Spongebob Fatpants

thesis:

While Burger King’s advertisement offers children a toy of a beloved cartoon character along with it’s kids meal, it fails to provide any information on the negative effects that the food could have on the body. It also neglects to mention the advanced advertising techniques it uses to exploit the impressionable nature of a child’s mind, or that ads like this are just the first step in strategies designed to make children brand loyal for life.

body paragraph:

While this advertisement presents Burger King’s food in a way that interesting and fun for kids, it fails to inform consumers of the detrimental immediate or long term effects it could have on their health. It’s clear not only through speculation, but study and experimentation that fast food can directly affect a person’s health in negative ways. During the Super Size Me documentary, Morgan Spurlock conducted an experiment in which he ate nothing but fast food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for 30 days. Spurlock had various checkups with three different doctors throughout the experiment. The end results were more shocking than one might expect. In just 30 days’ time, Spurlock gained twenty four pounds, went up sixty-five points in cholesterol, and experienced a seven percent increase in body fat percentage. Over the 30 days Spurlock also experience depression, mood swings, nausea, constant cravings and headaches, and a noticeable decrease in his sex drive. At the end of the experiment, the doctors said that Spurlock had doubled his risk of coronary heart disease and damaged his liver in ways seen only in binge drinkers. Spurlock’s experiment showcases the potential immediate health effects of eating too much fast food, but the most common long-term effect is obesity. Obesity is a serious health risk, comparable to chain smoking or binge drinking. Being obese puts a person at risk of various diseases such as “hypertension, dyslipidemia, type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, gallbladder disease, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea and repertory problems, and endometrial, breast, prostate, and colon cancers.” (Elizabeth A. Siegler). Since Burger King is targeting children in their advertisements, information on the negative side effects of a fast food diet should be included in those ads.

WhataBurger: Just the Way You Thought You Liked It

Thesis: A classic Whataburger ad claims to be, “Just like you like it”. The image is of a one of their famous Whataburger Burger – dressed with onions, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles; all the works. Whataburger always suggest that if you come to our restaurant, they will make it, as their slogan states, “Just the way you like it” however, is it really just the way we like it? Whataburger ads fail to claim that most of their meals are packed with empty calories, have ridiculous proportion sizes, exploit their workers, and often don’t make it the way you like it.

Body:

Lastly, their slogan, “Just the way you like it” is often an elaborate slogan of lies. For, it is never the way you like it. As stated before, many people want to have their cake and eat it too, which for Whataburger is impossible. Once again, Ashley Terrell gives me some insight on what happens behind the counter when she is taking orders. She states, “We are obligated to persuade the costumer to ordering more than what he or she wants. For example, I’ll say, ‘For just 25 cents more, you can get a large fries with that.’ Or ‘Are you sure you don’t want a hot fudge brownie pie with that?’ Its all just a game of bidding and persuasion. Costumers usually order what I suggest and some even yell at me, displeased at my [bargaining]. It’s never that way they want it, it’s the way we want you to want it.” This discovery shocked me, the fact that Whataburger employees are trying their hardest to get you to buy more food than what you already need. It’s like the trap that obesity sets out for all of its victims and orange clad workers are just puppets of disguise.

childhood obesity

While the Burger King advertisements seem promising, its claims that their kids meal is cheap, has a unique look, and guaranteed free toy is just a cover up For instance, the ad omits the nutritional content, the marketing tools used to attract children, and tricks kids into thinking they will be given a sufficient toy. I believe that action is needed in order to prevent advertisements installing unhealthy eating habits in children. Advertisements are paid to promote and sell, not to worry about health problems. Parents are therefore responsible for knowing what chemical additives and unhealthy products that go into their child's food. Children are unable to distinguish the difference between healthy and non healthy foods, their naive minds thus make them susceptible to the influence of commercials. For example, by having loud and bright colors fast food companies attract a child's attention and make them subconsciously want to purchase their foods. Children are basically being brain washed. The programs that children watch encourage them to eat at a specific place not just for the "food", but also for what the place has to offer like free toys. After all more advertising does equal more consumption. It is disgustingly amazing how effective advertisers are able to make a family (more than one customer) eat at their fast food restaurant all because of a child. The constant exposure to advertisements has led children to view advertisements as normal and with trust. However, the truth is that children are becoming obese thanks to their ads and left being overweight even into adulthood.

