Children’s Role in the Success of Fast Food Companies
Have you ever wondered how fast food companies are still successful even after the public views their product as unhealthy? If you have, the answer is so simple yet you might not realize how obvious it is: marketing to children. After reading several articles and essays on fast food companies and obesity, two papers stood out to me. The two articles are "Don 't Blame the Eater" by David Zinczenko, which talks about child obesity and who is ultimately responsible for this problem, and the essay "Your Trusted Friends" by Eric Scholsser, which talks about how corporations such as McDonald 's and Disney run and how they use their marketing strategy and target the children. The two papers have …show more content…
If it’s cheaper, we usually go for it. The National Post states that eating a healthy meal weekly will cost you $2,000 a year more than an unhealthy meal would. The problem with this vast gap in prices is that because the economy is suffering, people’s incomes are falling, forcing them to buy the cheaper necessities or products, which would be fast food in this case or unhealthy food in general. Mayuree Rao, a research fellow in the Harvard Department of Epidemiology, stated that “such costs [could] strongly limit better diet habits”(Rehel). Unfortunately, Rao is right. Now, we’d prefer to buy something cheap rather than something healthy due to how much these meals are worth. In the article “Don’t Blame the Eater,” David Zinczenko mentions his past experience, “[growing] up as a typical mid-1980’s latchkey kid”(Zinczenko, 3). He also mentions how his dinner and lunch options are mostly fast food products. Zinczenko was not the only one who grew up this way. Even today, there are still kids who come home when their parents are away and given money to buy food for lunch and/or dinner on their own. The low price of fast food products affects these latchkey kids even worse. By letting fast food companies to set the price of their products lower than healthier meals, we give our youth fewer reasons to improve their eating habits If that was not bad enough, Americans are now trying to please their kids while …show more content…
In the essay, “Your Trusted Friends,” Scholsser talks about the comparison between Walt Disney and Ray A. Kroc, the founder of the McDonald’s company. In his essay, Scholsser explains how the company was opposed to Kroc’s idea of building a large theme park. Scholsser later explained, “Instead of buying or investing in a large theme park,...[the company] built small Playlands and McDonaldlands all over the United States”(Scholsser, 12). This way, the company would not have to focus on bringing the customer to one specific place. Instead, customers can just take their kids to the local Playland and spend their money on the fast food products. When parents take their kids to one of these local playlands, they will definitely feed their children with junk food that is sold there. These parents think that they are bringing in their children to have fun. While in reality, they are bringing in their children to make them fat. However, why stop the fun at the store when you can take it
Have you ever wondered how fast food companies are still successful even after the public views their product as unhealthy? If you have, the answer is so simple yet you might not realize how obvious it is: marketing to children. After reading several articles and essays on fast food companies and obesity, two papers stood out to me. The two articles are "Don 't Blame the Eater" by David Zinczenko, which talks about child obesity and who is ultimately responsible for this problem, and the essay "Your Trusted Friends" by Eric Scholsser, which talks about how corporations such as McDonald 's and Disney run and how they use their marketing strategy and target the children. The two papers have …show more content…
If it’s cheaper, we usually go for it. The National Post states that eating a healthy meal weekly will cost you $2,000 a year more than an unhealthy meal would. The problem with this vast gap in prices is that because the economy is suffering, people’s incomes are falling, forcing them to buy the cheaper necessities or products, which would be fast food in this case or unhealthy food in general. Mayuree Rao, a research fellow in the Harvard Department of Epidemiology, stated that “such costs [could] strongly limit better diet habits”(Rehel). Unfortunately, Rao is right. Now, we’d prefer to buy something cheap rather than something healthy due to how much these meals are worth. In the article “Don’t Blame the Eater,” David Zinczenko mentions his past experience, “[growing] up as a typical mid-1980’s latchkey kid”(Zinczenko, 3). He also mentions how his dinner and lunch options are mostly fast food products. Zinczenko was not the only one who grew up this way. Even today, there are still kids who come home when their parents are away and given money to buy food for lunch and/or dinner on their own. The low price of fast food products affects these latchkey kids even worse. By letting fast food companies to set the price of their products lower than healthier meals, we give our youth fewer reasons to improve their eating habits If that was not bad enough, Americans are now trying to please their kids while …show more content…
In the essay, “Your Trusted Friends,” Scholsser talks about the comparison between Walt Disney and Ray A. Kroc, the founder of the McDonald’s company. In his essay, Scholsser explains how the company was opposed to Kroc’s idea of building a large theme park. Scholsser later explained, “Instead of buying or investing in a large theme park,...[the company] built small Playlands and McDonaldlands all over the United States”(Scholsser, 12). This way, the company would not have to focus on bringing the customer to one specific place. Instead, customers can just take their kids to the local Playland and spend their money on the fast food products. When parents take their kids to one of these local playlands, they will definitely feed their children with junk food that is sold there. These parents think that they are bringing in their children to have fun. While in reality, they are bringing in their children to make them fat. However, why stop the fun at the store when you can take it