Chew On This: Everything You Don’t Want To Know About Fast Food

Writing in the second person and adopting a vivid, familiar tone, Schlosser and Wilson address the child reader, who is the prime target of fast food advertising. They state that fast food producers purposely aim to make consuming their products as habitual an experience as “brushing your teeth before bed” (1).

The point of the book “is to take that strong impulse we all feel—our hunger for sweet, salty, fatty fast foods—and make you think about it” (2). This is crucial because “the food you eat enters your body and literally becomes part of you,” determining your physique and even your life expectancy (3). 

The authors introduce the idea of McDonald's’ expanding empire, from 1000 restaurants exclusively in the US in 1968, to more than 31,000 branches in 120 countries today: “The golden arches are more recognized than the Christian cross,” they write, acknowledging McDonald's’ massive impact on the global food industry and global culture in general (2). In the United States, McDonald's buys more processed food than any other company. 

The dark side to fastfood is introduced in the things you do not immediately see in junk food adverts; for example, there are no adverts showing “overweight, unhealthy kids stuffing their faces with greasy fries” (3).