Fast Food Essay

Total Length: 1247 words ( 4 double-spaced pages)

Total Sources: 1+

Page 1 of 4

Fast Food Industry

In recent times, the fast food industry has grown by leaps and bounds. Today, one can confidently say that the industry, whose background is relatively modest, has in a big way affected the way of life in America. In this text, I concern myself with the impact the fast food industry has had on both the health of the American society and the environment. I also give a personal opinion on whether it is ethical for the fast food industry to rake in profits given the adverse effects of fast foods on consumer health.

Apart from the well documented impact on the health of consumers, the fast food industry has also had far reaching implications on the nation from the cultural and social perspective. Some of the well-known pertinent issues in relation to fast food restaurants include workplace injuries, advent of food-borne infections and obesity (from a cardiovascular point-of-view). However, of the issues I state above, what remains relatively well documented is the effect fast foods have had on the health of consumers. Today, obesity has become a major epidemic in the U.S. with a quarter of those affected comprising of children. It can be noted that although this trend cannot be entirely attributed to fast foods, the role the same has played in the raising rates of obesity cannot be overstated. Indeed, studies have shown that obesity seems to be informed by a wide range of environmental factors including but not in any way limited to the consumption of foods with high levels of calories and avoidance of physical exercise. If this is the case, then the fast food industry stands accused as far as the production of high calorie diets is concerned. For instance, at McDonalds, a large Coke contains 310 calories. Further, according to DeMaria, an individual ingests approximately 73g of fat for every Double Western Bacon Burger consumed (1227-1228).
Hence with the growing popularity of fast foods across the nation, it is relatively easy to map the significant contribution the industry has made towards raising obesity rates.

It can be noted that with increasing rates of obesity, the health of the nation at large has been compromised. Health experts have in the past linked obesity to quite a number of diseases including arthritis, heart complications, diabetes and even hypertension (Shalala and Satcher 29). Research has also shown that obese individuals are more prone to premature deaths than their counterparts who maintain the ideal body weight. This effectively means that the fast food industry also has a hand in the raising mortality rates.

However, it is equally important to note that in the past, several attempts have been made by various players in the fast food industry to sell meals that are healthier and hygienic. However, these efforts have not always borne fruit. For instance, we have had instances where fast food joints have marketed low fat and calorie chicken dishes. The popularity of such moves however remains low in the marketplace mainly due to tastes individuals have cultivated from an early age. Though I will discuss this issue later-on in the paper, such cultivated tastes are largely as a result of aggressive marketing campaigns fast food joints adapt especially to the younger generation thus effectively introducing youngsters to the fast food mentality at a relatively young age. Perhaps this is the reason fast food advertisements targeting youngsters have become an issue of ethical concern.

In passing, it is also prudent to mention that the growing popularity of fast foods could in the long run have far reaching implications for the nation's food supply. Indeed, it was Jim Hightower, a farm activist, who in the 1970s first warned that America's food economy was under threat from big….....

Show More ⇣


     Open the full completed essay and source list


OR

     Order a one-of-a-kind custom essay on this topic


Related Essays

Fast Food Restaurant Security

As with many consumer-oriented businesses, fast food restaurants need to maintain a strong but unobtrusive security profile. Their structures and access points need to remain accessible while still preventing malicious behavior. This security survey of a fast food restaurant provides an example of how to perform a total security audit, identify weaknesses and risks particularly with regards to customer and employee safety, and offer suggestions for improvement. Property and Perimeter The outermost boundaries of the fast food restaurant are the limits of the company’s locus of control. There is a lot the fast food restaurant… Continue Reading...

McDonalds' Healthiest and Least Healthy Meals

McDonalds Corporation is the leading fast food restaurant across the globe and has continued to experience tremendous growth and profitability since inception. This fast food chain restaurant provides different food items that range from snacks to breakfast meals. In the past few years, the restaurant has faced significant attention in relation to the health and nutrition of its fast food items. Consequently, the McDonalds has introduced new food items and discontinued others in attempts to address health concerns. However, the fast food restaurant still has healthy and least healthy meals. This paper compares two meals… Continue Reading...

Anthropological Observations at a Salad Bar

dining than they might at a fast food restaurant but in a casual setting. I noticed that there were many mothers eating food with children. Again, the presence of the salad bar functioned as a compromise. The easily-wiped tables allowed them to engage in casual dining but still eat relatively grown-up food. Children could eat some of the simpler food at the salad bar, such as chicken nuggets (which were still certified organic and vegan, so parents did not need to feel guilty that they were feeding their children junk food) while mothers and fathers could… Continue Reading...

