My Fast Food Addiction

Hello, My name is Zac Weathers! I’m a sophomore here at San Francisco State. I’m originally from Santa Cruz, California but I’ve moved up to the city last year to pursue my B.A. in cinema or BECA (radio and television). Basically I’m interested in working with media, so the purpose of my blog will be to explore food relating to the media and advertising, because I believe our food choices are all strongly affected by the what we see in the mass media.

Fast Food businesses have been highly successful at marketing towards the American masses of every race, generation, and social status. They have advertised their products as cheap, good tasting, and associate it with fun. However, the nutritional facts of their generally unhealthy products are understated and “healthier choice” items are overstated to make fast food in general seem healthier/less harmful. Fast food is in fact unhealthy, confirmed in a US Department of Agriculture survey USDA- Let's Eat Out. With increased work-week hours and the ever-increasing number of fast food restaurants, multiple different types of Americans are finding it more and more convenient to spend less time pursuing healthy options and take the fast track of the drive-thru. Through clever advertising campaigns fast food has successfully been integrated and accepted into American culture and society, despite the fact that fast food consumption can significantly increase the risk of becoming overweight or obese.

Since Junior High, when I first saw Super Size Me, I’ve been becoming more aware of the atrocities committed by food industry. In other words how truly gross the thing I’m willingly putting into my mouth is.  Growing up in the Eco-conscious (while others say hippy) community of Santa Cruz, I’ve constantly been tormented for not only enjoying but also eating fast food regularly. I was always attracted to fast food as a kid, and I thought of it as a treat or a reward with my Happy Meal and toy. When I outgrew the Happy Meal, I still strangely craved the salty, greasy taste. The catchy advertising and marketing stuck with me from when I was a small child and continue today to bombard me with thoughts of fast food constantly. So I continue to eat it.

Presently, I’m more attracted to the cheap and fast convenience of it all. Even now that I’ve learned what is inside a hamburger patty, inside a chicken nugget, I still crave this food deep down and reluctantly return to these establishments to get my fix. I think through years of exposure to advertisement and marketing I’ve been subliminally hooked on fast food and the nostalgic sense it brings me back to my childhood. Hopefully one day, perhaps through education, I may be truly grossed out enough to break my addiction to fast food.