Corrupted Marketing of the Fast Food Industry

Selling bad products to children is not just immoral, but an illegal deception because the child may not understand how marketing influences them. Fast food selling is necessary for Fast food brands during these times of technology. Fast Food despite being delightful to these taste buds is dangerous to health and does bear a plethora of illnesses. Thus, it must be advertised and marketed for businesses to get sales and stay productive. Fast food sales are increasing at a Fast rate primarily because of effective marketing strategy.

Kids represent a profitable industry for fast food brands because they are young and impressionable. Why is instant food so common in the USA? Some people praise fast food manufacturers for their products because they are delicious and cheap. How did the affordability of instant food get so popular? Fast food transforms popular culture in the U.S. Primarily through advertisement. Whether it is on TV, or sponsoring business athletes. Fast food nowadays may not be as more about the taste as it is selling and branding. One company spent more than 4.2 billion dollars in 2009 on television advertisements and different media. The average preschooler saw 8 television advertisements per day for fast food; kids saw 5, and teenagers (12–17 years) through 7.

The adoption and brand advertising led to kids not having a life without instant food, and that is how fast food has turned into a portion of the American choice, our culture. Food advertisement markets to kids, when they see their educational cartoons and pictures. Kids are taught that fast food is better for them, and they can get the award in the form of a toy, which is behaviorism related to positive reinforcement. Fifteen percent of preschoolers ask to get to McDonald's daily, and two-fifths of American kids younger than 11 expect their parents to get McDonald's at least once a week. US fast-food restaurants alone spent $4.6 billion on advertising to children and teens in 2012. In the United States, consumers spent $160 billion on fast food in 2012 (up from $6 billion in 1970). In total, the US restaurant industry had projected sales of $660.5 billion in 2013. Fast food has been losing market share to fast-casual dining restaurants, which offer more expensive experiences and fine dining. Due to this competition, large fast-food companies have seen dramatic drops in their sales. While overall fast-food sales have fallen, the number of Americans who eat in these restaurants 'once a month' or 'a few times a year has risen. This comparison shows how the marketing and unhealthy ingredients promote customers that are loyal to their brand while the unhealthy ingredients cause intense cravings in the body to make the body believe that it needs fast food. Fast food cravings have been studied several different times in several different ways. One study done by WebMD said, 'The brain tests suggest that memory areas of the brain (which are responsible for associating a specific food with a reward) are more important to food cravings than the brain's reward center'. Because fast foods, along with their additives, taste so delicious there is constantly a craving for the pleasure that the taste brings. This fast-food industry has been growing increasingly each year.

There is one fast food restaurant on every corner. Since instant food is growing so increasingly popular, people prefer to get fast food daily. Fast food is a continually growing business in our nation. Fast food restaurants continue to increase their quality by lowering their costs and offering quicker delivery for their clients. It is the goal pursued by fast-food corporations around the globe. From 2011 to 2016, instant food sales rose 21.5% in the United States, according to Euromonitor, the market-research business, while they grew 30% worldwide. This business has had significant success in finding new mouths to eat, with a 254 % increase in Argentina, 83% in Vietnam, and 64% in Egypt. In the novel Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser writes about the global fast-food business. Nevertheless, his novel is not just the exposure of this fast-food business but is still more the discussion of how the fast-food business has formed and determined American society in America and for other nations as America exports its fast-food culture to others. Schlosser reports a good deal of American society to this fast-food mentality, and he discovers that globalization is bringing the fast-food society into whole new popularity. Instant food constitutes one of the world's fastest-growing sectors. India's fast-food business is rising by 40 percent each year. This industry of the international portion of the Indian fast food business is up to 6 billion; numbers are expected to take 70 billion by 2005. In the last 6 years, international investment in the sector stood at around 3600 million because of the accessibility of materials for quick food in India. World chains are entering at a rapid pace into this sector. The food business which comprises Quick delivery or fast-food restaurant has been expanding for ages. The fast-food business dominates 72.8 percent of the entire food business revenues as fast food firms intend to reach their industry place in the fast-growing economy of Asian nations.

