Cheyenne Mountain sits along the eastern slope of Colorado’s Front Range, quietly standing above the city of Colorado Springs and its vast prairies. From a distance, the mountain appears placid, dusted with a rocky layer of snow and scattered with ponderosa pine, oak, and blue spruce trees. However, the mountain is hardly pristine. Deep within the walls of Cheyenne Mountain, one of the most important military installations exists, carrying out top-secret operations. Amid the medical and fitness center, chapel, and barbershop, trash cans are filled with empty pizza boxes, crushed soft drink cups, and bags from miscellaneous fast food joints. Even in the most high-security and unknown places, fast food seeps through changing the way people live (Schlosser 1-2).
Over the last couple of decades, the fast food industry has cemented itself within every city in America and in foreign countries, but name-brand companies have not always been seen by the public eye. The industry began in the late 1920s as a couple of small-scale hotdog and hamburger stands in southern California. As people like Carl Karcher, Glen Bell, and the McDonald brothers realized the number of profits they gained each month from selling these foods, they began naming their stands and selling distinctive menu items to attract more customers. After World War II, most fast-food joints had migrated across America and new fast-food restaurants popped up in states that did not yet have one to visit. By the Eisenhower era, the “hamburger and french fries became the quintessential American meal… thanks to the promotional efforts” of fast food chains (Schlosser 6). Now, fast food is seen everywhere; airports, zoos, malls, gas stations, grocery stores, hospitals, cruise ships, and schools. The popularity of the fast food industry has masterfully influenced many aspects of human life.
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The fast food industry has imprinted core values of harmful health on society creating corrupt mentalities and an influx of body issues. In today’s culture, people regard what is easily accessible over the quality of hard work and management. These increased behaviors from frequent consumers negatively reinforce immediate gratification and unrealistic expectations (Ernest and Kelloff 2). A person’s natural response, when stressed and hungry, is to attain something fast to eat, rationalizing that the productivity gain is worth the nutritional risk. When a person continues to satisfy this response with immediate gratification, the framework for complex decision-making decreases dramatically. The lack of this ability can result in constant dependence on service recommendations, failure to comprehend activities, present no personal investment, and passing off responsibility (Ernest and Kelloff 2).
Within the fast food culture, there are trends of unrealistic expectations in the relationship of quality, quantity, and price. Most enjoy the idea of fresh, sustainable foods however, are unwilling to pay a fair price for it, and with the unfamiliarity behind the transportation of food from farms to plates, peoples’ reliance on fast food grows. Knowing that fast food restaurants provide less expensive options, gathering ingredients from supermarkets seems ridiculous especially when the price is almost double (Ernest and Kelloff 4). As a growing Populus, “it is important to identify the fast food behaviors… so remedies and a re-engaging of health values can be applied” before the complete destruction of intellectual mindsets (Ernest and Kelloff 7).
The rise in fast food has created a profound effect on the physical health of individuals. According to “13 Effects of Fast Food on the Body”, fast food has been specifically designed to taste pleasant by being loaded down with carbohydrates, added sugars, fats, and sodium (1). In addition to containing high amounts of calories and little to no nutritional value, the foods served in these restaurants lead to chronic illnesses and diseases. Obesity is the number one ailment due to fast food, but it can also cause respiratory, digestive, and cardiovascular issues as well as disrupt body functions.
Respiratory problems are associated with obesity and “may cause shortness of breath or wheezing with little exertion” and “plays a role in the development of sleep apnea and asthma” within adults and children (“13 Effects of Fast 2”). These diseases prohibit not only children and adults from exercise lead activities but also restrict them from a normal circadian cycle. The digestive system is responsible for breaking down carbs into glucose and releasing it into the bloodstream to feed the cells of the body however, with the excessive intake of large levels of carbs, the spike in blood sugar starts altering the normal insulin response. This abnormal response contributes to insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes (“13 Effects of Fast 1”). Added concentrations of sodium from these dense foods help advance cardiovascular complications. Sodium helps retain water causing general puffiness and bloating, but continual consumption may result in high blood pressure, enlargement of the heart muscle, congestive heart failure, cirrhosis of the liver, and kidney disease (“13 Effects of Fast 1”). Without proper care, these illnesses can turn progressive leading to an untimely death. While most of these ailments take a long time to process through the body and develop, fast food has immediate negative effects as well. According to Dr. Rachna Pandey, a specialist in internal medicines, states “one tends to feel drowsy after consuming fast food as the only meal... and while being deprived of the nutrients, one can feel depressed or angry without reason” because of altered brain chemistry (“Why Fast Foods Should 2”). For the normal processes of the body to occur, the right amount of regulated chemicals must be registered in the brain, but fatty foods can deflect these activities from happening. For instance, when fats reach the brain, it slows down the cognitive level thus, slowing down concentration, learning, and remembering things.