Think Outside the Bun

"While the ad may portray a humble and simplistic approach, Evidence proves otherwise, showing that every element of the ad has been carefully chosen to “deceive” drivers into buying their food."

Through It's color, logo and slogan, this ad captures the attention of drivers along interstate 45 by means if its simplicity. These three elements which stand on a billboard have been carefully selected by its creators in order to grab the attention of hungry travelers, luring them in through an arrangement of methods. It's bright purple color directs the eyes of its customers off the road and to the sign. This color has been chosen for multiple reasons, but in this case it seems to be used to bring attention to the sign. The slogan, "Think outside the bun", also implies a few things. It is basically making statements like "Stop being a follower", and "Be an individual", while also saying things like "Buy our food!". It is effective because it indirectly states that anyone who were to eat at their establishment would somehow be more intelligent than someone who were t eat at a McDonalds. The irony of the situation is that it's basically the same food, and that there is probably not any special benefits you can receive by picking one over another. The third element, the bell symbol, is effective as well in attracting customers. By creating something easily recognizable, people are able to relate the imagery of the bell to the decent taste, cost, portability and quickness of the americanized Mexican food.

Thesis:

Chick-fil-A’s “Eat Mor Chikin” ad tells people to consume more chicken and less beef; this claim is clearly defended by the nutritional facts but neither the meat nor poultry industry is better or more humane than the other.

Body Paragraph:

Chick-fil-A’s ad gives the impression that the company would rather kill chickens than cows. Both the meat and poultry industries are very discreet about what goes on in the slaughterhouses and the lack of humanity that is exhibited there. In Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation, he mentions that there is only one small window looking into the slaughterhouse. (172) The chickens that are owned by companies such as Wayne Farms, Chick-fil-A’s poultry provider, live their, albeit, short lives in over-crowded quarters. Most of these poor chickens never see the light of day and are barely able to walk. K. Ghareeb and J. Bohm wrote the article Fear Behaviour, Ease of Capture and Performance Traits of Growing Meat Type Chickens which described how poor chickens are raised to be afraid of their handlers because the more fearful the chickens are the easier they are to capture and transport. (1) Not only does this constant fear affect the birds but also because they live in such tight living conditions the chickens tend to become very anxious and peck each other. This can lead to death in a few of the chickens. As for the cows, they live in their own filth which can cause them to become very sick because of the immense amount of ammonia they are exposed to. The chickens that survive go on to the slaughterhouse. When they arrive at the slaughterhouse the chickens are grabbed by their legs and hung upside down. The action of hanging the birds upside down can break their fragile legs. They are killed by having their throat slit by a machine. According to Gary Comstock author of Life, Science, Ethics some chickens move before their throats are slit and are alive when they are put into the de-feathering machine.(347) Cows, on the other hand, are killed manually by a person shooting them in the head. Although neither method of killing is acceptable at least the cows are dead before the next phase of their slaughtering begins. As Comstock says, poultry companies such as Wayne Farms believe that since the rights of chickens are not defined in the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act that their actions are excusable but they are clearly misguided. (356) This unimaginably poor treatment of animals is supported by companies such as Chick-fil-A who buy their products from companies who allow their animals to die in the cruelest of ways. When they post an ad that shows cows telling people to eat chicken instead of beef they are basically telling people that killings cows is cruel but killing chickens is acceptable.

Carl Jr’s “Superstar” Burger: A Journey of Stardom, Sexual Drives and Power that doesn’t start with a Single Burger

Original & Revised Ad

Thesis: Carl Jr's Superstar Burger ad provides ludicrous claims as it dismisses the facts that consuming the unhealthy product cannot make one into a thin and attractive celebrity, not a stimulant for sexual drives, but rather a stimulant for bacteria related illnesses, and is not a true measurement of a man’s social and personal power.