This contributes to making fierce contests among quick food players to capture market share. Fast food manufacturers are large compared to other food and drink operators; so they can spend more on productive marketing schemes. In commerce, their successful branding advertises a place where children would have fun and where friends and family would meet together happily. Because of these optimistic pictures, consumers are drawn to these fast food restaurants even though their matter is not that other. According to this article printed in America information on 11/5/2013 other facts associated with marketing like in 2012 the fast-food business expended $ 4.6 billion to promote junk food and this main audience was children and teens. The study shows that in 2013, 33 percent of kids consumed fast food and whereas 41 percent of teenagers consumed fast food. Traditionally, fast food chains have earned their popularity by providing simpler and cheaper options, while quick everyday chains offer consumers higher-level meals. As instant casual restaurants continue to develop, the fast-food business must develop to be more competitive. There is a large competitor in the fast-food industry, at which McDonald's is in the running against serving instant food, which serves more than 5 million customers regularly corporation in this industry. Other rivals in this industry include Burger King, KFC, Taco Bell, and Long John Silvers. There are other smaller individual food outlets, burger stores, and kebab boxes that add to the contest. The dominant firms command the larger share of the fast-food industry and they can take more stock because of the higher amount of marketing made by the company. The ready-prepared sandwich industry is the most common instant food which reports for 1/3rd of the food industry. It is accompanied by this hamburger which is prevailed by McDonald's and Burger King. The food and chip part comes next which is made of separate stores and has a market share that is half that of the burger. The position of the fast-food restaurants represents an important key in the competition in the food business. By the 1950s, the fast-food business prosperity was in complete swing, integrating and honing marketing strategies borrowed from earlier times.

Fast food franchises had grown common eating spots from coast to coast, thanks to their standard fares, well-recognized signage, and United advertisement schemes that gave household names to such industry leaders as White Castle, McDonald's, A&W Root Beer, and Howard Johnson's. The intake of fast food is increasing worldwide. A study done in the city of Jeddah has shown that current fast food habits are related to the increase in overweight and obesity among adolescents in Saudi Arabia. In 2014, the World Health Organization published a study that claims that deregulated food markets are largely to blame for the obesity crisis, and suggested tighter regulations to reverse the trend. In America, local governments are restricting fast-food chains by limiting the number of restaurants found in certain geographical areas. The traditional family dinner is increasingly being replaced by the consumption of takeout also known as fast food. As a result, the time invested in food preparation is getting lower, with an average couple in the United States spending 47 minutes and 19 seconds per day on food preparation in 2013. In contrast to the rest of the world, American citizens spend a much smaller amount of their income on food largely due to various ways that the government has created help that makes fast food cheap and easily accessible. Calorie for calorie, foods sold in fast-food restaurants, cost less and are more energy-dense, and are made mostly of products that the government subsidizes heavily: corn, soy, and beef. The Council of Better Business Bureaus started the Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative in 2006 which asked fast-food companies to pledge to 'advertise only more healthful products to children with McDonald's and Burger King signing on. However, despite a slight increase in healthful food advertising, the effectiveness of this initiative has been disputed by studies that reveal that 'children couldn't remember or identify healthful foods in the ads, and that 81 percent of the 99 3 to 7-year-olds in that study recalled French fries' even though there were no French fries in the advertisement. In a research study conducted by Professors Purtell Kelly and Gershoff, they found that the students of fifth grade, who ate fast food as compared to the students of the same age with different social factors were compared. The percentage of the students who had consumed fast food and showed poor grades were around 11% more than those who used organic foods. Other social factors such as television watching, video games, and playing were controlled to assess the real impacts of fast foods. As the fast-food business continued to grow and the beginning Baby Boomers entered the business industry fast food restaurants started employing teens as part-time employees. By 1978 59 percent of teenagers were somehow involved in the workforce. As young people started to get more they also started to pay more which in exchange strengthened the way of spending more time outside the house including for meals. Today's fast food is the consequence of the post-war industrialized food system machines were made to work food rapidly for developing families during the baby boom.

