...Cassetta Central Michigan University-- MKT 560 February 1, 2014 Introduction Obesity is an ongoing problem not only in America, but seen all over the world. There are many assumptions in regards to why this has been on the rise in recent years, and who is to blame for this. Obesity and over-weight adults, as well as children, has become increasingly common, as well as seen. With over 1 billion overweight adults with 400 million of them being obese, and with 155 million children being over-weight worldwide (Cateora, Gilly, Graham, 2013), this issue needed to be addressed. With that said, the big question is, how do we stop this rise as a whole. An ongoing issue and example to today’s obesity is fast food chains i.e. McDonald’s, and how they advertise. And though McDonald’s is one of the leading companies in the fast-food chain industry across the globe, people have been outraged with their marketing and campaigns to eat their unhealthy menu items. Thankfully, even with the bad publicity McDonald’s had and has received on numerous occasions, they are still able to have a constant growth within their company. Question #1: When it comes to fast-food industries, marketing and advertising is the key to their success. They typically use the 4P’s of marketing which are, product, price, place, and promotion. “Having accurate research is essential in creating the right marketing” (Business Case Studies, 2008). This, as well as their SWOT analysis, helps McDonald’s be able to...
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...Introduction Yum! is one of the world’s leading fast food service provider. KFC, which is one of its subsidiaries, not only specializes in fried chicken but is also the leading brand for it. KFC China, since its inception, has been growing at a very fast pace. It has taken astute strategic steps to establish itself in China. It had various key competitive advantages which permitted it to expand to more than 4000 outlets in China (Bell and Shelman, 2011). The company hired a managerial team from Taiwan which had an experience of more than 15 years in the fast food industry (Cho, 2009). It introduced a new concept of high-end, modern and western fast food in China. People considered KFC to be a nice place where they could take their dates. The Chinese love fried chicken, which is probably one of key reasons it has a competitive advantage over the beef focused MacDonald’s, with a ratio of 2:1 unprecedented anywhere else in the world (Cho, 2009). It also catered to local tastes by localizing its menu to suit the Chinese and acquired East drawing- a chain which serves local food. KFC china is also known for its frequent product releases. KFC also dealt with China’s dynamic and rapidly changing business environment by establishing its own supply chain and owning most of the chains instead of giving franchisees like it operates in the US. This was mainly to protect itself from the problems it could face by getting off on the wrong foot with the local partners. (Bell and Shelman,...
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...CASE 27 McDonald’s and Obesity THE PROBLEM Governments and influential health advocates around the world, spooked that their nations’ kids will become as fat as American kids, are cracking down on the marketers they blame for the explosion in childhood obesity. Across the globe, efforts are under way to slow the march of obesity. In the United States, roughly 30 percent of American children are overweight or obese. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an estimated 64.5 percent of Americans tip the scales as overweight or obese, the highest percentage of fat people of any country in the world. However, adults and kids in other countries are catching up. THE WORLD The World Heart Federation reports that globally there are now more than 1 billion overweight adults and that at least 400 million of those are obese. An estimated 155 million children are overweight worldwide including 30–45 million who are obese.1 In many countries, the worst increases in obesity have occurred in young people. About half a million children in Europe are suffering classic middle-aged health problems because they are too fat. Obesity among European children has been on the rise over the last 25 years. The number of overweight children in Europe did not change much from 1974 to 1984; then the rate started to creep up during the next 10 years, and it exploded after 1995. In Britain, one in five children is overweight or obese; in Spain 30 percent;...
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...CASE 27 McDonald’s and Obesity THE PROBLEM Governments and influential health advocates around the world, spooked that their nations’ kids will become as fat as American kids, are cracking down on the marketers they blame for the explosion in childhood obesity. Across the globe, efforts are under way to slow the march of obesity. In the United States, roughly 30 percent of American children are overweight or obese. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an estimated 64.5 percent of Americans tip the scales as overweight or obese, the highest percentage of fat people of any country in the world. However, adults and kids in other countries are catching up. THE WORLD The World Heart Federation reports that globally there are now more than 1 billion overweight adults and that at least 400 million of those are obese. An estimated 155 million children are overweight worldwide including 30–45 million who are obese.1 In many countries, the worst increases in obesity have occurred in young people. About half a million children in Europe are suffering classic middle-aged health problems because they are too fat. Obesity among European children has been on the rise over the last 25 years. The number of overweight children in Europe did not change much from 1974 to 1984; then the rate started to creep up during the next 10 years, and it exploded after 1995. In Britain, one in five children is overweight or obese; in Spain 30 percent;...
