Globalization and Fast Food
I. The Beginning of Fast Food
A. The Automobile— cars changed American life: what we ate, where lived, and how we got around
1. Southern California— population doubled in Los Angeles between 1920 and 1940.
2. first large-scale migration conducted mainly by car
3. By 1940, there were about a million cars in Los Angeles, more than in forty-one states (Schlosser, 16). This led to innovations like the motel, drive-in banks, “curb service” eating.
B. Drive-in Restaurants:
1. “curb service”
2. carhops
3. architecture
C. Entrepreneurs— during WWII, a lot of war-time industrial plants were built in California, making hotdog stands and “fast food” ideal for men on lunch breaks
1. Carl N. Karcher – Carl’s Drive- In Barbeque
2. Richard and Maurice McDonald
a. Speede Service System
b. Food assembly line
c. Architecture
d. Self-service System
e. Working class families
D. The McDonald Brother’s Inspire new business
1. William Rosenberg: Dunkin’ Donuts
2. Glen W. Bell, Jr.: Taco Bell
3. Keith Cramer: Insta-Burger King
4. Dave Thomas: Wendy’s Old-Fashioned Hamburgers
5. Thomas S. Monaghan: Domino’s
6. Harland Sanders: Kentucky Fried Chicken
II. Family/Family Values
A. Nuclear Family Values
1. Image: As a place for the family to come and have dinner together
a. Seen in early advertisements (see Advertisement Beat)
b. Later, with McDonalds’ invention of the happy meal in 1977
- “The McDonald brothers now aimed for a family crowd, refusing to hire any female employees, who might attract teenage males. In Behind the Arches (1995), a history of McDonald's, John F. Love notes the real significance of the new self-service system: ‘Working-class families could finally afford to feed their kids restaurant food.’” From Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal by Eric Schlosser
2. Reality: Led to the ultimate disintegration of the family dinner and later even the family breakfast
a. Families did not have to go home to get a quick/cheap meal
b. Since food served around the clock, the entire family did not have to go all together
c. Since food also served “fast” as advertised, dinnertime was cut down
d. Not only took the family out of the house, in some cases took the house from the family… as family farms were being replaced by gigantic corporate farms with absentee owners… this led to loss in neighborhood values, as well.
B. Neighborhood Values
1. Image: Food is affordable and acceptable for most
a. Thus bringing social classes together
b. Everyone has had fast food once in his/her lifetime; Everyone could relate to being there
c. New Menu additions: vegetarian burgers, salads, etc. gearing to encompass all of neighborhood, every kind of family out there together
2. Reality: Separated social class more than integrated
a. Employees cast off as low-class and unintelligible
b. Provided jobs with little future opportunity, low wages, usually no benefits, and bad working conditions
c. Even viewing the menu, it has a lot of pictures and big numbers geared to be accessible to the lowest intelligible person, as opposed to regular restaurants with more descriptive words and no pictures
d. Ultimately, fast food chains demote both their employees and costumers
C. Volunteerism
1. Image: Along with Peace Corp being established in 1961 and charities rising, Fast Food chains jumped on the “helping” bandwagon as well.
a. Almost every fast food chain has a philanthropy and/or a scholarship fund
i. McDonald’s “Social Responsibility”: We are committed... To doing what is right. To being a good neighbor and partner in your community. To conducting our business with the environment in mind.
ii. Wendy’s “In the Community”: Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, Wendy’s High School Heisman Program, Wendy’s Championship for Children, Wendy’s Three-Tour Challenge, Wendy’s Classic Achiever
2. Reality: Volunteerism started and continues as a major FREE publicity tactic
a. Not sincere and furthermore, not fully effective
- “Kroc soon discovered an effective way of bolstering McDonald's' family image and simultaneously getting free publicity. The company began to link itself with various charities, especially those involving children. Fred Turner, the executive who put together the McDonald's operations manual, later admitted that the company's early charitable work had a hidden agenda. "We got into it for very selfish reasons," Turner said to author John F. Love. "It was an inexpensive, imaginative way of getting your name before the public and building a reputation to offset the image of selling fifteen-cent hamburgers. It was probably ninety-nine percent commercial." Over the last three decades, the well-known Ronald McDonald House Charities have provided housing for more than 2 million families of seriously ill children. The concept was developed by a Philadelphia advertising agency in 1974.” From Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal by Eric Schlosser
III. Employment
A. Fast Food Restaurants are a widely pervasive part of American society, having employed a significant part of the population.