Jerzee Fresh Natural Drinks

hit an apex in terms of sales (Balakrishnan, 2015). Just as fast food firms of yesteryear like Mcdonald's and Burger King are struggling to keep raising year-over-year sales, much the same thing is happening with soft drink giants like Pepsi and Coca-Cola and the soda-based drinks that they sell. A related trend is that those same soda companies are seeing the writing on the wall, so to speak, and they have previously diversified into other NAB drink categories such as energy drinks (e.g. Amp), juice, sports drinks (e.g. Powerade) and so on (Clark, 2014). Three reasons why the author of this… Continue Reading...

How to Judge a Business Idea

fast-food restaurants. Since the introduction of the first Mcdonalds, the fast food type of restaurant has grown extremely quickly and this type of establishment generally serves food that is fairly easy to prepare such as hamburgers, chicken, sandwiches, pizza, Mexican dishes, breakfast and snack items. These types of foods became popular quickly because not only do they taste good, but they are served quick and they are convenient for customers. In fact, most fast food restaurants have a drive through where people do not even have to leave their cars to get their meals and many people eat these meals… Continue Reading...

Super Size Me Documentary Review

It focuses on what it would be like to consume nothing but McDonald’s fast food for an entire month. That is the outlandish premise of the film—and it is more than likely to appeal to two types of people: 1) the health-nutritionist type of person who will approach the film with type of confirmation bias, expecting his or her point of view about how bad for one’s health fast food is to be fully validated, and 2) the extreme spectator type of individual—i.e., a person who is interested in alternative or fringe experiences, things that go against the status quo, experiences that challenge… Continue Reading...

External Business Environment from 3 Squares Restaurant

policies are evolving especially in need to increase awareness towards discouraging the consumption of fast foods. Increased concerns about the calorie content of each food mean the restaurant has to shy away from high-calorie foods. Employment laws relating to employees safety and rights: The adoption of the Affordable Care Act means that the restaurant will have to provide health benefits to full-time employees; failure to this adoption risks the restaurant a $2,000 fine. Others include EEO, the right to work, wage and hours, and whistleblower laws (Blumenthal & Collins, 2014). Evolving dietary guidelines implies that the 3 Squares Restaurant will have to modify restaurants… Continue Reading...

Commercials and the Media

fast food industry also had an incentive to get them young—and that is why in two McDonald’s commercials, each a fifteen second spot, the fast food behemoth uses knowledge and technology to identify itself with natural childhood tenacity, curiosity and the desire to learn and use technology. In the first fifteen second spot from a 2018 campaign for Happy Meals, McDonald’s shows a young African American family: Mom, and two small children seated at a clean booth in McDonald’s by the a large window on which the bottoms of the… Continue Reading...

Healthy Meals Delivered to Elderly

a counter movement can be represented by an organization known as "Slow Food" as a counter to the "Fast Food" obsession that has existed in the population for generations (Slow Food USA, N.d.). However, as pressure continues to mount, even more conservative or moderate movements have also called for the US to rethink its food systems. The problems related to the current food production system are not exclusive to health considerations alone. There are many inefficiencies in the way food and beverages are consumed in the entire cycle of food production, consumption, and disposal. For example, food and beverage waste is becoming an increasingly salient issue as food… Continue Reading...

Evaluating Success of a New Venture 3 Squares

type of food they consume. The strength that business lobbyists in America such as McDonald's have makes it difficult to challenge the growth of fast food restaurants, which are the biggest competitions. The American society is today more conscious of the food… Continue Reading...

Chronic Kidney Disease

communicate the relationship between a diet of fast food and high sugar beverages like soda pop, diabetes, heart disease and chronic kidney disease risk. By considering the point of the view of the environmental public professional, the community is in a better position to take steps to engage in preventive care and stop the spread of diseases like diabetes and chronic kidney disease, which are related by the impact of external, environmental factors that contribute to people’s poor diet choices and ultimately to their poor health. Communities can benefit substantially from the knowledge that environmental public professionals… Continue Reading...

Clean Protein Bars Marketing Plan

Marketing Plan: Clean Protein Bars From boxed cake mixes to fast food, America has long been fascinated with foods that promise to provide a quicker way to eat. But there is also growing concern about the obesity epidemic, as well as a rise in fascination with alternative forms of eating (such as vegan, low-carb, and paleo dining) as well as unconventional forms of exercise. Viewed in conjunction, developing a protein bar that promises health benefits and the virtues of clean eating could be very useful. Many of these types of bars exist, of course, but this new line of protein… Continue Reading...