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...CASE 27 McDonald’s and Obesity THE PROBLEM Governments and influential health advocates around the world, spooked that their nations’ kids will become as fat as American kids, are cracking down on the marketers they blame for the explosion in childhood obesity. Across the globe, efforts are under way to slow the march of obesity. In the United States, roughly 30 percent of American children are overweight or obese. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an estimated 64.5 percent of Americans tip the scales as overweight or obese, the highest percentage of fat people of any country in the world. However, adults and kids in other countries are catching up. THE WORLD The World Heart Federation reports that globally there are now more than 1 billion overweight adults and that at least 400 million of those are obese. An estimated 155 million children are overweight worldwide including 30–45 million who are obese.1 In many countries, the worst increases in obesity have occurred in young people. About half a million children in Europe are suffering classic middle-aged health problems because they are too fat. Obesity among European children has been on the rise over the last 25 years. The number of overweight children in Europe did not change much from 1974 to 1984; then the rate started to creep up during the next 10 years, and it exploded after 1995. In Britain, one in five children is overweight or obese; in Spain 30 percent;...
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...juxtapose the actions of McDonald’s corporation and the increasing trend of consumer preference of organic, healthy products. The market of food consumers is becoming increasingly health-focused although the simultaneous increases in obesity in almost all countries seem to be driven mainly by changes in the global food system, which is producing more processed, affordable, and effectively marketed food than ever before (Swinburn, 137). If fast-food chains such as McDonald’s ignore these changes in consumer knowledge and preferences, they will not survive the onslaught of other, new companies who now seek to bring fast, healthy food to the consumer’s table. Many of the labels that Label Print Technologies (LPT) produces are for smaller, organic food manufacturers who seek to bring a healthy product to their customers. The growth of the organic product industry has created large areas of growth in many different industries; the label industry is ripe for the picking and LPT is ready to act. Where once there were big manufacturers looking to have hundreds of thousands of labels produced at once, there are now smaller, health-focused companies looking for more intricately designed labels to adorn their high quality products, and not necessarily in mass quantity. Obesity is defined as fat accumulation that may impair health. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines overweight as a body mass index (BMI) that is equal to or more than 30. In 2008, more than 1.4 billion adults were...
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...Fast Food and Consumer Behavior ABSTRACT Marketing can impact the economy in one or two ways. First, marketing has the potential to increase the demand for a good or service. Effective marketing campaigns entice people to want/buy a specific good or service. The market demand curve is comprised of individual demand curves for a good. General theory states that consumers will buy less of a product as the price increases. However, marketing can cause the demand for the good or service to become more inelastic, which causes consumers to still buy even when the price increases. This is because strategic marketing plans have a goal to convince consumers that there is no real substitute for the good or service. Some argue that consumer behavior is manipulated by marketing and that consumers need to operate within a “laissez faire” market. This paper will discuss the impacts of marketing on consumer behavior in the fast food economy and the ability to generate demand curves. It will test the following three hypotheses: (1) consumer behavior is influenced by marketing (2) effective marketing impacts the indifference curve (3) marketing can override the individual and market demand theory. The research paper will present the research that supports the psychological and economic theory of consumer behavior in the fast food industry to support the results demonstrating the economic effect from the efforts of marketing. Introduction ...
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...In today’s busy society we are so accustomed to our fast paced lifestyle that we are forced, in a way, to consume an easily, available, and convenient meal. With this being said, it comes as no surprise that fast food restaurants try to attract as many people as possible in every street corner. Fast food has never been seen as a healthy way of eating, but with all of the propaganda and slogans found in today's society, which parent could refuse a kid a happy meal? The fast food industry does not really care about the health of its consumer; this can be seen by the advertisements targeting youths and children as their biggest market of sales. Wooing us with their propaganda while we shove poison down our throats. As they say, the rich gets richer while the fat get even fatter. When modern families opt out cooking meals and settle getting a pizza for dinner or a drive through at McDonald's not only are they ruining their health but also instilling the unhealthy lifestyle to their children. Parents don't prevent their children at all when they encourage them to eat processed fat in the form of a burger and fries. Upon growing up, many of these children will develop a love for this food that in turn they will pass on their kids and this vicious cycle will continue. A goal of marketing is to establish familiarity and easily recognizable symbols like the golden arch of McDonald's. Due to this, commercial ads only have to show that logo along with a burger to brainwash us into driving...
