Blog Entry #6

    

                         One brand I catch myself purchasing over and over  are brands that include the superman logo. My earliest memory of superman was when I was no younger than five years old. I remember seeing superman in commercials, cartoons and products with the superman logo in stores. I had no idea who he was or what his story was. I grew up with my two uncles who helped take care of me. They both knew about superhero's I learned a bit through them when I lived in Trinidad with them. I moved to New York at age seven never had an interest in any particular brand. When I met my boyfriend we went to see the movie Man of Steel. He was obsessed with the story of superman and knew all the details, so he filled me in. I still did not have much of an interest in the story yet. We went to see the movie one night and I remember after that night I was obsessed as much as he was with superman’s story. The story was truly moving. It had kindness, and love. Anytime my boyfriend and I went to new places we would get souvenirs. We would always look for things specifically with the superman logo. The superman logo became our signature logo. We went to six flags and got a coffee mug with the superman logo. I was shopping one day in long island and saw a superman tee couldn't resist not buying it for my boyfriend. My boyfriend went to Dave and busters with his friends one night while I was on vacation in Trinidad and for his prize he picked a man of steel superman stuffed doll. I was probably more excited about that than seeing him at the airport. I would like to introduce the story of superman to my children one day and hope that they love it as much as I do. The superman logo has more meaning to my life than just a logo it reminds me to be as kind as he is love like he does and of course be super fit. After all Superman does have a reputation to keep up.

BLOG ENTRY #5

A major issue that I noticed in “Fast Food Nation” by Eric Schlosser is fast food’s

influence on children using advertising. Fast food companies are using different forms of

advertising to attract children. These advertising techniques are causing children to beg and even

threaten their  parents into getting them what they want. Fast food companies are not focused on

the behavior effects these advertising's have on children but only that it draws more attention for

them to make money.

            One way they are advertising are on commercials. A large percentage of children in the

United States watch television. Some children cannot tell the difference between a show and a

commercial. McDonald's started to include toys with every happy meal. They would advertise the

toy given on commercials. The commercial would draw the child’s attention to the toy. The child

would then beg the parents to buy them a happy meal from McDonald's. Some children would

beg by using “puppy dog faces” as some people call it. The parents would give in and buy it for

them. Some would make their parents feel bad. Most parents living in the United States were

working. They did not have a lot of time for their children and would feel that if they bought

their child something it would temporarily replace the guilt. Other children would threaten their

parents such as throwing bad tantrums in public places, holding their breath and not promising to

be on good behavior.

            From personal experience I have many younger cousins in my family. They know how to

manipulate their parents into getting what they want. When my little cousin’s parents come home

 from work they would approach them and say “mom can we go to McDonald's they have a new

toy out I saw it on a commercial.” Their parents would argue with them saying “McDonald's is

not a healthy choice for dinner.” My little cousins would immediately start screaming. They

would scream so loud that the neighbor would come ring the doorbell wondering if everything

was OK from hearing the screaming.

            Another form of advertising that fast food companies were using was in schools. Some

fast food companies would give money to schools that advertised for them. Putting posters in

hallways and one company Coco Cola had schools put vending machines in their schools.

Children being around fast food supplements at school seeing it every day five times a week

would make them prone to wanting to purchase it. If children are hungry and now getting out of

school and see a fast food poster they are more likely to want to go there after school.

            I remember when I was in middle school not too long ago if I remember it right? I went

to a catholic school. They were not funded by the government. My school was named St.

Anthony of Padua made most of their money through tuition donations and companies that

would help them. Two companies were burger king and Coco Cola. Every Friday we had a day

called Burger King Day. On that day we would place an order instead of having lunches we

brought from home we would order food from Burger King. In order to keep receiving donations

from Burger King my school had to use one day out of the week to purchase food from them and

also had to put up posters around and in the school. I also remember on every floor of my school

we had at least one Coco Cola machine near the staircase, cafeteria, and bathrooms. I remember

after a bathroom break I would purchase a soda.

            Advertising truly does have an effect on children. Fast food companies sure do know how

to get children’s attention. Using commercials when most of Americas population of children

watch television for a certain number of hours a day. Advertising on children’s network such as

Disney Channel, Nickelodeon,, and Carton Network.  Advertising in schools where children

spend most of their days during the week. Part of Fast food company’s biggest wealth comes

from targeting children by the advertisements.

