Obesity
Jacob Malka
Darlene Hilton Bird
English 155
May 5, 2010
Don’t Eat That Burger! In today’s day and age, the chains of fast food restaurants are growing and increasing at an alarming rate. As a result, a race has emerged. This race is not one where cars are to cross a finish line, but a race to see which restaurants can make the cheapest priced food while maximizing their profits. These fast food restaurants provide the consumers, to which they cater to, with tasty calorie dense food that is unhealthy, and consumed on a regular basis. All of these variables have resulted in the obesity pandemic that we are fighting today. It is twelve o’clock on a Monday. Lunchtime has arrived and you see most of the employees in the office go out to lunch at the closest and cheapest restaurant. They walk into the burger king across the street from their office and order a hamburger, french-fries, and a coca-cola. This is the typical lunch for most Americans living in the U.S. After they finish eating they return to the office and just go right back to work on their computers, where they are inactive until they finish working. Little do they know that after a while all of this will start to take its toll on their body. With this being said it seems as if the blame for this countrywide epidemic should be thrust upon the restaurants serving these foods, but in reality the blame is on the obese consumers. Consumers are attracted to things that are portrayed and advertised in the media. When you turn on the TV at home after a long day of work, you cannot watch any of your favorite TV shows for longer than fifteen minutes without watching at least one commercial for a hamburger from “Burger King”, or “McDonalds”. This results in consumers going to the advertised restaurants and buying one of the burgers they saw on TV and becoming accustomed to eating this cheap tasty food. The price of this food is what reels-them-in in the beginning, but the taste keeps them
Darlene Hilton Bird
English 155
May 5, 2010
Don’t Eat That Burger! In today’s day and age, the chains of fast food restaurants are growing and increasing at an alarming rate. As a result, a race has emerged. This race is not one where cars are to cross a finish line, but a race to see which restaurants can make the cheapest priced food while maximizing their profits. These fast food restaurants provide the consumers, to which they cater to, with tasty calorie dense food that is unhealthy, and consumed on a regular basis. All of these variables have resulted in the obesity pandemic that we are fighting today. It is twelve o’clock on a Monday. Lunchtime has arrived and you see most of the employees in the office go out to lunch at the closest and cheapest restaurant. They walk into the burger king across the street from their office and order a hamburger, french-fries, and a coca-cola. This is the typical lunch for most Americans living in the U.S. After they finish eating they return to the office and just go right back to work on their computers, where they are inactive until they finish working. Little do they know that after a while all of this will start to take its toll on their body. With this being said it seems as if the blame for this countrywide epidemic should be thrust upon the restaurants serving these foods, but in reality the blame is on the obese consumers. Consumers are attracted to things that are portrayed and advertised in the media. When you turn on the TV at home after a long day of work, you cannot watch any of your favorite TV shows for longer than fifteen minutes without watching at least one commercial for a hamburger from “Burger King”, or “McDonalds”. This results in consumers going to the advertised restaurants and buying one of the burgers they saw on TV and becoming accustomed to eating this cheap tasty food. The price of this food is what reels-them-in in the beginning, but the taste keeps them
Cited: Crister, Greg. “Don’t Eat the Flan” Models for Writers. Eds. Rosa, Alfred and Eschholz, Paul. Boston: Bedford, 2007. Fassl, Joyce. "How to quell the great American appetite. (Editor 's Note)." Food Engineering 75.2 (2003): 6. General OneFile. Web. 13 March. 2010. . Macarthur, Kate. "KFC spells it out: Chain takes pride in being fried; Returns to full name, big bucket to regain sales lost after Roasted rollout." Advertising Age 76.17 (2005): 3. General OneFile. Web. 13 March. 2010. . Motluk, Alison. “Supersize Me: Its Time to Stop Blaming Fat People for Their Size” Models for Writers. Eds. Rosa, Alfred and Eschholz, Paul. Boston: Bedford, 2007.