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...Statistics shows that the governments and the health care advocates are feared to voice their concern over the increasing number of health problems that are associated with fast foods. Childhood obesity and the possibility of such issues will likely double in the next decade” (Johansen, 2012). The rapid changes in dietary trends and the rise of health complications have made people call on fast food companies to regulate their food production. In fact, McDonald has responded to the issue by introducing healthier food options, using poised lifestyle messages on their marketing campaigns and raising funds to assist children with life-threatening complications. This paper will examine diet or nutrition as an aspect of culture and how it affects the interactions between McDonald’s and customers outside the U.S. The dietary changes as a result of the introduction of fast foods into new areas of the world and the subsequent health complications has put pressure on McDonalds to adopt several strategies to ensure that people conform, and buy their products in markets outside the United States. In dealing with the dietary changes and their effects, including obesity, the company’s marketing strategies have been blamed highly for targeting and influencing the children. This particular problem has inhibited the company from gaining much from other countries. In order to gain from the markets outside United States, McDonald’s embarked on a marketing strategy that depicted nutritionists siding...
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...reasons and it can be reversed many different ways. There are several causes for obesity in America, including fast- food restaurants and their marketing, hereditary obesity, and people reacting to the stereotypes in the media that you must be beautiful to be accepted. A. Supporting Evidence More and more Americans are becoming obese every single day. “More than half of Americans are overweight, including 1 out of 5 children. Nearly one third are obeseâ€. (Wooten) Childhood obesity is a serious and common disease that is becoming more and more popular for children to be obese. B. Explanation Some parents or people do not understand why or how their children became obese. There are many explanations for this. One can simply be consuming too much food into one’s body. Today’s culture promotes eating habits that contribute to obesity. People may serve large portions of foods that are mostly readily available instead of choosing foods that are most nutritious. C. So What? While it is easy to discuss the facts about childhood obesity, we all Have to look at the backgrounds of people. Obesity is hereditary and this I say from experience, because my mother was obese and I have always had problems with my weight. I. Body paragraph # 2- Topic Sentence # 2 There are several causes for obesity in America, including fast-food restaurants and their marketing, hereditary obesity, and people reacting to the stereotypes in the media that you must be beautiful to be...
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...that is equal to or greater than the 95th percentile for children of the same age and sex. Childhood obesity can be the result of genetics but is mostly the result of continuous overeating with little or no physical activity to counter the number of calories ingested. Since childhood obesity remains a growing epidemic, the rise of childhood obesity can be attributed to such factors as increased entertainment media, targeting of children by marketing, larger portion sizes, and the consumption of sugar drinks. In today’s society, entertainment media devices such as smart phones, television, computers, video games and movies are an everyday part of life. With an extensive amount of media devices at our fingertips, children are spending an average of 7.5 hours a day engaged with some form of a communication device with the majority of that time allocated to watching television or playing video games (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2012). This increase in watching television or playing video games promotes a sedentary lifestyle, resulting in a dramatic decrease in physical activity. In an article from the National Institutes of Health (2008), the findings from a long-term study uncovered the activity level in a group comprised of 1000 children dropped from age 9 to 15. The study showed children with varying ethnic and economic backgrounds reduced their moderate to vigorous...