Body Paragraph:
This advertisement affirms that consuming their burger will make them appear as glamorous, thin, and attractive like their favorite celebrity, seen through celebrity influence in endorsements, but this impossible because of the unhealthiness of the burger. The ad utilizes the influential power of celebrity Paris Hilton to thrust the claim of obtainable stardom to the readers. Paris Hilton, an American socialite and heiress, may be the most popular figure in pop culture as her line of work includes a wide range of variety such as media personality, model, singer, author, fashion designer and actress. Nevertheless, she is an example of the modern phenomenon of the “celebutant”', the celebrity who rises to fame not because of their talent or work but because of their inherited wealth and controversial lifestyle. Her fame is what Carl’s jr emphasized, for their goal is to create a new meaning for the product from the celebrity’s persona, which is fueled by the types of roles they play in society as well as how they are portrayed in the media. At a first glance upon the ad, a reader will see a sense of stardom from the way Paris is dressed in her jeweled bathing suit and diamond studded accessories. She stands so confidently with her eyes closed holding the burger in her left hand. In a selection titled “ The Impact on Advertising Effectiveness and Credibility” from the International Journal of Advertising by journalist David Strutton, he examines the relationship between celebrity endorser source effects and its effectiveness in advertising. Strutton argues, that the importance of celebrity endorsers, however, does not lie in the fact that they are used by firms who wish to increase revenue, but in how these celebrities add value to a company, brand or product. Celebrities add value through the process of meaning transfer. Since the advertise burger is named the “Super Star,” Carl’s Jr's advertising department also wanted a super star to represent their product. By using her as a model for this ad, “a consumer identifies with a celebrity, and he/she purchases the product in the hope of claiming some of these transferred meanings for their own lives” (Strutton, 210), but this in reality cannot be found as this product is a contradiction, for the nutritional value of the burger makes gaining countless pounds is more realistic than gaining fame and all the comes with it. This ad promises its consumers that if you eat their burger, you too can also be glamorous and confident like Paris, yet this unimaginable because of the harsh nutritional facts of the Superstar burger. According, to Carl Jr’s nutritional values chart on their website, the Superstar burger alone contains slightly over 920 calories. A normal healthy diet has a calorie intake of 2200. Let say if someone eats 3 meals that consist of a Superstar burger with a large order of fries and a 12oz Coke, 475 and 160 calories respectively. That’s a massive 4665 calories, which is more than double the recommended diet. This ad claim that with the consumption of the Superstar burger, it will bring the consumer nearer to the fantasy of obtaining a superstar-like appearance, but it’s terribly high calorie intake become a enormous roadblock in realizing the unreal goal.

wendys baconator

While this advertisement for Wendy’s Baconator makes it seem cool and challenging, it hides a not-so-fun fact—that the product advertised, if eaten regularly, can and will lead to obesity. I intend to prove my point, along with other points including how the automobile and our lack of physical activity are linked to Americas growing obesity problem.

In his book, Want Fries With That, Scott Ingram states, “In a nation such as the United States, where portion sizes have consistently increased since the late 1970’s…” The Wendy’s Baconator is a prime example of this, clocking in at almost 1600 calories, not to mention the fries and drink. That’s almost as much as nutritionists say that a human is suppose to have in an entire day. Not only are advertisements seducing people into eating these larger quantities of food, but the people that work at these places do as well. As soon as you tell them what you want the cashier asks if you want to make it a large or biggie-size before you can finish talking. Then they ask you if you want to add a slice of pie or cheese sticks with your meal, its’ like putting this pressure on you to order more. It’s not only happening at fast food restaurants, value meals at places like Chili’s’ are often the ones with the highest number of calories, like the Texas Cheese fries and the Cajun pasta. If you order a couple orders off the value menu, you get a free desert.