Fast food nation: the dark side of the all-american meal

Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal

Semester Reading Assignment #1

Your first assignment for Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal is to annotate your novel.

To annotate, you simply underline, star, highlight, box, and/or circle whatever words, phrases, or sentences that catch your attention. Then you:

 Write brief comments / explanations in the margins

 Observe what is being said or done / ask questions

 Mark concepts that you agree or disagree with

 Identify themes / lessons / author’s purpose

 Recognize rhetorical devices / style / tone being used

 Define words that are special or unknown

 Think about what you are reminded of (people, feelings, places, moods, other texts, or visuals)

To help you learn annotation and get you ready for class discussions, quizzes, and testing on FFN, you will find on the next several pages a list of questions. Your job is to locate the answers and annotate your novel following the guidelines listed above.

Note: eReaders may be difficult to use for this assignment, as you may experience different page numbers. I have included chapter titles and subtitles to help you along.

I will be collecting and checking your work, so be prepared to turn in your novels to me.

In addition to the annotation grade, questions and or essay prompts from this text will appear on quizzes, exams, and the semester exam. An outside project may be assigned that will involve actual products, research, and a presentation.

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I. The American Way

1. The Founding Fathers

 Who is Carl N. Karcher?

 How and why were people drawn to southern California?

 What city was profoundly altered by car ownership and what four mindsets allowed it to thrive so?

 Why, in the late 1920s, did General Motors—using a number of front corporations—secretly purchase trolley systems throughout the United States?

 The nation’s car culture inspired what two new innovations?

 Describe two major things you would see at a typical early 1940s southern California drive in restaurant.

speedee service

 What event transformed southern California into the most important economic region in the West, allowing what historian Carey McWilliams calls a “fabulous boom”?

 In 1948 Richard and Maurice McDonald, dissatisfied with the drive-in business, closed their E. Street San Bernardino restaurant, “McDonald’s Famous Hamburgers” and reopened three months later with a new restaurant attitude. Describe their radical, new method of preparing food.

 What now-famous corporate logo did Richard McDonald design?

 What was the new “yin and yang” in 1948 San Bernardino?

burgerville usa

 What hamburger restaurant chain did Carl N. Karcher start in 1956?

 What was the mascot of Carl N. Karcher’s hamburger restaurant chain and where do we see a modern version of it today?

 What common personalities and/or life experiences can be found in the men who launched the first fast food restaurant chains?

 What popular sweet tooth chain did William Rosenberg start in 1948?

 What Mexican restaurant chain did Glen W. Bell, Jr. start?

 What hamburger restaurant chain did Keith G. Cramer and his father-in-law Matthew Burns open in 1953?

 What hamburger restaurant chain did Dave Thomas start?

 What pizza restaurant chain did Thomas S. Monaghan start?

 What chicken restaurant chain did Harland Sanders start in 1952?

progress

 How is the vision of the fast food restaurant entrepreneurs reflected in the Carl N. Karcher’s quote of “I believe in Progress”?

2. Your Trusted Friends

 Who is the founder of the McDonald’s Corporation?

 What does QSC and V stand for and whose philosophy is it?

 How are the personal and professional lives of Ray A. Kroc and Walt Disney alike?

 What is the most significant achievement, the “perfected…art” of Ray A. Kroc and Walt Disney?

walt and ray

 How was it that Ray A. Kroc obtained the right to franchise Richard and Maurice McDonald’s San Bernardino Self-Service Restaurant?

 Why did Walt Disney turn down Ray A. Kroc’s proposal to place a McDonald’s in the newly constructed Disneyland?

 What is the similar political philosophy of Ray A. Kroc and Walt Disney?

better living

 Walt Disney’s passion for science found expression in “Tomorrowland”. Describe the progressive yet dark side of this Disney creation.

 Among other cultural innovations, Walt Disney pioneered what is now known as “synergy”. Define this marketing strategy.

How is Willard Scott, better known as the senior weatherman on NBC’s Today show, associated with Ronald McDonald?

 In what ways did Ray A. Kroc’s McDonaldland act like a more hip and pleasing Disneyland to customers in the late 1960s and beyond?

kid kustomers

 Why, in the 1980s, did companies start marketing to kids?