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...does globalization influence health and lifestyle? 2012/7/26 Traditionally, globalization is welcome in a host of countries for the reason that it can increase international trade and fuel the local economic growth. Yet, a growing number of people nowadays are beginning to be concerned that transitions brought by globalization could make a negative effect on their local lifestyle and health. Widespread and overwhelming, globalization plays a vital role in people’s life. From my own perspective, health and cultural problems are the two essential issues that triggered by globalization. Admittedly, globalization reinforces cultural exchange and transmission. Nonetheless, it can undermine the local cultural identity as well. Especially, the spread of American corporation all over the world has visible and variable consequence on local culture, such as fast food chains. It is well known that food not only represents an aspect of local culture but also reveals the habits and traditions in society. For example (Cited in Source Work, 2012, p.179), the French unique cuisine reflects their culture, which makes the French feel more proud. Because of their sense of pride, quite a few French people have started to be concerned that the U.S. fast food chains would crowd out their own products. Besides food products, restaurant chains can influence both eating habits and traditions. For instance (Cited in Source Work, 2012, p.179), Starbucks, in Italy, gives rise to widely cultural concerns...
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...globally. The primary issue is that governments and health advocates fear that the number of obese children will double over the next ten years. The highest percent of obesity worldwide is amongst children. In Europe, officials are caling for food industries to set their own regulations, or face bans like the tobacco industry. McDonalds is trying to expand and reach new markets, but it is being threatened with social pressure from nutrionists and national governments. McDonald has been adjusting to this issue by adding new healthier options to its menus, adding balanced lifesyle messages into marketing campaigns, and by continuing to promote and raise funds for foundations aimed at helping children with life threatening illnesses. 1. How should McDonald’s respond when ads promoting healthy lifestyles featuring Ronald McDonald are equated with How Camel and cigatette ads? Should McDonald’s eliminate Ronald McDonald in its ads? In my opinion, eliminating the character Ronald McDonald is not the solution. The solution is for McDonalds to make an association between the character Ronald and positive images. For example, using Ronald for advertisements of healthy food and nutrition could build positive images of the mascot. It is important to mention that they primally sell products which contain high cholesterol and calories and bad effective of consuming high cholesterol food. McDonalds also may involve in charities or health education campaigns which promotes healthy lifestyle...
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...most of the fast food was quite tasty, cheap, convenient and readily available, consumers preferred them to regular meals. Even Children of up to 16 years of age played a major role and they were the secondary targets. They had the power to convince their parents to take them out to such fast food restaurants. They enjoyed specialised kids meals and were a key part of the dining experience for families. In 1990, an average of 997 commercials was aired during Saturday morning cartoon hours compared to 225 in 1987. Two thirds of these advertisements promoted candies and fast food. Also, the ‘super-size bags’ and ‘value meals’ became popular since consumers got a great quantity of food at a comparatively lesser price. Getting more for your money is ingrained in the American psyche. Consumers were getting accustomed to bigger and heartier meals as fast food was usually bundle priced i.e. a hamburger, fries and soft drink cost less if bought together than separately. SOCIETAL MARKETING? A study undertaken by “Centers for Disease Control and Prevention” in 1999 revealed that 30% of US adults who were 20 years and older (59 million people) were obese and had increased their calorie and carbohydrate intake over the past 30 years. Increase in this intake resulted in an average gain of 22 pounds per year for men and 11 pounds per year for women. Health problems like cancer, heart diseases, diabetes, asthma, high blood cholesterol, breathing problems and many more could rise from obesity...
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... Children and teens see all different kinds of fast food marketing strategies everywhere. From television ads, internet ads, cell phones, magazines and so many other ways it’s astonishing. Fast food restaurants make sure that they use toys that are popular at the time to market to children so that they will want to get the happy meal with the toy like a doll or an action figure. If a new movie is coming out then the fast food restaurants make sure they get the toys for that movie. They have both girls and boys toys. Fast food restaurants also like to use flashy ads to draw kids to want their food. Over 10 billion dollars are spent on advertising to children. Fast food places need to cut back on the advertising would be very beneficial. They know that children are a big influence on what their parent buy for food. On average children view over 40,000 commercials a year, which are mostly for candy, cereal, toys, and fast foods. A lot of the time parent will not object to the idea of getting something fast and easy so that they do not have to cook themselves. Interview with Shannon Brownlee According to Shannon Brownlee, who is a senior fellow at the New America Foundation, at Washington, D.C. that it is hard to really say that fast food places are encouraging unhealthy eating habits, because you have to know how people respond to the advertising. She says that it is very clear though that the amount of fast food which people are eating has gone up in the last...
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