Fast Food Nation Ethos

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Ojee Sharma

AP English III

Mrs. Pollack

29 August 2014

Fast Food Nation Essay

The reason that Schlosser wrote Fast Food Nation was to shine a light on what goes behind the scenes in the fast food business. Schlosser establishes his ethos by showing the readers that he shares many common beliefs that other Americans have. The author appeals to ethos, for example, when addressing court rulings for cases that are for those injured on the job; this shows the unfair treatment of workers in the slaughterhouses. "The few who win in court and receive full benefits are hardly set for life... losing an arm is $36,000" (Schlosser 185).

Schlosser’s strategy of comparison between Disney and McDonalds, and their founders, make important points

about the fast food industry by explaining their marketing strategies. Kroc and Disney both became geniuses at marketing, especially making their target audience towards children. By making the target audience towards children, they persuade their parents to conform to their propaganda and making them customers for life in specific. Schlosser compares Kroc and Disney them because many people love the theme of Disney, and Kroc uses the same type of marketing that Disney used. Disney developed many clever marketing strategies, such as creating an atmosphere in which visitors felt as though they had escaped the real world. McDonald’s has created a huge impact on the potato, beef, and chicken industries. Fast food restaurants benefit from the competition between three major potato companies and make a huge
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profit on frozen french fries.

However, potato farmers do not receive any profit made by both the frozen-french-fry manufactures and the fast-food industry. Because of this, in the past twenty-five years, Idaho has lost about half of its potato farmers. Schlosser exposes what happens in the meat industry when slaughtering the animals. He explains that there are many diseased cattle and poultry that the butchers slaughter without proper inspection. Schlosser also exposes the meat packing plants, from their conditions to their workers to their massive injury rates. He explains how there could be massive disease outbreaks from contaminated

meat.
Schlosser explains how during the Cold War the Soviet Union was a major obstacle to spreading the western culture eastward.

The end of the Soviet Communism allowed the mass spread of American goods and services, especially fast food. Because of this, the rest of the world is catching up with America’s rising obesity rates. Fast food is a metaphor for American life because It is heavily processed food, and bears little resemblance to naturally grown food. Our lifestyles take us further and further away from nature. Fast food is cheap, but poor quality. People often go for price rather than quality. Fast food makes meals something to rush through, rather than slow down and enjoy, like much of what Americans do today.

Schlosser uses logos throughout the novel. For example, this quote informs the reader why businesses were starting up in the Western region of the United States, "... low cost competition from IBP presented Chicago meatpackers with a stark choice: to go west or go out of business..." (Schlosser 155). He also states some facts about slaughterhouses,

“Many

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slaughterhouse workers make a knife cut every two or three seconds, in which adds up to about 10,000 cuts during an eight-hour shift. If the knife has become dull, additional pressure is placed on the worker's tendons, joints, and nerves." (Schlosser 173). He also states the amount of hamburgers the average child eats in a week, "The average American ate three hamburgers a week... children between the ages of seven and thirteen ate more hamburgers than anyone else" (Schlosser 198). The author’s appeals to pathos also captivates the readers’ attention. He goes into a great deal of stories that really appeal to emotion which serve to show the unfortunate situations or events that come with the fast food industry. Schlosser tells the story of a young boy named Alex who was infected with E. Coli. He explains details of what happened to the boy. This use of pathos could bring fear and sympathy towards readers, "... progressed to diarrhea that filled a hospital toilet with blood... drilling holes in his skull to relieve pressure, inserting tubes in his chest to keep him breathing, as Shiga toxins destroyed his internal organs... Toward the end, Alex suffered hallucinations and dementia, no longer recognizing his mother or father. Portions of his brain had been liquified..." (Schlosser 200). Schlosser makes a blunt statement that may make readers think twice about eating meat, "You'd be better off eating a carrot stick that fell in you toilet than one that fell in your sink." (Schlosser 221).
The central claim of Fast Food Nation is fast food corporations are intelligent and power hungry. Schlosser states, “The twenty-first [century] will no doubt be marked by a struggle to curtail excessive corporate power. The great challenge now facing countries throughout the world is how to find a proper balance between the efficiency and the amorality of the market”
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(Schlosser 261). Schlosser suggests that, “Congress should ban advertising that preys upon children[. They] should stop subsidizing dead-end jobs[. Food] should pass tougher safety laws[.] [American workers should be protected from serious harm]” (Schlosser 267).