The all American meal that has become popular all over the world comes with a price. What made it popular around the world was the ability to provide cost effective delicious food at the blink of an eye. The fast food chains have worked hard to maintain the cost advantage over other forms of food but in the process they have neglected the quality of food products they are using. The consuming of fast food to the level of abuse has left many of the younger generation obese and lethargic and causing the various types of diseases. As if this was not enough, the fast food industries has recently been embroiled in a number of financial and legal tussles and they have not come out entirely clean in all of them. First of all, the fast food workers have started to demand a higher share in the astronomical profits generated by their leading chains. It won’t be wrong to say that the shortage of jobs has made the food chains a top employer of the high school and even college graduates. There are various movements of fast food workers’ union who are aiming to reduce the level of exploitation faced by their members. One of the popular slogans being shouted nowadays is “Exploitation, Not Lovin’ it!” which mocks the official slogan of Mcdonald. The difference between the wages of an average worker and CEO of a company shows the level of eqiuality being practiced in a company. The fast food chains are one of the worst companies in that regard because they have the highest differences between the CEO and average level employee’s wages (Nall, 2014).
The most popular association in recent times has been the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). The stance taken by this organization is much clearer than the rest as it has clearly defined its goals and marked its milestones. It is also considered one of the most active labor unions across the country and its numbers are increasing everyday (Williams, 2013).
The adverse health effects of fast food consumption have been noticed by the government such that the first lady Michelle Obama has become an active supporter in the eat green campaign. Since polls show her popularity to be even higher than her husband’s in recent years, it is hoped that her involvement will result in more public awareness against the overconsumption of fast food. She has been working with several corporations that promote healthy food among young adolescents and children. She also wants to campaign against the mass level junk food marketing being done towards the younger generation. It is hoped that with her on board, the Macs and the zingers will find much less time on air than her husband for once! (Simon, 2014)
The most important way to curb the fast food consumption is to find healthier quick fix foods than these saturated fats laced ones. Many people are so much busy with their hushed up lives that they find no time for cooking and eating good food. The fast food chains have capitalized on this by opening chains in places where this effect can be exploited. So, it is the need of the hour to develop and market alternate delicious food products of salads and vegetables (Convenience Kills, n.d.). The first burgers that were introduced in the world were nothing more than easy meals for the working population so that they could be forced to eat while working in the dangerous coal mines and steam boilers. It seems that despite the modern era, we are being forced to work like that with the same food in hand. The people need to realize this and start eating better foods.
There is a dire need to brand the “slow foods” in the pattern of the fast food. There is a great example of a university student named Jen, who arranged slow food meals in collaboration with her friends and helped in their good will marketing. Within a few months, she was organizing dinners and feasts for hundreds of people who had started to develop a taste for them. According to her, these foods cost less and have much more nutrition and vitamin values than their fast counterparts (Webster, 2012).This is an excellent idea as the awareness and maturity is needed above all to minimize the consumption of the junk food. The slow foods can also be related to the environment, organic farming and vegetarian revolution movements. These movements combined together can achieve the results for the future of food itself.
Works Cited
Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 6th ed. New York: MLA, 2003.
Webster, Sandy Todd. “The Fast Food Fallacy”. Ideafit.com. January 2012. Date of access 29 October 2014. http://www.ideafit.com/fitness-library/the-fast-foo
Simon, Michelle. “The Fallacy of Marketing “healthy food” to Youth”. Aljazeera.com. February 14, 2014. Date of access 29 October 2014. http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/2/junk-food-marketingsesamestreetsubwaymichelleobamaletsmove.html
Williams, Ryan. “WCW: Union-Funded Activists Peddle Fast Food Fallacies Through
Report. Octover 5, 2013. Date of access 29 October 2014.
http://www.workercenterwatch.com/wcw-union-funded-activists-peddle-fast-
food-fallacies-through-report/
“Convenience Kills” Fallacious Food. . Date of access 29 October 2014. https://sites.google.com/site/foodfallacy/convenience-kills
Nall, Jeffrey. “One Hundred Ways to Change the Subject: Plutocratic Fallacies in the
Service of Fast-Food Exploitation” Truthout. September 1 2014. . Date of access
29 October 2014. http://truth-out.org/news/item/25830-101-ways-to-change-the-
