Pathos In Super Size Me

By using multiple rhetorical devices such as but not limited to ethos, logos, and pathos, Consumer Reports Magazine assists the readers to make better decisions when choosing a fast food restaurant to go to and also to make better decisions in consideration to their health. In order for a good argument to reach and impact its prospective audience,and in our case magazine readers, it must be credible enough for the audience to believe and listen to it. Consumer Reports Magazine effectively incorporates ethos into the article by using quotes and surveys. By surveying “36,733 subscribers who made a total of more than 98,000 visits to 53 chain restaurants” the magazine has a reliable source of evidence in which it can base its argument on (Consumer Reports Magazine 780).

In the articles “Don’t Blame the Eater”, by David Zinczenko and “What You eat is Your Business”, by Radley Balko both authors discuss how the government should have restrictions on fast foods, that are readily available to the public. Each of the author’s arguments are very effective and seem to establish a balance of ethos, pathos, and logos which make it easier for the reader to believe. In the article “Don’t Blame the Eater” the author David Zinczenko, writes about how some children and their parents are suing McDonalds because it is making them fat. Zinczenko uses ethos to point out that, only one family cannot say eating fast food is making them fat.

The life pursued by the average young person in America is fast paced and scheduled to the point of breaking. As time has progressed this time stretched life style has impacted the need for food that isn’t cooked at home or even at restaurants that cook with traditional methods. This coupled with the swelling number of households with either a single parent or two working parents has increased the reliance on the fast food industry and in turn increased the overweight and obesity rates in the country. In his article “Don’t Blame the Eater,” David Zinczenko addresses this topic and places the blame not on those partaking in these delectable dinners, but in the hands of the fast food industry and their lack of understandable labeling. Zinczenko’s argument is valid and strong due to his equal use of ethos, logos and pathos.

So what is causing so many Americans, of all social classes, to consume fast food regularly? And how did the steady monopolization of chain-restaurants over local diners come to be? This is the focus of a book entitled Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal in which the author hones in on foul untold secrets of corporate restaurant chains.

Morgan Spurlock is well film maker and producer who put himself in different situations for month on end periods. He is most known for his work in the Super Size Me movie about how eating Mcdonalds 30 days for breakfast, lunch and dinner can put a huge toll on your body. Yet this time around he does something a little bit more daring and complex. Going into the prison system for 30 days and not being able to see the outside world, which he learns quickly is very hard to deal with. Within the documentary there a few things that develop his purpose, including he appeal to learning about the origins of the prisoners.

In 2003, a brave, middle-aged man named Morgan Spurlock decided to take one for the human race and carry out a scientific experiment using himself as the guinea pig. Morgan Spurlock, the director, producer and the star of the documentary, Supersize Me, decided to go on a diet that consists of nothing but McDonald’s products for thirty days straight, including their bottled water. Spurlock then followed a specific set of rules to govern his eating habits. Throughout the 100-minutes film, which filmed and documented his actions for thirty days, Spurlock wittingly brought awareness with the sneaking danger behind fast food meals by using mastered rhetorical appeals: logos, pathos and ethos.

On January 17, 2001 Eric Schlosser, a contributing editor at the Atlantic Monthly and author of Reefer Madness, depicts “The Dark side of the All-American Meal” in his novel Fast Food Nation, one of TIME’s 100 best nonfiction books. In the novel, Schlosser employs many different rhetorical strategies throughout the chapters to inform and convince his audience of the scandalous nature of the fast food industry. Schlosser describes the unseen truths of industry in order to dissuade not only the American public, but all supporters of fast food. He writes to all members of society who eat fast food, so that he can alert them of what is happening beneath the surface of one of America’s most profitable and private industry’s. Chapter five is divided

