Additionally, any child that gets taken out to McDonald’s usually becomes ecstatic and a happy child makes a happy parent.

            However, there is another option that parents don’t tend to take. While there is an overwhelming amount of fast food chains located just about anywhere, there are also a lot of mom & pop food places. These restaurants are family owned rather than owned by a corporation. Mom & Pop restaurants also usually have fresh cooked meals and great tasting too. Because these dinners are freshly cooked and served, this would take much more time to eat and get back home than someone who went to a fast food restaurant. For this reason many people don’t stop and a mom & pop restaurant even though it  might taste better, be cleaner and also above all be healthier. But, it seems that most Americans today don’t have the energy to get back home from work just to leave again to eat.

            In conclusion, I believe that it’d be nearly impossible for someone to swear off fast food. During someones busy day, fast food simply has too much convenience to be disregarded. Above that, fast food also tastes very good and even I find myself craving fast food every once in a while. However, mom & pop restaurants are also very tasty and I always enjoy a visit to one when I have the time because of the attention to the customer and freshly made food. I think that because of that and because of the healthier choices provided at a mom & pop restaurant it puts it at an advantage over fast food.

Blog Entry 11

Continuing research for my paper has given me enough insight that the topic at hand would be a difficult task to talk directly about. Instead, I have to focus on Food Production, Animal Welfare, and Food Safety separately. After I have provided enough information on the three topics, I could start creating a bridge between the three and state my case in regards on how closely the 3 are interrelated to each other.

From that point, I will try to draw a connection between the three topics and attempt to prove how animal welfare and food production may affect the food safety. If I am able to prove that one does affect the other then I will take a stance on whether or not there is a direct connection between the three topics. I can also provide ways in which how producing the food and better treatment of the animals can improve the safety and lower the risk of possible infections or diseases.

Blog Entry 10: Research

Since blog entry 9, I have done a bit of research and for my topic I noticed that it might be difficult to make a direct connection between the topics of animal welfare and Food safety. So for my essay I've decided to talk briefly about Animal welfare and food safety and then try to draw the connection between the two topics and try to explain what are the potential dangers of the manner in which factory farms treat their animals and the food those same factories distribute.

Animal welfare has always been a shady topic because most big companies don't want any light to be shed on the way they treat their animals but, people do have somewhat of a understanding the conditions they are kept under. The problem is that these huge corporations have money to back up their cause and often get away with it. For example a gag bill that would make taking pictures, recording or filming of livestock production facilities illegal.
SOURCES: Drake Journal of Agricultural Law. Fall2012, Vol. 17 Issue 3, p645-681. 37p.

Blog Entry 9: Reasearch

My research topic is about Animal Welfare. Animal Welfare is about the way that farmers handle their livestock. Because of the desire for more profit more factory farms neglect their animals and keep large amounts of animals together in bad conditions. They don't consider these animals as living creatures but instead as capital to make money. I believe that that there might be some type of connection between how factory farms treat their animals and the safety of the meat that those same animals produce.


If humans become sick due to malnourishment and other factors, could the same happen to a factory owned livestock. If they do get sick, what affect will these sick animals have on us? I also argue for proper treatment of these animals.

Blog Entry 8

As children we were always hypnotized by bright colors, imagination, toys and catchy jingles. We were like mindless consumers demographically spending our parent’s money on anything that made our eyes widen. Of course past generations and generations to come, will love to go to McDonald’s for these reasons. How can I forget going to McDonald’s with my cousins, eating, playing on the playground, laughing and receiving a toy in one trip? Adults everywhere have these nostalgic feelings about McDonald’s. That’s exactly what the corporation worked so hard for many years to do.

           Fast food restaurants spend an obscene amount of money for advertising. It seems like the food has its own make-up artists because their burgers often appear fresh, delicious and enticing enough to make anyone drool. There’s an obvious abundance of these commercials on kids television programming channels such as Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon. The commercials on these channels market very aggressively towards children. Depictions of happy families, toys and Ronald McDonald are more than enough to make a child beg their parents to go.

           While I don’t think it’s a bad thing to let children enjoy themselves but, there is an underlying problem. Due to today’s economic hardships, both parents usually work and are often so tired that they don’t have the energy to cook. McDonald’s is usually the answer where everyone can eat and kids can play. But, most people ignore the fact that fast food is bad for your health and children are eating fast food more often than ever before. The commercials directed at children are very misleading. They use a tone that implies that if kids eat McDonalds they grow big and strong but in fact, child obesity in the states is rising.

In conclusion, its alright that fast food markets to children but there has to be some type of restrictions. Especially considering that the food they advertise can have negative health effects on children. Fast food chains are making a huge profit at the expense of the health of future generations. With the huge amounts of money they receive why isn’t there an initiative to give the children healthier choices of food?

