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Tami Finlayson
Kim Strickland
ENG1010
17 July 2015
Fast Food Commonsense
The topic of fast food restaurants and their contribution to the obesity epidemic in the
United States has come up in both of my summer courses, English and Consumerism, so I
wanted to explore this issue even deeper. In Consumerism, we studied the ways that fast food
restaurants are targeting children in their marketing efforts. In English, the David Zinczenko
essay titled, “Don’t Blame the Eater,” gave us the opportunity to question whose responsibility
it is to educate children on the dangerous health risks that come with eating fast food. I am
going to explore the perspectives of the fast food industry, parents, and the government to
form my opinion on the subject
Parents:
The perspectives of parents seem to range from the extreme cases like the Pelman’s
who opened a lawsuit against McDonald’s for making their daughter fat (Sweet,
Casewatch.org), and parents like those of 9 year old Hannah Robertson who have thoroughly
educated their daughter on the health risks associated with eating fast food (“McDonald's CEO
Responds,” ABC News). Most parents fall somewhere in the middle, they feel the marketing
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campaigns targeting their children put their kids at risk, but these parents also understand that
they control how often they take their kids to eat fast food.
As a parent, I find that the toys do provide an incentive for kids to ask to eat at
McDonald’s or other fast food chains. Kid’s want to feel included, and when other kids bring
the toys to the playground, it makes my kid feel like they need the latest McDonald’s offering
too so they don’t feel left out of the fun. I’ve used McDonald’s myself as an incentive for my
child to pick up additional chores, because she wanted to go to McDonald’s and get the toy that
was being offered that attached to the zipper on her backpack.
There are several ways marketers reach our kids. Some of the ads we have control over
if our children see them or not. For example, as a parent I choose if my child is allowed to
watch children’s television networks where over 70% of ads on Nickelodeon are for junk foods
(cspinet.org). However, I can’t keep my kid from going to school where there are candy and
soda machines in the hallways, or going out on the playground to have another kid talk about
the latest toy as I discussed above.
The good news for parents is the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) acknowledges
that American families eat and drink most of our calories away from our homes. The new
labeling requirements will help American’s make more informed decisions when eating out at
restaurants, especially parents who are trying to instill healthy habits within your kids at an
early age. It was pretty eye opening to me to really look how minor changes to a happy meal
can add up to lots of unnecessary calories. For example, adding 2 chicken nuggets, choosing
extra fries over apples, one ranch dipping sauce, and 1 sprite with no refill was 430 added
calories on top of the standard chicken nugget meal (4 nuggets, child fry, and a bottle water)
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This would put that kids meal at 720 calories and we haven’t even considered the fat, salt, and
sugar intake!
Fast Food Industry
Fast food is a business, businesses want to make money, and to make money you have
to have a product or service that people want to buy. I would say the 160 billion dollars spent
annually (“Fast Food Industry Analysis”) on fast food is proof that they are serving products that
people want to buy. Convenience often overrules the knowledge that fast food can lead to
diabetes, obesity, and hypertension (“Childhood Lost”, Physicians Committee).
Can you really fault the fast food industry for carrying the items that are proven to sell?
CEO of McDonald’s, Donald Thompson, shares some of the healthier options that McDonald’s
does offer, “We have great side salads. They don’t represent a lot of our sales but we have
great salads. We have a snack wraps and smaller sizes. We have apples and smoothies.”
(“Donald Thompson Blames Parents”) His statement shows us that even though McDonald’s
has added more health conscious options, they aren’t making up a large percentage of
McDonald’s total sales.
In Judge Robert Sweet’s dismissal report of the allegations of negligence by McDonalds’s
Corporation he wrote, “There is no allegation that McDonalds of New York has produced or
distributed a product that is so dangerous that its danger is outside the reasonable
understanding of a consumer” (Sweet, Casewatch.org). Judge Sweet is correct, there is nothing
on McDonald’s menu that if consumed in moderation and in a sensible portion size that will be
detrimental to the consumer. It’s when the consumer eats it in excess that the effects of food
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that is high in fat, sugar, sodium, and calories starts to affect the long term health of that
individual.
The National Center for Education Statistics reports that, “Practically all public schools
(99 percent) offer nutrition education somewhere within the curriculum, and many (70
percent) integrate it within the total curriculum (nces.ed.gov). Fast Food establishments can