 What kind of advertising strategies are used to target children?

 What influences children the most when they view an ad?

 According to sociologist Vance Packard, children are “surrogate salesmen”. Marketers say children use “leverage,” “the nudge factor,” and “pester power” to persuade their parents. What, then, is the aim of most children’s advertising?

 Give an example of marketing professor James U. McNeal’s seven juvenile nagging tactics.

Pleading nag

Persistent nag

Forceful nag

Demonstrative nag

Sugar-coated nag

Threatening nag

Pity nag

 What are some ways in which advertisers collect data about children?

 In the past, how successful has the Federal Trade Commission been in banning advertising aimed at children aged seven years old or younger?

 Why are today’s efforts to limit advertising aimed at children unsuccessful?

perfect synergy

 What are some of the ways that fast food companies practice synergy?

 How has the cross-promotion synergy strengthen the ties between Hollywood and the fast food industry?

 Explain the “perfect synergy” quote: “Now you can buy a Happy Meal at the Happiest Place on Earth”.

the brand essence

 What is the fundamental goal of the “My McDonald’s” campaign and what two unspoken words are associated with it?

mcteachers and coke dudes

 What is “the last advertising-free outposts of American life” that fast food chains are now gaining access to?

 How does Dan DeRose, president of DD Marketing, Inc. of Pueblo, Colorado, help District 11 in Colorado Springs?

 What do the proponents and opponents of advertising in schools argue and contend?

 Approximately how much soda do Americans consume annually?

 What are two reasons why it is beneficial for beverage manufacturers to market to elementary school students?

 Why do the fast food chains benefit “enormously” when children drink more soda?

 Define “Liquid Candy”.

 How much soda do teenagers typically consume in one day?

 What are two effects of “excessive soda consumption in childhood”?

 According to Michael Jacobson, author of “Liquid Candy”, how are babies at risk for early soda consumption?

 What is one reason why corporate-sponsored teaching materials should not be accepted by school districts?

 How much does it really cost a corporation to sponsor “educational” materials?

 Besides revenue for the chain, why is it a good thing to offer fast food in a school cafeteria?

Who is “the Coke dude”, and what is his suggestion concerning the problem Colorado Springs School District 11’s has with their contract with Coca-Cola?

3. Behind the Counter

 Describe common, general sights and feelings one experiences traveling from Gold Camp Road, to downtown Colorado Springs, to the north end of the city near Colorado College.

 How is Academy Boulevard in Colorado Springs the equivalent to a “Fast Food Nation”?

space mountain

 Why is Colorado Springs considered a “mecca for the disenchanted middle class, a harbinger of cultural trends, a glimpse of the future” like Los Angeles was fifty years ago?

 Why and how did Colorado Springs prosper after World War II?

 What new businesses have moved to Colorado Springs since World War II?

 What are some of the nicknames of Colorado Springs as touted by business leaders?

 What is the political climate of Colorado Springs, and what led to this atmosphere?

 What is, according to William H. Frey, former professor of demography at the University of Michigan, “the new white flight”?

 What is the effect of the enactment of Colorado’s 1992 Taxpayers Bill of Rights?

 Why is Colorado Springs “torn between opposing visions of what America should be”?

 Who is the largest private employer in the state of Colorado today?

 Why is it of utmost importance to fast food restaurants to be “seen” by its customers as they are out and about?

 How has the McDonald’s Corporation perfected the art of restaurant site location?

throughput

 Why is the fast food industry workforce dominated by teenagers?

 Define “throughput”.

 Where did “throughput” originate, and how does it apply to the fast food industry?

 What did Fred Turner do for the McDonald’s Corporation in 1958?

 What is “the Bible” in the McDonald’s Corporation?

 What is meant by the phrase “McDonald’s English?”

stroking

 Why is “zero training” considered an ideal for the fast food industry?

 What is the average job turnover rate in the fast food industry?

 How has the “real value” of wages at fast food restaurants changed over time?

 How do fast food restaurants keep their labor costs to a “bare minimum”?

 Define the psychological technique of “stroking” and how it applies to the fast food industry’s idea of “team spirit”.

detecting lies

 According to sociologist Ester Reiter, what trait is most valued in fast food workers?