Blog Entry 6: Brand Identification Psychology

A brands logo or name says a lot about the company. It could be something recognized worldwide or condemned for not doing well enough. As people grow older and try various different things like clothes, food or any type of service, we become accustomed to a certain brand that we find superior to the others in terms of quality and service. For instance, someone might like a Honda more than a Toyota because his past experience with a Toyota wasn’t as good as his experiences with a Honda. Since i was young I’ve always loved drinking orange juice. The leader in orange juice in the United states is Tropicana but, I find that their juice is too acidic. Once my throat had been burned by all the juice I drank. In the Dominican Republic there is a drink brand named “Rica”. I’ve prefered their orange juice over any other due to it’s taste which tastes so natural and it’s light enough to be drinking all day and not hurt your throat. Only recently since a few months ago these drinks are being imported into America. It felt like the single greatest news ive ever heard since then, I stock my refrigerator up with them.

I’ve enjoyed these drinks since I was a child so, it’s closely associated with good memories about vacation. When i drink them now, it takes me back to the island, a hot sun and all my family for just a second. It’s a nice nostalgic feeling and I can’t even put into words how great it feels to finally have it back in the states.

Summary and Response Essay

                                         Fast food has become a big part of America’s culture and is consumed almost daily by Americans. In Eric Schlosser’s book Fast Food Nation he describes how big of a empire Fast Food chains have become. He gives an example by describing the “McDonald’s Plaza” and “Hamburger University”. Located in Oak Brook, Illinois this place teaches students proper McDonald’s language and McDonald’s culture. The plaza includes a “McStore” that sells everything that’s McDonald’s and also a Ray Kroc museum. Fast food is advertised as if it's not even food. Children are bombarded with commercials with a cheery jingle, sometimes animated characters and offered a toy with a purchase. The Fast food's companies secret to success is their aggressive marketing to children. But, are all the child advertisements justifiable and moral?

                               Ray Kroc has known Walt Disney since they were young; they’ve served in World War I together and also both moved to California for new business opportunities. Walt Disney gained his success earlier than Ray Kroc did. He was a professional at building his empire based on selling to children. When Kroc convinced the McDonald brothers to sell him the right to franchise McDonald’s globally, he emulated Disney’s marketing technique of selling to children because he knew they are a profitable and easy demographic to manipulate. I remember as a child all the countless McDonald’s commercials and they continue even going on regularly today. Kroc was very competitive; he was determined to be on top of the fast food industry. He described the business as “dog eat dog” and “the American way of survival of the fittest” he was aggressive to his competitors, mentioning that he was “going to kill them before they killed him” (Schlosser 37).

                              Kroc took to advertising to children following Disney’s success because he knew that a child who enjoyed watching a McDonald’s commercial would be inclined to eat there and he/she would have to bring his parents too. This method of advertising brought extra customers to the restaurant to bring their children. Schlosser mentions that in 1960 McDonald’s decided to sponsor Bozo’s Circus, a popular children’s television show at the time. This sponsorship attracted many new customers and proved to be very profitable. So when Bozo’s Circus was canceled McDonald’s took the initiative and created its own mascot and they came up with the instantly famous clown, Ronald McDonald. It's interesting how many children recognize Ronald McDonald at such a early age. After Ronald McDonald, the company created McDonaldland, an imaginary world with bright colors, playgrounds, friendly characters and food and all these elements combined turned children into the largest consumers of fast food.

                               Due to McDonald's and Disney's major success in targeting their advertisements to children, today most large companies aim their advertising at children. They hope that all the advertising at a young age will encourage future sales because of nostalgic adults. It has gotten to the point that today, on children’s TV channels there’s commercials for adult services such as car insurance with animated characters.  According to Schlosser "a persons brand loyalty may begin as early as the age of two" (Schlosser 43). Advertising to children successfully ensures more sales of the product because children persuade their parents to purchase whatever is being advertised for temporary satisfaction. All the commercials targeted at children is a subject of controversy. These advertisements prey on the children's immaturity and they easily become influenced by the television because they don't know any better. As fast food restaurants found out this was the way into kids hearts they mixed advertisement with popular children's TV shows and channels. I remember when I was young McDonald's had a huge promotion for Pokemon and Tamagotchi toys, these fads made children feel like they needed these toys. This associates one thing that the kids like with the advertised product making the positive feelings they get about the programming and the food synonymous.

                               In conclusion, I believe that the current manner that companies aggressively market their products towards children isn't right. I'm not saying that there should be absolutely any commercials towards a child demographic but, to the extent that it is done now it’s ridiculous. Today, children spend more time watching TV than anything else, their babysitter so to speak is the television and all they watch is children programming. Children's TV channels should solely be for kid entertainment purposes. Instead it's used to manipulate young minds at a very early age to be part of the hyper-consumerism society that the United States is obsessed with.