POL 300 Day 11: Feb 28

Schlosser refers to conformity as a way for franchises to offer the same products and services at numerous locations, which draws customers to familiar products. Do you feel a degree of conformity towards a particular fast food item? If you frequent a particular fast food restaurant, what compels you to dine there? Is it the food, the atmosphere, the prices?

For the longest time I was addicted to Taco Bell Grilled "Stuft" Burritos. It was not necessarily that I had some sort of childhood affection for it, it was just that I really like Mexican food. But it is pretty hard to call Taco Bell Mexican food considering it's just a bunch of frozen food loaded with salt and fat, and made to appeal to American taste buds. Also, the cheesy goodness that is a chicken and cheese quesadilla was sometimes hard to resist at 1am after a night of studying and La Bamba was closed. What made me continue to go back to Taco Bell though was probably the fact that I didn't have to get out of my car and that there was always something on the menu that I knew I would like. It was pretty pathetic when I look back on it cause I had essentially eaten myself fat because of it.

The fast food industry has caused several drawbacks to American culture. We have seen a rise in health problems, labor issues and environmental dilemmas. Which of these issues are most important to you? Do you think we are at least partly to blame for these problems? How has McDonaldization changed the global perception of American ideals?

I think the biggest problem that has come from this is the health issues that have come from people eating more and more crappy food. There is this epidemic of obesity which I think is also linked to the mass laziness that exists within our country because people would rather be watching TV than worrying about the ills that plague their communities. When you're overweight, your energy seems to be completely drained just by doing the most miniscule of tasks. If we worried about health issues first, I think the population would have a lot more energy to care about other issues that matter, generally speaking. Ultimately the blame does fall on us, and similar to what Nestle said, we need to vote with our forks in order to bring about these changes. Globally, I think Americans ideals are now no longer associated with putting out quality goods but instead, viewed as cheap. The tagline, Made in America, does not necessarily have the same connotations that it used to and I think it is largely because of the way we make our products (i.e. cheap labor, cheap materials, mass produced).