Blog Entry #4

                Chapter two of "Fast Food Nation" written by Eric Schlosser tells us about the upcoming of Walt Disney and McDonald's. Also about the different types of advertising used by fast food companies. Walt Disney and Ray Croc were both from the same town. They were both born in Illinois and were one year apart. They both believed that anything could be accomplished with hard work. They both struggled before they succeeded. Croc made a deal with the McDonald brothers to open chains of their restaurants across the United States and they agreed. While Walt was opening his amusement park. Almost every child that knew about the amusement park was awaiting the opening into the land of magic. Walt and Croc became very successful in their businesses. They created mickey mouse and Ronald McDonald. These two characters became popular with children. Later on Many other Fast food chains were opening while these chains were opening they targeted mainly children and teenagers as their customers.They advertised at schools, on commercials and had signs on highways. Fast food companies were growing fast and and getting competitive

Blog Entry #3 

Identifying and Summarizing Arguments in Fast Food Nation "Chapter 1: The Founding Fathers"

          Chapter one of "Fast Food Nation," by Eric Schlosser tells us the history about the birth of Fast Food. The author starts by giving us history on Carl N. Karcher the founder of Carl Karcher Enterprises. Carl Karcher was born and raised in Sandhusky Ohio. He dropped out of school after the eight grade. Carl worked on a farm and later on moved to Anaheim, California. Carl's uncles owned a feed and seed store where he worked selling goods to farmers. Carl met his future wife Margret Heinz at a catholic church. Carl then got a better paying job at a bakery in Los Angelas delivering bread to restaurants and and markets. Carl then took out a loan and bought a hot dog cart. He then bought a second hot dog cart. Southern California was economically booming. Cars became affordable and population was increasing. Texas had opened their first early drive in restaurant where you did not have to leave your car to get your food. A Perfect method for fast food. Southern California drive in restaurants made signs that would be easy to see from a distance. Carl opened up a restaurant called Carl's drive in barbeque. He sold hamburgers and spent one day out of the week to prepare his special sauce. A resturant opened sixty miles east of Los Angelas called Mcdonalds Famous Hamburgers. Richard and Maurice McDonald left New Hampshire for Southern California. They worked multiple jobs hoping to make a big name. They later opened the McDonald brothers burger drive in. They used the speedee service system factory workers did in their restaurant. Carl was inspired and later opened Carl's Jr. restaurant. New fast food chains were opening all owned by former high school drop out students trying to make a name for themselves.    

Blog Entry #2

            Food is a part of my everyday life. It is a part of everyone’s life. We incorporate food in our daily lives. Whether were going grocery shopping, having lunch or dinner with our families or friends or preparing a meal at home.

I eat a variety of foods. I eat three times a day and two snacks in between. Sometimes I eat alone and sometimes with friends. I am not picky when it comes to food.  Some of the foods that I usually eat are Chinese, Indian, Spanish, and American foods. I eat three small meals daily. When I get hungry in between meals I have a light snack. When I am at school or work during the week I eat by myself. When I am at home I eat with my parents or my boyfriend. On weekends I go out for either dinner or lunch with friends.

Cooking is one of my favorite things to do. I do the grocery shopping in my family. I love doing the grocery shopping, because I get to buy what I want. When my mother or boyfriend goes they forget to pick up certain things I like. I love cooking different types of food. Growing up my other never stuck to specific meals she changed up her menu every week. I cook Chinese, American, Indian, Italian and anything I discover that’s new. I can’t cook the same types of food each week I would I get tired of them quickly.

My family and I celebrate a holiday called Diwali. For this holiday we fast by not eating any type of meat for a month. My mother hosts Diwali at her house every year and cooks many dishes. She makes curried potatoes, curried mango, roti, pumpkin, and spinach. That is my family’s special occasion meal. I have never worked in the food industry but I would do it to open my horizon on food.  

As you can see food has been a part of my everyday life. I eat three times a day. Have meals alone with family and friends. I cook every week a variety of dishes. I celebrate holidays with food included. Food is a part of everyone’s life just like mine. 

Blog entry #1

Blog Entry #1

            Food is an important source in our daily lives. What is in our food is even more important. Wouldn't you like to know if the foods you are eating are harmful or safe for you? The F.D.A (food and drug administration) inspects our food making sure it is safe for us to consume.

 Every school I attended educated us about the F.D.A. I learned that the F.D.A’s job is to inspect our food and medicines before they go out for sale. They have to make sure that our foods and medicine have no harmful chemicals in them. When the food and drugs pass the process they can then be put out on shelves. That’s what I've learned about the F.D.A through school.

I've learned about the F.D.A through my personal experiences as well. I remember when I was in middle school my father and I would watch the news every evening. At least once a week the news channel would talk about foods and medicine. Whether if it was safe or not. They would talk about medicines taken down from shelves due to a recall. That would usually mean that people were having side effects from the medication or possibly dying from it. If certain foods contained E. coli you were told to not purchase them until the F.D.A said it was ok to buy them again. This information has helped me gained knowledge about the F.D.A.

In the article “Is America’s food supply safe?” there are 625 investigators working across the country inspecting our food. They work hard to make sure there are no problems. If there are problems they find the root of where it came from and ways to prevent it from happening in the future. The F.D.A has officers at the boarders of the United States inspecting foods before they enter the country. Reading this has made me feel safe knowing that our food is being inspected before it is in our homes.

The food and drug administration inspects our food making sure it is safe for people. School has taught me that the F.D.A makes sure there are no harmful chemicals in our medicine and foods. The news has taught me that if there is what has it and when not to purchase it. The information in this article states that there are people working all across the country making sure our food and drugs are safe for us.