These practices grew popular because they went cheaper and this organization got better at marketing itself. But the matter is, fast food just matters. It's higher in calories and low in foods. It's not meant to nurture. What consequences do fast-food manufacturers take on consumers? Firstly, the minimal price of foods is the primary influence of fast food industries, while the food quantity of these nutrients is none of their interest, so they are tasty foods with low vitamins. Soft beverages are also another component, which is of really low price, also harms our well-being. Consumers who get these foods are paying to get killed, for these foods are greasy, full of bread, and with a very reduced quantity of food worth. Corporations put their priorities on means of income and worry less about the well-being of consumers. Products are produced rapidly and at extremely reduced prices putting health and consumers' desires out of perspective. Producers discreetly bring toxic components into their products which in exchange harm the consumer. They do this to preserve money while charming the products through marketing tactics. Consumers intern lose money because most of the products are imported from international food institutions. Because of the increase in the value of the dollar exporters need higher returns for their goods. Dishonesty in the food business' preservatives used in most packaged foods have usually been related to fats and extremely processed ingredients. Quick foods are one of the primary causes of fat in America. Instant food is a well-known nutrient in American society, so citizens consume more fast foods than any other nation. Increasingly kids are growing into fat from their exposure to fast food at an earlier age. Some Americans eat fast food at least once a week, but imagine how the nation could be if kids could consume fast food every school day! Fast food is regarded in various ways by other consumers. Some are stuck on fast foods, and unable to make specific foods in their homes. Others fear such foods, citing health outcomes related to the higher taste and calorie content of such foods. While advocates and opponents on each side of the argument end to important causes for their positions, fast foods are mostly bad and unsuitable for humans.

Fast Food Corporations have created crude ways of advertising with marketing strategies that pertain directly to children. Once these children have been brainwashed to see the health and cravings of fast food as well as a reward in a toy as found in happy meals. Companies focus on the branding that allows their customers to become what are known as loyal customers. While food is a simple concept, it impacts our health, economy, environment, and overall daily lives. The reality of the United States' capitalistic economy has brought about competition within the fast-food industry as with every industry. Although, this is no excuse for the lack of acknowledgment food corporations hold when taking into account the health of their consumers. A Consumer's dollar is equivalent to a vote to keep a business in production. The first part of casting the ballot is getting enough knowledge to make the best concluding decision and choice for the protection of our health. Food is quite often an afterthought, something thought of quite as just a necessity of calories rather than a choice of health for one's body. The United States can make the change and stand up to the corrupted marketing of the Fast food industry by staying well informed and knowledgeable of what Fast Food Restaurants are willing to produce and sell to the citizens of our country.

Works Cited

1. Fitness Industry Analysis 2018 - Cost & Trends, www.franchisehelp.com/industry-reports/fast-food-industry-report. Home - UConn Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, www.yaleruddcenter.org/what_we_do.aspx?id=81.
2. Bernhardt, Amy M., et al. “Children’s Reaction to Depictions of Healthy Foods in Fast-Food Television Advertisements.” JAMA Pediatrics, vol. 168, no. 5, Jan. 2014, p. 422., doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2014.140.
3. “Fast-Food Condemnation.” The Economist, The Economist Newspaper, 7 Sept. 2013, www.economist.com/news/united-states/21584982-trade-unions-grill-nations-burger-joints-fast-food-condemnation.
4. Jaworowska, Agnieszka, et al. “Nutritional Challenges and Health Implications of Takeaway and Fast Food.” Nutrition Reviews, vol. 71, no. 5, Nov. 2013, pp. 310–318., doi:10.1111/nure.12031.
5. Magee, Elaine. “The Facts About Food Cravings.” WebMD, WebMD, www.webmd.com/diet/features/the-facts-about-food-cravings#1.
6. Purtell, Kelly M., and Elizabeth T. Gershoff. “Fast Food Consumption and Academic Growth in Late Childhood.” Clinical Pediatrics, vol. 54, no. 9, May 2014, pp. 871–877., doi:10.1177/0009922814561742.
7. Purtell, Kelly M., and Elizabeth T. Gershoff. “Fast Food Consumption and Academic Growth in Late Childhood.” Clinical Pediatrics, vol. 54, no. 9, May 2014, pp. 871–877., doi:10.1177/0009922814561742.
8. Ramrayka, Liza. “Brands Continue to Target Fast Food Marketing at Kids.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 25 Feb. 2014, www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/brands-increase-fast-food-marketing-kids. “
9. Study Finds Deregulation Fuelling Obesity Epidemic.” Reuters, Thomson Reuters, 2 Feb. 2014, www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/02/health-obesity-deregulation-idUSL5N0L70PZ20140202.
10. Washi, Sidiga A., and Maha B. Ageib. “Poor Diet Quality and Food Habits Are Related to Impaired Nutritional Status in 13- to 18-Year-Old Adolescents in Jeddah.” Nutrition Research, vol. 30, no. 8, 2010, pp. 527–534., doi:10.1016/j.nutres.2010.07.002. 

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