Fast Food Feast vs Sustainable Sustenance

         An advertisers job is to excite the consumer of the positives and downplay the negatives of the product.  Through looking at advertisers and their advertisements one can see a point of view of what a certain demographic finds appealing.  What is missing is also a vital insight into what our society has tabooed. With food there is no difference.  After acknowledging the intended audience of the ad, the rhetoric falls into place and conclusions about how society regards and treats food can be made.

McDonalds is one of the most well known names in food in America.  This nationwide knowledge of them has given them an ethos that is so credible that the McDonalds name is not even placed on the ad.  Instead bright colours and simple big words take over most of the space.  The food is also shown in large bright pictures to portray the value in comparison to price.  The prices are not even mentioned as their ethos is known as being inexpensive, and there is no comparison on value based on quality only quantity.  The intended audience is the less wealthy and rushed consumer; someone who is looking for cheap and fast food.  The ad uses desire and pathos, looking for the consumer to think quickly.  The emotional words such as ‘bliss’, as well as desirable pictures of burgers attempts to make the consumer crave the food rather than think rationally about their options.  Instead of providing a situation where a meal is enjoyable they use the ad to depict the fact that happiness and enjoyment will come out of their food.  There is no use of logos, no facts or figures to  convince the audience, rather they hope that the kairos of hunger and quickness of their service will be enough.

Whole Foods is known for exactly the opposite of quick and cheap food.  They hope to appeal to an active, healthy, environmental, and socially conscious audience. Even in their ad for an unhealthy butter cookie they make sure to address the logos of where their ingredients come from and how they are made.  Instead of using flashy pictures and big simple words they write more about their product and do not even show a picture.  The look of the ad is wholesome, classic and earthy, helping to establish their ethos of a credible source of good healthy food.  Whole Foods uses phrases such as ‘made in the French countryside’, ‘traditional recipe’, ‘skillful baking’ to extend their ethos.  This use of language also brings up their audience to a more educated customer.  The use of foreign or exoticness makes their product appear to be one of a kind,  Making their product seem special attracts competitive customers who are looking to outdo their peers only makes their product more and more irresistible.

Ruby Tuesdays falls somewhere in the middle.  The audience intended by the advertisement is a middle class, looking for a good meal without paying too much. While Ruby Tuesdays doesn’t expand on the health benefits or where their ingredients come from they counteract that by using words such as ‘Fresh’ or ’32 New Choices’ to excite the audience and give them a feel that the food is well prepared. This can also be seen through the simple, colourful pictures.  Simple slogans like the McDonalds advertisement helps appeal to both ends of the spectrum; health versus ease.  

Food culture in America is strange.  There is no talk about the food itself; nothing regarding tastes, textures or smells or any factor that actually makes food good versus bad.  The cultivation and preparation is important in our society.  McDonalds clearly avoids the health and environmental side of their product.  Ruby Tuesdays skirts around the issue using words like ‘Fresh’ , while Whole Foods embraces it. Even McDonalds ensured that all the food in the pictures showed colourful, healthy looking food, not an actual picture. 

What is eaten is really a reflection of ones basic values.  If money and time are an issue, food gets put on the back burner.  In these situations ease trumps health and sustainability.  As money and time become less of an issue more exotic foods become available. McDonalds speak nothing of where their food comes from yet the ease of obtaining the product is clear, Ruby Tuesdays talks about ‘new and exciting’ dishes while Whole Foods takes the opposite side leaning on how their product is imported.  They are clearly speaking to different audiences.

In American culture, the American Dream phenomenon is seen in the food eaten as well.  It becomes looked down upon to eat cheap, quick, unhealthy food, whereas dining on expensive foods from the ‘right’ brand is a part of social standing; a food elitism.  As health awareness becomes a more major part of our culture our food elitisms change as well.  Previously eating yogurt and granola was food for the starving hippie.  Now organic granola from Whole Foods is expensive, people are starting to grow their own food, or eat from local farms and even McDonalds is offering granola, salads and other healthier options in order to bring the health conscious trend to the lower socio economic class.

In each of the ads there is no notice of price or deals.  Is it clear through the ads which one serves cheap versus expensive food or is that only clear to american consumers through the socialization of brands?  Is it clear which is the tastiest? These factors are not mention rather assumed that the most expensive brand has the healthiest, tastiest food.  The Food Culture and Value in America is not based on quality, rather on biases already in place.

WORKS CITED

"OUR WORK." STERN. Stern Advertising, n.d. Web. 07 Apr. 2013. <http://www.sternadvertising.com/our-work/mcdonalds/>.

Sood, Shivani. "Ruby Tuesday." Coroflot. IDREAMSOFWEB Graphic Design, n.d. Web. 07 Apr. 2013. <http://www.coroflot.com/shivaniele/ruby-tuesday>.

"Whole Foods Butter Cookies Advertisement - Painting By David Terry Art." David Terry Art. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Apr. 2013. <http://www.davidterryart.com/2005/01/whole-foods-butter-cookies-advertisement/>.