Though he was mostly concerned about the labor exploitation in industrialized cities, Sinclair’s gripping description of the filthy conditions and frequent contamination of food caused disturbing revelation in the public for the lack of concern over cleanliness and the disgusting conditions of the meat-packing facilities. Sinclair’s exposé and resulting public pressure on President Roosevelt led to the creation of the Meat Inspection Act, the Pure Food and Drug Act, and the Food and Drug Administration, which still regulates all food sold in the United States. Before Sinclair’s book, Americans were blissfully unaware of the state their food was being produced, but due to Sinclair’s “muckraking”, the public were now informed and took the proper procedures needed to right it. More modernly, the movie Super Size Me (2004), a documentary film that follows director Morgan Spurlock through a 30-day period where he consumed only McDonald’s food, highlighted the life-risking and dangerous qualities of fast food and—like The Jungle— attributed to change. Spurlock’s movie received critical and public acclaim, and six weeks after the release, McDonald’s removed the Super Size option from the menu and introduced “Go Active” adult happy meals.

Junk food is responsible for the growing rate of obesity. This is outlined by David freedman in his article of “How junk food can end obesity.” David Freedman has credited the “health-food” motion, and followers of it along with Michel Pollan. Freedman claims that if the America desires to stop the obesity epidemic, or at least reduce its effects, they must shift to the fast meals and processed meals enterprise for assist, now not the “health-food” movement.

In Margaret Visser’s essay, “The Rituals of Fast Food”, she explains the reason why customers enjoy going to fast food restaurants and how it adapt to customer’s needs. Some examples of the most loyal fast-food customers are people seeking convenience, travelers, and people who are drug addicts. First, most loyal customers are people seeking convenience. The reason why fast food restaurants are convenient because longer hours of being open, the prices are good , etc. As Visser said in her essay, “Convenient, innocent simplicity is what the technology, the ruthless politics, and the elaborate organization serve to the customer” (131).

Disney Pixar movie Inside Out presents five personified emotions - Joy, Sadness, Disgust, Anger, and Fear inside character Riley Anderson. The main characters that develop the plot in the movie however are Joy and Sadness. Although a negative emotion, we as humans automatically choose to suppress. Sadness can bolster one’s ability to acknowledge the pain one has inside of them. The character Joy makes it her objective to always have Riley happy and is overbearing towards the other emotions when doing so, especially Sadness.

To begin, enjoying a meal from McDonald’s is the symbol of American culture. The fast food industry was one other major forces to shape modern life in the U.S. When asked to think of a word to describe America, majority of citizens as well as immigrants would say the “fast food”. For example,in 2001 a rebel group led by Jose Bove decided to protest the restrictions on trade set by Unites States in France and as a form of protest they destroyed a symbol of United States, a local McDonald 's, which demonstrates that McDonald 's is a representation of American culture and thus eating at this establishment is seen as an American tradition as well as the most American action a tennager can perfrm.

Super-Size Me is a documentary film, created by Morgan Spurlock. This documentary emphasizes the message of the risks of consuming fast food and the outcomes that fast food has on people’s health. Spurlock came up with this idea from a lawsuit that involved two young girls suing McDonalds for their weight problems. The presiding judge over this case ruled that there was not sufficient evidence that their health issues were caused by consuming food from McDonalds. As an experiment to see if these girl’s claim had any merit, Spurlock was determined to only consume food from McDonalds for thirty days and see if there was any correlation between eating fast food and declining of health.

“Don’t Blame the Eater”, written by David Zinczenko, is a short article discussing how fast food is the main cause of childhood obesity. This article came about in relations to two kids filing a lawsuit against McDonalds for making them fat. He begins his piece by sympathizing with these individuals because he used to be like them. Zinczenko then informs the reader of his background and how he fell into the category of being dependent upon quick and easy meals. In an attempt to provide a valid argument, he debates on how kids raise themselves while their parents are at work and that the nutritional values are not labeled upon prepared foods.

“Fast food restaurants have us hooked on to their tasty food. You See a lot of people buying fast food because how good it tastes. Well let me tell you it is not good for your health. Why do fast food places lower their prices because they know people will buy it if it doesn’t cost that much and most people buy it cause that`s how much they can afford”. Fast food places is a way to not cook every week I feel bad for people when I go to McDonald’s and ask them, do you know what you’re eating in they say