The fast food industry transformed culture into an era that lives off child marketing, creating new technology, and changing the family dynamic during meal time. Fast food sought out advertising to children in the late 70s in the hope that once children become familiar with the happiness they received from the company, they would become lifetime customers (Schlosser 43). This idea sparked fast food companies to manufacture commercials tailored to children's interests. It was important that most commercials consisted of bright colors, toys, cartoon characters, playgrounds, and children like them enjoying themselves to increase their likelihood of visiting their establishment. For example, Taco Bell’s talking chihuahua ad was the most popular commercial in the late 90s among kids because the comedy was for their age group (Schlosser 41). Though these commercials brought in plenty of customers, they also made other non-kid-friendly companies target children as well as bring on bad behavior. In 1991, the Joe Camel ad campaign used a cool cartoon character to sell cigarettes, and “nearly all of America’s six-year-olds could identify Joe Camel, who was just as familiar to them as Mickey Mouse” (Schlosser 42). Around twenty-five years ago, “only a handful of American companies directed their marketing towards children” though, today they are targeted for everything including phones, oil, automobiles, and clothing influencing their choices, good or bad (Schlosser 42).
Commercials are not the only way fast food chains are reaching children. Fast food chains are not “shy about plans to infiltrate kids’ lives through the educational system” with teachers and standardized testing (Joiner 2). For years, McDonald’s has been holding controversial teacher nights in which teachers serve kids their dinner to raise money. Children respect their teachers and find them trustworthy so by having teachers work at these restaurants the chains are hoping kids will believe that eating out is a good thing. Fast food places are also using school mornings to promote free breakfasts before testing to teachers and children who attend third grade to high school (Joiner 2). In addition, most fast food restaurants that offer breakfast have extended their breakfast times into an all-day event so kids can still buy their favorite items from the morning after testing. Josh Brolin, the executive director of Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, states that “to leverage that to sell kids junk food is preposterous and egregious” to today's standards and should not be allowed (Joiner 2).
As the fast food industry has grown, so has technology. Fast-food restaurants have perfected the way they select sites for new buildings. In the 1980s, fast food chains became “ one of the world’s leading purchasers of commercial satellite photography” to predict the best open places from outer space (Schlosser 66). Though for a while this tactic did work, chains sought out other more effective ways to find first-rate sites before their competitors. Mcdonald’s developed a computer program called the Quintillion that selected sites with maps, demographic information, CAD drawings, and profits from existing stores (Schlosser 66). Once the corporation details were leaked, many found it uncanny to be spied on by a business however, many retailers still use this system to select sites today despite the controversy.
One of the most important cultural changes undergone by the fast food industry is the switch in family dynamics. Traditional family dinners at home “promoted unity, affection, self-expression, discipline, emotional health, and nutritional eating habits” which in return helped the maintenance of each person’s personality and manners (Burd 2). However, with the abundance of food after World War II, attitudes were shaped to think that convenience was more important than waiting for dinner with the family. To help progress this idea, the mass media began to manipulate realities with advertising by delivering “nostalgic and romantic images of the family to create a desire for corporate commodities” (Burd 2). Yet, this dining experience falsely simulated traditional family dinners. People no longer had to dress up, plan, and have manners to eat and children could enjoy distractions from parents' control with playgrounds, coloring, and toys. Fast food “re-creates an image of the past”, but could not be farther from it (Burd 3).
Factory farming “is an industrial process in which animals and the products they generate are mass produced” to keep up with the intense demand from the fast food industry (Factory Farming 1). In the eyes of farmers, factory farming is just another business, yet the animals that live on these farms live a tremendously appalling lifestyle. Farmers cut costs by “feeding animals the remains of other animals, keeping them in extremely small and soiled enclosures, and refusing to provide bedding” as well as force-feeding them drugs and denying social interaction (Factory Farming 1). Chickens, such as broiler and layer, are bred to be so heavy that their own bones cannot support the weight often resulting in broken legs. Moreover, these chickens live in wire cages that... For the maximum amount of profits, American farmers have expanded themselves within other countries According to George Bernard Shaw, “We are living graves of murdered beasts, slaughtered to satisfy our appetites… how can we hope in this world to attain peace” when animal cruelty is part of our lives every day (Factory Farming 7).