Significance of Effective Logistics Management at McDonalds

Corporation and challenges in its modern supply chain. McDonalds' Modern Supply Chain Problems McDonalds' Corporation, which is the largest fast food service provider across the globe, has been experiencing challenges with its supply chain. These challenges have been characterized by poor performance, which has forced the company's Chief Executive Officer to depart (New, 2015). One of the major factors behind Mcdonalds' recent poor performance is the origins of its products given that competitors in this industry are renowned for having products and raw materials that reflect freshness, trustworthy sourcing, and health. In essence, Mcdonalds is experiencing challenges in its modern supply chain processes that have generated concerns regarding the… Continue Reading...

Satire in Knox's Chicken Bucket

of booze, schedule 1 narcotics, underage sex, and fried fast food. One could be excused for calling Knox an ironic poet, because if romance and familial relations are the dominant themes of Chicken Bucket they are only so by way of their rather conspicuous absence—at least, a quick examination would lead one to think this. However, romance and familial life are really the heart and soul of Knox’s “Chicken Bucket”—they are just presented in a torpid, mile-a-minute, MTV-addicted, ADHD-suffering manner—which means if you blink you will miss them because they are wedged in between endless lines of drug use,… Continue Reading...

Women S Health and the Issue of Abortion

life expectancy. When you consume fast food as a culture, life will go down, no doubt. To reverse this decline, I would highly recommend starting the Blue Zone diet as it will certainly make people feel healthier and want to live a simpler life. Women’s Choices A woman’s right to choose is so controversial because it is the issue underlying the choice that is polarizing. If it were a matter of a something else—such as a woman’s… Continue Reading...

Zara and Sprint Comparing and Contrasting

of its similar ecological and ethical footprint as fast food (Wicker, 2016). Customer service is roughly equivalent in each store, but there are different customer service needs for a telecommunications versus clothing store. Depending on the Zara store, sales personnel range from totally detached to openly helpful. The same can be said for Sprint. However, a telecommunications company in the United States is bound to have more customer complaints and in fact receives a deplorable one star on the Consumer Affairs website ("Sprint PCS," 2017). It is not so much the physical products that customers will complain about… Continue Reading...

McDonald's

visiting McDonald's partly because most of their fast food restaurants look the same. When everything is uniform from the food to the ambience, and the golden arches that adorn the outside area, it can inspire people to continue going for that semblance of normalcy and repetitive ritual. That repetitive ritual is shown through removing the guesswork of eating there. People know what they will eat, how much it will cost, and how it will taste. This kind of tradition was lacking before the introduction of McDonald's. The article moves from ritual, uniformity, and sacredness and transitions into… Continue Reading...

Health Care and Obesity

navigate it and avoid pitfalls that might lead to poor health (like a habitual fast food diet). The message when reviewed for readability using Word’s readability measure had 0% passive sentences, a Flesch Reading Ease of 41.7% and a Flesh-Kincaid Grade Level of 12.0. For adults in a behavioral health center serving as the target population, I feel this is a satisfactory measure. 2 The obesity epidemic is a global health issue that demonstrates health disparities and an effect on many communities that have gotten away from traditional, organic diets. As the World Health Organization (2018) points out, global obesity has tripled since 1975.… Continue Reading...

Coca Cola Mission Vision and Values

company's main rival, PepsiCo, owns a number of snack food brands and once owned fast food franchises, so there is a certain statement of intent with respect to being a beverage company embedded here. The second clause reflects the brand personality. The company's products aren't particularly good in any objective way, but the marketing around them is universally upbeat and positive. Further, this clause can have internal value as well – optimism and happiness as part of the mission can be expressed internally, such that employees who are in different states of challenge and conflict can view this as an imperative and maybe keep… Continue Reading...

American Body Culture Annotated Bibliography

Anxieties." Journal of Popular Culture 43, no. 3 (2010): 441-462. Courtney discusses the impact of fast food on the health of Americans focusing on the documentary film "Super-Size Me" that accuses Mcdonald as the major contributor of health effects of American people. According to the author, the obesity is threatening the health of the American society because there is likely to be an increase in the childhood obesity in the nearest future. Thus, the author suggests that Americans should inculcate a diet culture to get thin. Carla, Rice. "Becoming "the Fat Girl": Acquisition of an Unfit Identity." Women's Studies International Forum 30, no. 2 (2007):… Continue Reading...

sample essay writing service

Cite This Resource:

Latest APA Format (6th edition)

Copy Reference
"Fast Food" (2011, October 04) Retrieved June 18, 2024, from
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/fast-food-46053

Latest MLA Format (8th edition)

Copy Reference
"Fast Food" 04 October 2011. Web.18 June. 2024. <
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/fast-food-46053>

Latest Chicago Format (16th edition)

Copy Reference
"Fast Food", 04 October 2011, Accessed.18 June. 2024,
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/fast-food-46053