Should fast food chains be directly blamed for obesity?

Question

Are fast food chains totally at fault? or the people who purchase their products? It's a question of thought knowing that the world is an open book just with the usage of the internet you can't say that the consumers aren't aware. Justified? you decide.

Answer 1

No - They don't force people to eat it. Also, it's possible to eat fast food and not be obese if you eat it in moderation. People need to take responsibility for their own health! - Also, It's common knowlege that fast food is unhealthy. For someone to claim they "didn't know" is absurd! Who are they fooling to say consumers are unaware?

Answer 2

Fast food chains should not be directly blamed for obesity.

It is ridiculous that people are able to sue food chains because they have become obese eating preservative filled foods that have nearly an entire day's worth of calories and salt.

It is the consumer's choice to eat it, and the consumer's responsibility to make sure they are getting a nutritious diet. Look at countries in Europe, they have fast food chains and they aren't obese!!

So i think it is not the fault of the fast fod chains.

Answer 3

The restaurants aren't totally at fault. You go into a McDonalds and you see people eating 2 and 3 hamburgers at a time. Supersized fries. I mean, the restaurants are at fault for the advertising that they are doing. The marketing departments are at fault for the "super-size" sizes, but anyone with just a little bit of common sense knows that "super-sizes" and hamburgers that are 3 stories high, have to realize that the stuff is bad for you. Look at the movies that they have made about that kind of crap. "Super-size me", the story of that dude that lived on McDonald's for 30 days. He is probably gonna have a heart attack because of that. The consumer has some idea of what he is doing, but the fast food chains should not be completely blamed for the obesity of america. The constitution does not tell us that we have to eat the crap that comes from fast food chains. God gave us free will and how we choose to use that knowledge is completely up to us.

Answer 4

It's not the fast food restaurants fault they had a burger 50 times a day, for a whole month. It's ppls choices where they don't feel like cooking a meal or whatever the case may be. Do we blame car makers for innocent ppl getting hit by a car? No. I think its not only bad manners, but bad representation of the USA that we blame the fast food industry. If we blame it all on someone else, how are we to accept the things we do?

Answer 5

I work at a fast food outlet, and i know where you are coming from. As a McDonald's employee i see hundred's of people a week come in and fill themselves with fast food.

While the food itself is not that bad, we freshly cook it, and anything over 2 hours old is thrown out, but it is the amount of food that people eat that is a problem.

I think there are several factors to blame. The advertising... i mean everyone sees it. Its one of the most powerful ways to get people to come to your resteraunt ( yes, McDonald's is classified as a resteraunt.), and people do fall for it.

Another factor is people themselves. Ok, occasionally you might want to go out and buy some maccas, but one time becomes once a week, and once a week becomes once every few days. Before you know it you are easiting it for breakfast lunch and tea. And that is one of the problems that leads to obesity today.

I think that if we knocked some common sense into people, and maybe lowered the advertising to a minimum, then we can reduce the amount of food people eat. I mean my maccas store alone makes about $10, 000 day.

Hope this helps =)

Answer 6

No fast food chains should not be blamed for obesity. If it went that route, then shouldn't all supermarkets, shops, cafes and restaurants be brought up on the same charges as well as all food manufacturers. It's up to people who eat gargantuan amounts of fast food, sweets, crisps etc, then don't exercise and blame the fast food outlets who should be put up on a charge of ludicrasy. The world has gone mad.

Surely a bit of common sense should prevail. Eat loads, don't exercise get fat. Can't blame anyone else but yourself if you keep shovelling food down your throat.! Sorry strong views on subject. People who constantly blame others for their own failings irritate me.

Answer 7

You've had some good answers on both sides.

Obviously the buyer decides where and what to buy.

Obviously the seller takes advantage of mass marketing.

There's one factor I don't think has been addressed, and it impacts this industry and the tobacco industry. When people started getting addicted, the devastating impacts (of addiction, of ingredients, etc) were not known nor were the potential areas of problems reasonably 'visible' to an 'average' consumer.

