Niecole Averion Ernesto Corona-Marquez Jr. Ashley Robinson Jesse Vazquez Professor Batty 24 Sep.

2013 Fast Food Companies and Their Myths Fast food commercials will say anything to grab a consumers attention, even if they have to lie. Fast food commercials perpetuate myths in order to gain potential customers, so that they can make a profit. What the commercials do not tell the consumers however, is the reality of the myths they are perpetuating. In Jack in the Boxs Hot Mess burger commercial, they sing a one-hit wonder in which they state, Youre a hot kind of love, you set me on fire on fire. You spice up my night, feed my every desire, talking about the burger. However, what they fail to tell consumers is whether or not the burger is healthy, or made with fresh ingredients, etc. Also, it is impossible for a burger to feed someones every desire. Due to fast food commercials, including Jack in the Boxs Hot Mess burger commercial, perpetuating myths about their products such as a burger being able to feed someones every desire, consumers continue to purchase fast food in hopes that what the fast food commercial is saying is true. What the fast food commercial fails to tell consumers is the reality of their myths which is that eating their products does not feed an individuals every desire and could lead to high risk of serious illness, obesity, and even death.

In the Hot Mess commercial, the burger is portrayed as delicious and mouthwatering, but it does not let the consumers know that they run the risks of illness such as diabetes, liver diseases, and even cancer. Peter Vilbing, author of American Fry reveals that, In the 1993 Jack in the Box case, 700 people became ill and 4 died, including a 6-year-old girl, after eating Jack in the Box hamburgers tainted with a tiny but deadly microbe known as E. coli 0157:H7. Although health standards were forced to be higher after this incident, there are still serious illness out there waiting to break out. The commercial hypes up the burger so much that consumers forget about the health problems it carries with it. Where did the burger come from? How was it made? All of these are questions that the consumers should be asking when consuming the Hot Mess Burger. Everything inside the burger is open to all kinds of health risks. Vilbing also points out that, The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the agency that monitors national health issues, says that 200,000 Americans come down with a food-borne illness each day, 900 of them requiring hospitalization. In other words, when eating products from fast food companies, one is at high risk for illness. Obesity is another serious illness/complication that the burger can give; the commercial tries hard to blind consumers about it by the way they advertise. Another point that Jack in the Boxs commercial does not say is how many calories and how much fat the Hot Mess burger contains. Vilbig acknowledges, Critics also tag all those sacks of burgers and fries with helping to worsen another serious health problem: obesity. This illustrates how burgers are a big concern when it comes down to obesity. The burger in the commercial looks very unhealthy; it consists of onion rings, a jalapeo spicy sauce and jalapeos. This puts the consumer in the high risk of being obese. Nothing healthy was being

portrayed in the commercial at all. Vilbirg affirms, And today's teens, the agency says, are three times more likely to be overweight than teens in the 1960s. This explicitly shows how over time, the fast food industry has contributed to the increases in the obesity rate. Many fast food commercials do not show the amount of calories or the effects that their products may have on a persons health. Commercials persuade consumers to purchase and eat their unhealthy/fattening food items and consumers are unaware of what it is they are ingesting. This blinds consumers of the truth about what the risks are of eating fast food products; a person may eat the so-called fast food product and be completely oblivious to the possible health effects. Since many people do not know the health risks associated with fast food, consumers continue to purchase fast food items thus helping to increase the obesity rate. Consuming fast food products can not only lead to obesity, but in worst cases can also cause death. Consumers do not know the reality of the myths that fast food companies present in their commercials, including the possibility of death from eating their products. The more one consumes fast food, the higher the risk of death because of the chemicals and such in their products. Vilbig further explains, The little bug, a variation of bacteria that we all have in our intestines to help digest food, can cause brain damage or death. In his book, Schlosser describes the 1993 death of one 6-year-old boy who came down with cramps after eating tainted hamburger meat. As the toxin liquefied his brain, doctors had to drill holes in his skull to relieve the pressure. He died five days later (Vilbig).

Death can be the result from consuming possibly tainted meat from fast food restaurants. Fast food restaurants claim that they use all fresh ingredients but in reality they are making their food in unsanitary conditions that can cause death if consumed. Vilbig also verifies that, Critics say not enough is being done to keep deadly microbes out of meat to begin with. They say these bacteria contaminate beef on fast-moving assembly lines when underpaid, poorly trained workers-who often kill, gut, and butcher several cattle per minuteinadvertently spill feces from cows' intestines onto the meat destined for human consumption (Vilbirg). Fast food companies tell consumers that their products will make all ones desires come true, but the reality of the myth is that it will not. Instead, the consumption of their possibly fecescovered as well as contaminated products could lead to death. Jonathan Safran Foer, national bestselling author, admits in his book Eating Animals, Factory farming is hard to define but easy to identify. In a narrow sense it is a system of industrialized and intensive agriculture in which animals- often housed by the tens or even hundreds of thousands- are genetically engineered, restricted in mobility, and fed unnatural diets (which almost always include various drugs, like antimicrobials)(Safron). Animals that are raised on factory farms are most likely fed with steroids and starve to death. And consuming animals that are fed and were raised on unnatural diets possibly include various drugs that can be very unhealthy for the human body and can lead to a slow death. Fast food commercials like Jack in the Boxs Hot Mess burger commercial perpetuate lies and myths, in order to try to hide the reality of their myths from consumers. Fast food

companies try to convince consumers that their products will make all their desires come true but in reality it will not. Because of this, consumers are easily swayed to buy and consume fast food products, which can result in high risk of serious illness, obesity, and in the worst cases, death. Fast food companies, including Jack in the Box, will continue to make commercials full of lies and myths in order to persuade consumers to buy their products. Americans are going to continue to buy food from the fast food industry, unaware of the possible health effects, unless someone takes a stand and tells consumers the truth about fast food products.

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Works Cited Foer, Jonathan. Eating Animals. New York: Back Bay Books/ Little, Brown and Company, 2009. Print. Vilbig, Peter. American fry. PatriciaNew York Times Upfront 2001. eLibrary. Web. 23 Sep. 2013. WazSubs. One Hit Wonder Hot Mess Burger Jack in the Box. Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 31 Jan 2013. Web. 23 Sep. 2013.