Hamburger and fast Food Industry Essay

Submitted By Hardy-Reeves
Words: 1663
Pages: 7

Marcus Lawrence
October 23, 2006
FYS100-04
Dr. Richard Brown
Fast Food Nation is a book that is all about bringing what goes on behind the counter to real life. America is a place where fast food was born to thrive. With all the up pace, no time lifestyles that most Americans seem to live no wonder so many people are becoming addicted to the fast and convenient food. But as this book points out what seems to be convenient and good for you is truly a plague in disguise. Do not just look at the big corporate logo and see what the company is doing to promote itself. Look beyond the wrapper and see what the industry is doing to our economy. The fast food industry is probably the worst thing to ever be brought upon the American population. Fast food is no longer just something one eats once a month it is more like once a week and for most Americans more than once. Fast food is so ingrained into the fabric of American society that it is now considered a custom that has consumed our society. With food right there at our fingertips how is it that people are not drawn to it? The problem is not that they are drawn to it, it is the amount of times that Americans end up being drawn to it. It is startling to see the how much the amount of overweight, obese and diabetic people has grown within America and there is only source that needs to be blamed—fast food. One of the saddest things about the fast food industry is that it is not only affecting adults, but children as well. The fast food industry has this idea built in their mind that they need to get people hooked while they are children, so they will be guaranteed customers when they grow up. They spend billions of dollars on advertisements alone in a hope to draw people to their product. Yet, we all know who really gets drawn to these advertisements with Ronald McDonald in it; it’s not the parents it’s the child. They also do not just advertise in one way, they have many different strategies to luring kids into buying or wanting their product. Most advertisements are on television, but some end up in schools where kids are forced to go by law and schools are basically forced to accept in order to keep open. That is still not all; the fast food industry also practices what is called synergy. Synergy is when you team up with another force to make something stronger and more successful. The way the fast food industry practices this is by including toys in their happy meals. Kids are drawn to the toys and so in turn more happy meals are sold. The fast food industry really strives for this idea of hooking consumers at a young age, and the poor innocent children of America are the victims. Another very shady thing that goes on with the fast food industry is how they view and treat their workers. The fast food industry wants dumb, illiterate, low class workers because they know that they can misuse them and not get into trouble for it. All fast food restaurants are not unionized, and the fast food industry plans to keep it that way. Whenever there is talk of unionizing the industry sends in a team of managers and attorneys and makes the employees feel better so that they do not unionize and if that does not work they will shut down the restaurant all together. They are looking for the cheapest and most efficient ways to get products to consumers and make money in the process. They try to make managing and running a store as easy and as think free as possible. In essence the fast food industry is trying to make human workers obsolete and make everything that is complicated be done by machines. The industry tries to hire about 50 people for each restaurant so they never have to pay overtime. With a 300-400% turnover rate for jobs this industry is definitely not looking for long term workers and is undoubtedly not looking to pay their workers a lot of money. They basically view their workers as like pieces in a chess game