1. The most common type of restaurant is fast food—1/3 of all eating/drinking establishments serve fast food. This figure was 20% in 1970.
2. One in eight Americans have worked at McDonalds.
B. The jobs and workforce reflect problems with and changes in employment practices for marginalized workers.
1. The jobs in fast food are low skill, heavily routinized, largely part time, and undergo a turnover rate of 200-400%. Employees are interchangeable and rarely receive benefits, which keeps down cost of operation.
a. The standardized, “assembly line” products and jobs afford significant control over employees and de-skill the jobs so that they are easily and inexpensively filled when vacated.
b. The routine nature of the job eliminates creativity or initiative, imparts few useful skills, and allows almost no room for growth.
2. Teens are ideal for fast food jobs: they work part time, accept low pay (because they live at home), have low skills, and are easier to control than adults. 2/3 of fast food employees are under the age of 20, a far greater percentage than any other industry.
a. The Teen population of the Baby Boom grew at the same time as the fast food industry expanded, and they accordingly made up the bulk of the workforce.
b. Today, as many as 2/3 of high school juniors and seniors hold part time jobs; the poorest teens make up the bulk of fast food workers. In the 1960s, the mother stayed at home even in “poor” families. Today, kids are home alone and are responsible for buying their own things. The temptation to drop out of school and work more hours is high
3. As the number of teenagers declined, fast food chains hired marginalized segments of the population to fill the increasing demand for workers willing to work for a low wage.
a. The workforce reflects this change with a larger percentage of minorities, elderly, handicapped, and women employees.
b. Minorities are overrepresented, comprising 21% of fast food employees. This perpetuates disadvantage because there are almost no career ladders to climb or marketable skills to gain. More than one-third of fast food workers speak no English beyond “McDonalds English”.
4. In addition to the workers at the restaurants themselves, companies that contribute to production for fast food pull employees from the poorest members of society. For example, the meat packing industry recruits workers from illegal immigrants, homeless, industrial migrants, and refugees fleeing other countries.
C. The nation’s 3.5 million fast food employees are the largest group of minimum wage earners in the nation. The only group with a lower average salary is the one million migrant farm workers. 90% of fast food workers are paid minimum wage.
1. The fast food industry is intertwined with debates about the minimum wage. 90% of the country’s new jobs are in the service industry. The fast food establishment grew at the same time real value of minimum wage fell (1968 – 1990). The goal of fast food is to keep labor costs to a minimum.
2. The Fair Labor Standards Act was established in 1938 to prevent the exploitation of the nation’s poorest workers.
a. The FLSA set a minimum wage at $0.25, and eventually covered such issues as overtime pay and restrictions on child labor.
b. Changes in the minimum wage amount and coverage throughout the decade have reflected movements, economic trends, social concerns, and political policy.
c. The minimum wage today is currently at its lowest level of purchasing power ever.
D. Other Issues
1. Workplace Safety: The rate of Teen injury is twice as high as that of adults. Workplace violence increased throughout the 1980s and 1990s, and in 1998, more restaurant workers were murdered on the job than police officers.
a. Robberies are particularly common in fast food establishments because of the use of cash and the convenience of locations.
b. The substandard treatment of employees in many fast food restaurants has led to an unusually high rate of theft and crime among employees. In 1999, the typical employee stole $218 a year. “No other American industry is robbed so frequently by its own employees”.
c. The Occupational Safety & Health Administration of the 1990s presented guidelines to prevent violence. Security measures have been implemented to reduce violent crime: video cameras, panic buttons.
2. The fast food industry represents the best and worst of American Capitalism. Several of the companies were founded by self made men, yet the establishments today are home to some of the poorest and most underprivileged workers in America.
IV. Globalization and Fast Food
A. Statistics of spread of fast food throughout the world
1. McDonald’s, the largest fast food chain, has stores in 121 different
countries.
