Blog #4

Your Trusted Friends

     Chapter two of Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser is about Ray Kroc and the expansion of McDonald's. Since the McDonald's brothers didn't like to travel, Ray Kroc convinced them to hand over the rights so that he can expand the restaurant chain without them having to travel. During this time period Walt Disney was also rising with his amusement park Disneyland. Ray ray had a specific method to attract more costumers. His method was to target small children. If a child was enlightened and would recognized a character they would most likely want to have it. The child would ask their parents for it and the parent would sooner or later deliver. In the case of McDonald's, they used a clown to represent the restaurant and to catch the eye of children. However McDonald's wasn't the only corporation using this idea. Television is also responsible for commercials aimed at kids. A typical american child spends more time watching tv than doing any other activity. Since small children cannot identify the difference between a show and a commercial, a specific commercial would captivate the child's attention and they'll soon begin to ask their parents for it. In a way these commercials were made to be programmed in children's minds. Adds of fast food were added in Colorado's schools. Shortly after the vending machines came in. In schools lunchrooms the machines weren't much of a success due to lack of availability. Therefore it was soon decided to put the vending machines in hallways where there was more accessibility. The more it was available, the more it would be bought.