argue that the public schools should be including any health warnings in their curriculums that
teach students that over indulging in highly processed, high calorie, foods that are high in
sodium and saturated fats can lead to health risks.
Government
After the controversial and highly publicized lawsuit Pelman vs. McDonald’s in 2002, 26
states have now passed Commonsense Consumption Acts (CCA’s). If you live in one of the 26
states, it would prohibit you from pursuing any litigation against a manufacturer, marketer,
distributor, advertiser, or seller of food or a trade association for any injury related to a
person's accumulated acts of consumption of food and weight gain, obesity, or any associated
health condition.” (“H.R.554 - Personal Responsibility”)
I found an interesting article on the Washington Post website titled, “These 26 states
won’t let you sue McDonald’s for making you fat. The surprising consequence of banning
obesity lawsuits.” This article references a study done by Vanderbilt University that shows a
trend that in the states that have banned these lawsuits, residents became more motivated to
eat better and exercise. Another interesting effect of the Commonsense Consumption Act is
that fast food employment rates increased by 3.7% in the states that passed these bills. There
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is no statistical data that shows why there was an increase, but many speculate that it may be
that fast food companies were more willing to experiment with healthier menu options in these
states, which required an increased demand for employees to prep these new items.
Conclusion:
Taking all the research I did into consideration, I feel it is the responsibility of the
consumer, or the consumer’s parent if they are a minor, to use commonsense when making
food choices. It is not the responsibility of the fast food restaurant or candy manufacturer to
educate me or my children on the proven fact that excessive amounts of sugar and/or high
calorie food will affect my weight and overall health. I do believe the new nutrition menu
labeling requirements give parents better tools to make these types of decisions.
Utah is one of the states that have adopted a commonsense consumption law. I feel
strongly that frivolous and irresponsible people should not receive financial compensation
because they didn’t use commonsense when deciding what to put into their mouth. I wish the
produce and meat suppliers would do their parts in the obesity problem in America by making
fresh produce and lean meats more affordable to families.
Our family recently got the news that my husband had high cholesterol, high blood
pressure, and was on the verge of diabetes. The doctor told him if he didn’t change his eating
habits now, he would probably have a heart attack in the next two years. In our lifestyle
change, it was eye opening to see the amount of money we spent on food increase by so much.
He was spending less eating out at fast food restaurants!
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The most interesting part of my research was reading the 65 page dismissal written by the
Judge Sweet when we made his ruling. I enjoyed reading the defense against the allegations
that were made against McDonald’s. I didn’t realize how many ingredients there were in
McDonald’s french fries, and how many I couldn’t pronounce. You would think the ingredient
list for french fries should look something like this: Potatoes, Oil, and Salt. The actual ingredient
list for McDonald’s french fries are; Potatoes, Vegetable Oil (Canola Oil, Soybean
Oil, Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Natural Beef Flavor [Wheat and Milk Derivatives]*, Citric Acid
[Preservative]), Dextrose, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate (Maintain Color), Salt.
Parents, do your research and teach your kids healthy eating habits when they are young.
The extra money spent now on healthy foods will save you lots of money in healthcare costs in
the future. In addition, in my own experience the quality of our life has been greatly improved
since we’ve changed our diet. We are more energetic, have healthier skin and hair, and just
overall feel better. You can’t put a price tag on that.
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Works Cited:

Sweet, Robert. "Pelman vs. McDonald's Dismissal." www.Casewatch.org. 23 Jan. 2003.
Web.

Kim, Susanna. "McDonald's CEO Responds to 9-Year-Old Girl Who Claims Kids Are Being
Tricked." ABC News. ABC News Network, 24 May 2013. Web.

"Nearly 70% of Food Ads on Nickelodeon Are for Junk.” CSPI Center for Science in the
Public Interest. Web.

"Fast Food Industry Analysis 2015 - Cost & Trends." Franchise Help. Web.

"Childhood Lost: How the Happy Meal Can Lead to Diabetes, Obesity, and
Hypertension." The Physicians Committee. 13 June 2014. Web.

"Donald Thompson CEO of McDonalds Blames Parents for Fat Children [VIDEO]." Value
Walk. Web.

"Nutrition Education in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools." National Center for
Education Statistics. Web.

"H.R.554 - Personal Responsibility in Food Consumption Act of 2005 109th Congress
(2005-2006)." H.R.554. Congress.Gov, 2 Feb. 2005. Web.

"These 26 States Won't Let You Sue McDonald's for Making You Fat. The Surprising
Consequence of Banning Obesity Lawsuits." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 28
May 2015. Web.