Support NeoGAF

[Husky]

I knew that many junk food brands have been global for a long time, but this deep dive into their international practices is pretty disturbing.


Companies like McDonalds throw regular marketing events for little kids in schools, and in many cases junk food is made far more unhealthy than in developed countries, where regulations lead them to scale back fats and sugars. At an Indian KFC, customers share that they believe the food to be healthy, and the employees are unauthorized to tell them otherwise. The documentary says that from 2011 to 2016, the percentage of overweight adolescents in India had doubled to 30%.
The McDonalds menu item with the highest amount of calories in India is a vegetarian cheese sandwich, advertised as a healthy choice. 51g of fat, 25g of saturated fat, 5g of salt. Domino's Pizza doesn't even use real cheese in their Indian offerings.

Even in the developed world, young children play advertising video games that aren't disclosed as ads, and kids and parents are both shown stating they don't believe the games to be ads. The documentary crew goes undercover to meet with the developers of these games, who disclose how exactly players are led to associate brands with pleasure.

 

[godhandiscen]

The abundance of fast food hasn't changed, but the ability of fast food companies to generate fast food addiction through advertising has evolved.

Also, you are never going to get food advertising regulated when you have Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc lobbying against regulation.

 

[SafeOrAlone]

The abundance of fast food hasn't changed, but the ability of fast food companies to generate fast food addiction through advertising has evolved.

Also, you are never going to get food advertising regulated when you have Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc lobbying against regulation.

Maybe, but I rather blame free will than advertising and have everything regulated.

 

[IDKFA]

Can we just abolish the fast food industry? It would be better for our health and a lot better for the environment.

 

[Sybrix]

These countries are so ill educated that they have no idea the damage these fast food companies are causing them.

Makes me sick that these huge fast food corporations know exactly what they are doing, its exploitation.

And yet, in the west, they put themselves up as some sort of moral compass when they fly the rainbow flag and BLM and jump on any other trend that might make them seem 'better' than they are.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

Also, you are never going to get food advertising regulated when you have Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc lobbying against regulation.

Of course you will, just not in a capitalist hellhole that is the US. In France every food ad has a mention saying ‘avoid munching, eat at least 5 fruits or vegetables a day’. Every food product in the supermarket has a nutritional score with simple A-E and colours associated. Schools are obligated to maintain a healthy canteen menu using bio products and fast food dispensers are banned.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

Maybe, but I rather blame free will than advertising and have everything regulated.

Science has more and more evidence that obesity is not a ‘choice’, but a highly complex problem.

 

[Punished Miku]

Maybe, but I rather blame free will than advertising and have everything regulated.

You look at these things as a sociologist with a broader view. When you see a societal, or even a global trend, then you're not really discussing individual psychology for people. You're looking at the reality that in the real world, 30-50% of your whole population is falling prey to these tactics, and these products. That's at the rate smoking was at during the height of the 1950s.

People have free will of course, but as a policy maker or regulator, you look at the trends happening instead.

 

[JCK75]

I think there is more to it than just Fast food.

 

[synchronicity]

The problem goes beyond/deeper than the food industry. When you have an entire culture/system that is based upon greed/self-interest, the well-being of others will always be secondary to profit-motives, generally speaking. And that which is addictive is, as always, very profitable. Unfortunately, those addictive foods are also incredibly harmful to the health of the consumer.

 

[Airbus Jr]

Pro tip to lose weight fast

Avoid junk food

Eat twice a day ( you will survive dont worry)

 

[Lady Redfield]

I’m eating McDonald’s right now, I feel attacked.

 

[PuppetMaster]

The problem goes beyond/deeper than the food industry. When you have an entire culture/system that is based upon greed/self-interest, the well-being of others will always be secondary to profit-motives, generally speaking. And that which is addictive is, as always, very profitable. Unfortunately, those addictive foods are also incredibly harmful to the health of the consumer.

Self-interest is good. If only the people getting fat had more of it.

These foods are not harmful to consumers in general. It is harmful to specific types of people who believe they are not in control of their own lives. The same types of people who will blame "the system" for something, instead of themselves.

 

[RJMacready73]

I do love a sasuage and bacon mcmuffin with hash brown but I and everyone else in the UK knows it's fucking unhealthy, every food sold in the supermarket has an easy to read understand traffic light system for amount of fats, salts etc and I tend to buy as much in the green as I can but when it comes to countries who are just outa the fucking dark ages... Yeah they're fucked but whaddya gonna do, American corps will always put profit and human misery above everything else to get that extra dolla, hell most corps will exploit the shit outta uneducated people but you yanks have it down to a tea, we kinda lost our way when we broke up the East India Trading company

 

[nush]

Even in the developed world, young children play advertising video games that aren't disclosed as ads, and kids and parents are both shown stating they don't believe the games to be ads.

The bastards tricked us!

 

[synchronicity]

Self-interest is good. If only the people getting fat had more of it.

These foods are not harmful to consumers in general. It is harmful to specific types of people who believe they are not in control of their own lives. The same types of people who will blame "the system" for something, instead of themselves.

Self interest is fine. Addiction and addictive substances are another matter altogether.

 

[MadAnon]

These countries are so ill educated that they have no idea the damage these fast food companies are causing them.

Makes me sick that these huge fast food corporations know exactly what they are doing, its exploitation.

And yet, in the west, they put themselves up as some sort of moral compass when they fly the rainbow flag and BLM and jump on any other trend that might make them seem 'better' than they are.

What do you mean by "these countries are so ill educated"? You talk like USA isn't full with fat fucks riding in electric carts around food stores. They are no more ill educated than the supposed educated world which is also becoming more and more obese.

 

[Tschumi]

The abundance of fast food hasn't changed, but the ability of fast food companies to generate fast food addiction through advertising has evolved.

Also, you are never going to get food advertising regulated when you have Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc lobbying against regulation.

You misrepresent the "abundance" as one of only two pillars of the phenomenon, "abundance hasn't changed, advertising has changed", you leave out chemistry and clearly pre-existing strategies on the part of the fast food industry to create foods that are as addictive as countries allow ...

Fat and salt, and sugar, are all addictive substances.. by 2022 you can bet they understand that property better than they did in the 90s or 00s, and you can be sure they can dial it up to insane levels with the twist of a few knobs.

I live in Japan, they're extremely careful here.. they use a bare minimum of oil and fat in burgers - but go to town on French fries... Must be a loop hole... There's a chain called mos burger which i love because it's basically healthy most of the time lol

Anyway, I'm just saying, chemistry is as much a part of the fast food strategy as abundance and advertising.

 

[Sybrix]

What do you mean by "these countries are so ill educated"? You talk like USA isn't full with fat fucks riding in electric carts around food stores. They are no more ill educated than the supposed educated world which is also becoming more and more obese.

I mean the lack of education on how these products damage you.

America is in an even worse position, as you say, the educated west is full of fat blobs stuffing themselves with McDonalds, its addiction.