The fast food industry has not only impacted the way animals are raised but questioned the future livelihood of the environment. For years, packaging waste from this restaurant has created a serious problem for the ecosystem. According to “McDonald’s Environmental Issues”, fast food outlets “use tons of unnecessary packaging every day” to maintain convenience and portability for customers (2). To combat backlash from environmental enthusiasts and government-sponsored organizations, many corporations have tried to reduce the waste they produce though, their efforts cause significant environmental pollution and health issues. In Europe, over “50 million tons of packaging wastes are produced every year”, yet burning this amount of waste releases harmful chemicals into the atmosphere resulting in global warming (McDonald’s Environmental Issues 2). Global warming is the root problem for the rising temperatures in colder regions, extinction of animals, and natural disasters like hurricanes and wildfires, and with the continuation of these problems, the Earth will be forever changed for the worse. Landfills, likewise, pollute and kill underground animals and marine life thus, polluting humans that consume them (McDonald’s Environmental Issues 1). Additionally, many joints buy their meat from privatized farms. These farms cause deforestation among foreign rainforests due to building space, agriculture production, and livestock grazing….
The economic factors constructed by the fast food corporation shaped business competition and caused the decline of American Ranchers. Because of the rise in fast food’s message on convenience, the recession of supermarkets began. To resist extinction firms like Hyvee, Koo Koo Roo, Kenny Rogers, and Boston Market promoted fully prepared carry-in and carry-out meals that advertised a home-cooked image (Jekanowski 2). These meal choices often contained a multitude of vegetable and fruit choices that provided a higher nutritional balance for the body as well as being affordable and convenient, qualities fast food outlets lacked. In 1997, supermarkets were estimated to make 7 billion dollars to 14 billion dollars a year on their meal plan, just 6 billion dollars under the fast food industry income, which would soon “become a major competitor to traditional fast food” (Jekanowski 3). This lifestyle adjustment not only saved supermarkets but added a new economic boost to a slow economy and changed how shoppers spend their time while browsing.
Home-owned businesses do not have the same luck as supermarkets. Due to the sizable success of the fast food industry, many other outlets began to adopt centralized business methods. Ray Kroc, one of the founders of the McDonald’s franchise, argues “customers are drawn to familiar brands by an instinct to avoid the unknown ” therefore, reassuring the fact that they believe their organization to be more trustworthy than that of an independent business (Schlosser 5). The steady increase of uniformity corporations in recent years has opened the mindset that nonconformists are less worthy of being on the market to sell products and in time will destroy small-time businesses.
With the growth of fast food’s use of the meatpacking industry, the economic situation for American ranchers has drastically been remodeled, hurling them into a life of struggle. Over the past twenty years, “about half a million ranchers sold off their cattle and quit the business” due to stagnant prices, increased shipments of cattle from Mexico and Canada, and health scares about beef (Schlosser 136). Farmers that remain within the business lose independence from larger corporations conforming to losing land and becoming managers for absent owners who in return personally profit greatly unlike them. Rural towns “are losing their middle class and becoming… divided between a small, wealthy elite class” and the working poor (Schlosser 8). Towns that were once revered as big competitors in the business are facing major repercussions, turning into ghettos where crime rates are high and suicide rates are climbing.
For generations, fast-food restaurants have treated their employees unfairly encouraging the early sexualization of women and a powerfully violent environment for young teens and adults. During the early 40s, fast food joints sought out a new way to attract customers to their doors. Most stores “could no longer afford to be subtle” so they “tended to be gaudy and round, topped with pylons, towers, and flashing signs” where motorists could see them passing at high speeds (Schlosser 17). Though the nature of the building appealed greatly to consumers, outlets soon turned to women and automobiles to fully accomplish their goals. Women were not wanted because of their ability to compose a friendly manner towards customers, but to lure men into the restaurant with their bodies. These waitresses, known as carhops, often wore “short skirts and dressed up like cowgirls, majorettes, and Scottish lasses”, outfits that at the time for young girls were outright skimpy and sexy (Schlosser 1). For these carhops, jobs were not always safe. Women often received unwanted attention from vulgar, obsessed men who harassed, raped, and killed them because of the nonexistent ...The relevance of women and sexualization is still prevalent in today’s society. Commercials, billboards, and radio ads still use women to…
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