 How has the McDonald’s Corporation responded to workers who attempt to unionize?

 How many workers at McDonald’s in North America are unionized?

protecting youth

 How do the long hours American teenagers spend on the job pose a great risk to their future educational and financial success?

 What impact do the Fair Labor Standards Act and Colorado state law have on the hours that kids in Colorado Springs work at fast food restaurants?

inside jobs

 What are some injuries teenage workers experience while on the job at a fast food restaurant?

 Why are America’s fast food restaurants now more attractive to armed robbers than convenience stores, gas stations, or banks?

 Who is often responsible for committing robberies of fast food restaurants?

 How has the fast food industry responded to efforts by OSHA to reduce workplace violence?

Why isn’t the public being made aware of the statistics regarding fast food restaurant robberies and murders? Where can one go to find out this information?

making it fun

 Why are ideas such as publisher James C. Doherty’s vision of creating long-term careers in foodservice met with “polite” acceptance by fast food industry leaders?

ccess

 Would you call someone like Dave Feamster a success? Why or why not?

devotion to a new faith

 Explain the odd yet dependent franchisor-franchisee relationship.

 What is different about the way Ray A. Kroc franchised McDonald’s?

 What is the only original design of Richard McDonald that still appears on every McDonald’s? Why is this design so important to customers?

free enterprise with federal loans

 How does the cost of a McDonald’s franchise compare with the cost of a franchise from other fast food chains?

 How does the failure rate of franchises in general compare with that of other businesses?

 Among franchises, what is “encroachment”?

 What is the legal downside of signing a contract for a franchise?

 What is the “worst” franchise to own, according to Dean Sager, a former staff economist for the U. S. House of Representatives’ Small Business Committee? Why is this so?

 Who is the founder of Subway?

 What is Coble’s bill? Is it supported by franchisors?

 How is the fast food industry able to use federal money to fund its franchises? Are they held accountable for their actions as other businesses? Why or why not?

the world beyond pueblo

 What are the advantages of working at one of Dave Feamster’s Little Caesars Restaurants?

 What does Christopher Reeve make the crowd realize at the “Success” event?

II. Meat and Potatoes

5. Why the Fries Taste Good

 What connection does John Richard Simplot have to the fast food industry?

 The 1950s is known as “the Golden Age of Food Processing”. What led to this Golden Age and what were American housewives promised?

 Who brought the Parisian recipe for pommes frites to the United States in 1802? When did they finally become popular?

 What problem did Ray Dunlap solve for J. R. Simplot?

 How did J. R. Simplot convince Ray A. Kroc to switch to using his frozen french fries for McDonalds?

 What has become “the most widely sold foodservice item in the United States”?

 What does J. R. Simplot’s license plate say?

the mistake of standing alone

 Who are the three major fry companies that control 80 percent of the American market for frozen french fries?

 Why is the current market for potatoes an “oligopsony”?

 What three factors determine an Idaho potato farmer’s annual income?

 Why do the patterns of land ownership in the American West more and more resemble those of rural England?

 What is PGI? How successful has it been at organizing potato farmers?

 What is the “fallacy of composition”?

 Describe how America’s agricultural economy resembles that of an hourglass.

food product design

 What makes McDonald’s french fries taste different from the fries of other fast food restaurants?

 Is there any real difference between something that contains “natural flavor” or “artificial flavor”? Explain.

 Why is the flavor industry highly secretive?

 What state houses the plants that produce about two-thirds of the flavor additives sold in the United States?

 Why does the International Flavors and Fragrances Company (IFF) remind Schlosser of Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory?

 What is “flavor” according to your taste buds and to your nose?

 How are aroma and memory “inextricably linked”?

 Why is the color of a food very important?

 What does “GRAS” stand for?

 Is a “natural flavor” necessarily healthier or purer than an “artificial flavor”? Explain.

 What is a “flavorist”?

 Why must a flavorist always consider a food’s “mouthfeel”?

 Why is it important to groups such as the Vegetarian Legal Action Network to have food processors list the basic origins of their flavors on their labels?

millions and millions of fries

 What crucial piece of french fry-making technology did F. Gilbert Lamb, founder of Lamb Weston in 1950, invent?