Fast Food Nation

For film: to see Fast Food Nation (film) ----

Fast Food Nation or more exactly Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side off the AlAmerican Meal ( Country of fast-food industry: the obscure side of a quite American meal ) is a book, published in 2001 by the Journaliste of investigation Eric Schlosser, which studies the local and world impact of the American industry of the Fast food. First of all published in serial by the magazine Rolling Stone in 1999, this book was compared with the Jungle , of Upton Sinclair, typical work of the kind Muckraking (“revelation of scandals”).

Summary

Schlosser examines the birth and the development of the restaurants Fast food within the American Culture. According to him, this industry exerts there a powerful economic influence - and consequently policy - and it exploits this influence to increase its profits with the detriment of the Public health and the social conditions of its Travailleurs.

History of the fast food

Nevertheless, to introduce its matter, it starts by drawing up an interesting portrait of the culture of the fast food, produced exclusive of the American history, resulting from the emergence of the Automobile, standardization of the Culture of company, evolution of the Work conditions and, of course, universalization. It also gives the surprisingly respectful biographies of some founders of the industry of the fast food, such as Carl Karcher or Ray Kroc. “The industry of fast-food, Schlosser writing, contributed to transform not only the food mode of the Americans, but also their landscapes, their economy, their labor and their popular culture. ”

Schlosser begins its book with an ironic delivery of pizza pie Domino' S Pizza in a military base secret signal , with Cheyenne Mountain in the Colorado. It describes the sophisticated technological capacities of this base, and its impressive defense system. Then he imagines, if the worst occurred and that the whole base was buried under the mountain, the Anthropologues of the discovering future, shovel-mixes, of packing of fast food and the military material. Schlosser suggests that this amalgam would give important indices on the nature of the american company.

The book continues with a talk of the evolution of the fast food, how it coincided with the arrival of the car, and how was made the standardization of innumerable independent restaurants in franknesses. This drift led to the organization of the kitchens in Production lines, with the standardization of the products, the Self-service, and a modification of marketing, aiming at the totality of the population, since the teenagers until the whole families.

The techniques marketing of the industry of the fast food

With regard to the techniques of marketing targeting the children, Schlosser explains how McDonald's took for model the tactics marketing of Walt Disney, thus giving rise to advertizing icons such as Ronald McDonald and its characters associated. It also mentions appearance of toys in famous “Happy Meals” of McDonald to illustrate its argumentation. The idea behind the adoption of the child as target marketing first is to attract not only the children, but also their parents and grandparents, and, in a more important way still, to start a process of Fidélisation as of childhood, a honesty towards the mark which would persist during the adulthood thanks to nostalgia associated with the image with McDonald' S. These techniques are strongly criticized by Schlosser which denounces the exploitation of the naivety of the children. He also criticizes in addition the fact that an American child looks at on average 21 hours of television per week.

Further Schlosser affirms that the reduction of the professional taxes, which compromised the financial balance of the schools, gave the opportunity to several companies of sponsoriser these same schools. According to the sources quoted by Schlosser, 80% of the books of sponsored schools contain the information skewed in favor of the sponsors and 30% of the colleges offer fast food in their cafeterias. Schlosser quotes the example of a student excluded from a school to have worn a tee-shirt Pepsi the feastday of the sponsor Coca-Cola, during whom all the students, vêtus of red and white, were to form the word “Coke” on the football field, to be photographed since the sky.

Inquire in the industry of the conditioning of the meat

In its examination of the industry of conditioning of the meat, which relates to the companies IBP Inc and Ken Monfort, Schlosser discovers that this industry currently employs a majority of immigrant temporary works, easily exploitable labor, and that the rate of accident is highest there of all the branches of industry of the United States. Schlosser points out the various stages of the conditioning of the meat, and underlines several risked, unknown practices of the majority of the consumers, like the recycling of the pigs and the died horses, as well as hen manure, in food for cattle. Schlosser notices that such practices are at the origin of the Maladie of the mad cow, as well as introduction of dangerous bacteria, like the E. coli, in the food chain

Work conditions in the industry of the fast food

Schlosser announces that there are more flights listed in the fast food than in the banks, the stations gasoline or stores. According to him, these flights are made as a majority by employees (old or in activity) because of their weak wages, the important Turnover of these companies, and finally of the safety of these establishments, neglected by preoccupation with an economy.

The universalization of the fast food

The role played by the industry of fast-food industry in universalization is analyzed in the last part of the book, by establishing the link between the increasing Obésité in China and in Japan and the arrival of the fast food. The work is concluded by a summary from the Affaire McLibel, a confrontation in justice of McDonald's and militants ecologists in England during the Années 1990.

Last editions

In the last editions, Schlosser added an additional chapter, which contains reports of the book, counterparts with some critical emitted since the first edition, and finally a discussion of the consequences of the disease of the mad cow on the attitude of the American federal government with regard to the bovine breeding. Noting that, in this case, the interest of the government and its intervention had led to fast actions, decisive and effective, Schlosser concludes that many problems exposed in its book could be solved with a sufficient political will.

Quotation

The industry of the fast food did not only contribute to transform the food mode of the Americans, but also their landscapes, their economy, their labor and their popular culture|Eric Schlosser|Fast Food Nation

Editions

(edition 2001,368pp.)
(2nd edition 2001,288pp.)
(edition 2002,400pp.)
(2nd edition 2002,400pp.)

Version for children

Eric Schlosser wrote in collaboration with Charles Wilson an adaptation of Fast Food Nation for the children entitled Chew one this ( Rumine that ), published in May 2006 by Houghton Mifflin.

Adaptation to the cinema

detailed article: Fast Food Nation (film)

In 2006, Eric Schlosser wrote in company Richard Linklater an adaptation for the cinema, which preserves the title of the book.

This film caused many debates at the time of its exit in the United States: the daily newspaper The NewYork Times described this film like “the most important political film carried out in the United States since Fahrenheit 9/11 of Michael Moore”. Schlosser, in addition to Co-scenario writer, is the executive producer.

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