Sadly, the '50s bred people in drive-in restaurants socializing on fast food ... then puffing away outside (or inside - I imagine the diners allowed smoking inside).

People in their 20's and 30's have parents who grew up in that era and may have raised them on the 'instant gratification' diet - soda, fast food, and 'buzzes.' It has been a norm to 'get a fix' as a way to 'take the edge' off, so now we want/feel the need to grab food *fast*, get results *pronto*.

So while we agree that the buyer is responsible but the sellers should be more responsible about how they tempt the buyer/encourage the overconsumption ---- well, let's look together at 'reforming habits' as the goal. McDonald's and other restaurants have put some healthier options on their menus (albeit often not always the tastiest ones); people have started to confront the fact we need reforms in our diets. Sad, sad news is that many are addicted after 'easy access' and years of being given these ingredients by well-meaning parents (who suddenly found themselves in homes in need of 2 incomes and thus with less time and more stress - but hungry mouths to feed).

"Buyer, beware!" needs to meet "Buyer, find instant salad mix!" - but of course it's not so simple when a myriad of little voices are cranky from daycare and dinner simply needs to appear *right now*.

Obesity and fast food aren't mutually exclusive. Healing them requires compassion, not blame.


NOTE: I'm not blaming the restaurants; I'm not condoning our sue-happy society. I'm merely pointing out that the issue goes deeper than a simple "Who's right?" - it's rooted in the way people live now, perpetuating the need for instant gratification. You can point your finger at the obese all you want - and they're still not doing the damage to society that many do. They just wear it on their heartsleeves and are easy to point out. The ones who are obese are not the only ones consuming and enraged in this hormone-overdosed instant gratification free-for-all many of you want to call acceptable; think road rage, think people who are narcissistically convinced they shouldn't have to stop at stop signs, think people who are so much more important than others that it's OK for them to interrupt a movie by making others listen to their cell conversations. The question is the front end of a long and tense debate; the lifestyles and priorities we sucker ourselves into accepting are the culprits, and most people are so pressured into it they don't even have time to think about real alternatives. So buzz off, those who think my diplomatic commentary dodges the bullet.

Answer 8

No, Fast in moderation is okay, and most people lifestyles have changed in the last 25 years. Obiesty is part generic, and part lifestyle people eat what thier in the mood for. The lawyers should stay out my Big Mac. Comsumers know fast food is bad for you before the internet, but people like greasy food from time to time. After tabacco, then fast food its a slippery slope needs to stop.

Answer 9

I believe that fast food chains, and restaurant chains in general, are a contributing factor, but not the main factor, in the pandemic of obesity in America. Fast food chains (and restaurants) have regulated portions, which are much larger than a portion that one would need for a meal. This causes/leads one to think that the portions that they are consuming are the generally accepted amount, or the amount that they are supposed to consume. This is not to say that nutritional information on the set portions are not available to people. Every restaurant and fast food chain has the nutritional information available upon request in order for one to make an educated decision in the amount and what they are consuming. So the fast food chains lead us to believe that what we are doing is fine, and that regular consumption will not harm us, when in reality, they lead us to over-eat. In the long-run, however, it is our ultimate decision as to what we consume from day-to-day, and it is our decision whether or not to read labels/make healthy choices in our food consumption. :)

Answer 10

This is the most ridiculous trend in "junk litigation" When tobacco companies started getting sued by smokers, and were forced to pay huge settlements/ damages, alot of obese people saw dollar signs. If smokers can sue a tobacco company for something that the smoker did to himself, then why shouldn't Porky sue the McD's who sold him all those Big Macs. Sure, nobody held a gun to his chubby head and made him eat that garbage, but then nobody forced Smoky O'Blacklung to puff away on that deathstick. Both are equally ridiculous, holding a corporation responsible for actions you took. It's someone else's fault, not yours! This is because the only people who take responsibility for their own actions anymore are terrorists.

Answer 11

I don't think they should be blamed for it, I mean its the person eating the food. They don't have a law out saying that everyone has to eat at fast food chains, I watched supersize me which is a decent movie to watch. So I think that the consumers are to be blamed for it, not the fast food places like everyone assumes.