2. YUM Brands, which owns KFC, Long John Silver, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and A&W Stores, has over 32,500 stores worldwide in 100 countries
3. YUM Brands will have opened another 1000 stores by the end of 2002 (that translates to over 3 new stores per day)
4. Burger King operates 11,450 restaurants in 58 countries
B. Reactions to fast food invasion
1. “McDonaldization” à Many countries see spread of fast food as symbolic of American imperialism
a. McDonald’s is attempting to put new store in the central plaza of Oaxaca City, Mexico and threatening to disrupt the cultural heritage of the traditionally Indian state (http://www.globalpolicy.org/globaliz/cultural/2002/0903mexico.htm).
b. In Jerusalem, Israel McDonald’s has opened a restaurant in what was formerly an historical home and architectural icon
(http://www.globalpolicy.org/globaliz/cultural/2002/0531mcdonisreal.htm)
c. McAfrika burger was released by McDonald’s in Norway creating uproar with activist groups who accused the chain of insensitivity due to the massive famine in southern Africa
(http://www.globalpolicy.org/globaliz/cultural/2002/0829mcafrika.htm)
d. “McDonald's may not be the largest multinational in the world but it's the most offensive. It gets into our lives, it's in our faces all the time, telling us what to eat, what to think, what to buy.” (Ami
Greener, Green Course)
2. Homogeneity à Fast food has become a homogenizing feature in today’s world
a. “There's no doubt that McDonalds does lead to places becoming
more and more similar. A Big Mac is a Big Mac wherever you are!
Is that a terrible thing? I don't think it necessarily is, but it is a
process of homogenisation.” (Professor Gordon Mathews of the
Chinese University of Hong Kong)
b. Protests show aspects of culture being lost to homogenization
i. India – protests for vegetarianism and non-use of beef
ii. France – loss of French culinary culture and American
colonialism
iii. Russia – McDonalds was symbol of protest against Communist centrism and control
iv. Israel – fast food shows division between religion and secular feelings as well as local patriotism versus global activism
3. Favorable reaction à the Chinese have adopted and embraced the
Americanization that comes with the fast food culture
a. “Chinese people these days have a very positive impression of American commercial culture and popular culture. American products have been a new approach to bridge the gap between the cultures — a kind of commercial diplomacy.” (Victor Yuan, President of Horizon Market Research)
(http://www.globalpolicy.org/globaliz/cultural/2002/0225china.htm)
b. Fast food chains often welcomed for the jobs they bring (in Hong Kong over 9000 people are employed by McDonalds)
c. American fast food chains can be role models for local fast food stores à “McDonalds gives the inspiration in terms of the labour
deployment and how the self-service model works.” (Michael
Chan, “Café de Coral”)
(http://www.globalpolicy.org/globaliz/cultural/2002/0318hongkong.htm)
V. Health ‘Beat’
A. Obesity
1. Adults
a. 300,000 American deaths a year and has become the second leading cause of death in the U.S. (second to tobacco)
b. Obesity causes other health problems as well including diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol, and cancer
2. Children
a. Significant increase in childhood obesity- ¼ of American children are obese or over weight
b. Children have become the target of advertising for example, Happy Meals, Burger King Kids Club, playgrounds, toys, etc. as well as fast food in schools
B. E-coli
1. Production
a. Infected meat spread far and wide due to industrialized production.
b. Easier infected by bacteria because one hamburger can contain meat from dozens or hundreds of different cattle
c. Increase risk of food poisoning and e-coli contamination due to poorly trained employees
C. New Healthier Trends
1. Marketing
a. Fast food companies now offer healthier choices: Subway’s low fat sandwiches, Wendy’s new salads, Burger King BK veggie burger, etc.
2. Legal Issues
a. New marketing and advertising by companies to eat healthier for fear of health related lawsuits similar to tobacco lawsuits.
b. Lawsuits may lead to warning labels for products high in fat similar to the surgeon generals warning on tobacco and alcohol products.
VI. Changes visible through McDonald’s advertising
A. 1950’s
1. Medium: billboard/print
2. Target Audience: the “Nuclear Family”
3. Commercial focus: The reaction, the affordability, the wholesomeness and the All-American appeal
4. Society at this time: Consensus and conformity consumed households, family a key aspect; the idea All American meal capitalizes on national pride post WWII
B. 1960’s
1. TV Commercials Dominate from now on
2. Target Audience: Family, Parents of Baby Boomers