“Don’t Blame the Eater” Analysis Essay Increasing the options of fast food restaurants in America gave society different choices of where they can choose to go eat. Some restaurants may be cheaper than others, but what society didn’t realize was the cheaper the restaurant the more calories the food contains. The consumers didn’t seem to realize or have a problem with these cheaper companies until some consumers sued the company for getting them fat. This caused children to sue Mcdonald's the company for making the consumers get fat. For this reason, according to the author David Zinczenko it is a problem that people are not informed on how many calories the food they're eating contains. He has the credibility to be trusted by his audience …show more content…
He was the editor-in-chief of Men’s Health magazine also director of Women’s Health magazine. He has the credibility to be trusted by his audience on nutrition facts and is currently working as the nutrition and wellness editor for ABC News. Zinczenko is reliable when he explains to the audience he can connect with the people suing the company. Zinczenko himself writes, “I tend to sympathize with these portly fast-food patrons, though. Maybe that's because I used to be one of them”(2). In making this comment, Zinczenko implies to the audience he understands the kids because he was once one of them that use to eat in the fast food restaurants. Zinczenko not only has the credibility to understand the situation because his educated, but because he uses first person, which connects himself with his audience to let them know they're not the only ones that are going through that situation, but that others have gone through the same too. ` The author Zinczenko claims on the growing problem of obesity America is having. The topic of the opinion piece of Zinczenko is kids are gaining weight too fast which consumers seem to believe it is the kids fault for gaining weight and not being responsible with their food choices. However Zinczenko is explaining the upper class consumers, the kids that are eating in fast food restaurants are the lower class that do not have enough money to go eat in healthy restaurants like them. He wants to awere his audience to have
The article “Don't Blame The Eater,” written by David Zinczenko evokes readers the crucial impact that fast food restaurants have in today's nation's youth causing them to be over weight and have type 2ndiabetes. Throughout Zinczenko's argument he makes the reader view the consumer as a victim yet on the other hand, what he is trying to persuade us to believe by using logos,pathos,and ethos in his argument is that the food industry is the one making the nation's youth to increase obesity. The capacity of impressive questions and personal experience, he composed in the text he is able to comprehensively argue against the fast food industry. The author persuades us right away by starting of with a question: “Kids taking on McDonald's this
In the essay, “Don’t Blame the Eater”, David Zinczenko, editor-in-chief of Men’s Health magazine, discusses the recent lawsuits against fast-food chains. He does not deny that there should be a sense of personal responsibility among the public, but has sympathy for the kid consumers because he used to be one. Zinczenko argues that due to the lack of nutritional facts and health warnings, it’s not so ridiculous to blame the fast-food industry for obesity problems.
In David Zinczenko’s article “Don’t Blame the Eater” he focuses on the fast food industry and their role in the increasing health and obesity issues of our nation’s children, as well as these issues potentially becoming a serious problem that we will all have to deal with if we collectively don’t do something about it now. When it comes to the topic of fast food, most of us can agree that it is not the best source of nutrition. It is unhealthy and can be the cause of many serious health issues with our children such as obesity related Type 2 diabetes, stomach ulcers and even heart disease, high cholesterol, sleep apnea or even cancer. We can even agree that fast-food diets are a major contributing factor to
The article “Don’t Blame the Eater", by David Zinczenko talks about how a group of people are suing McDonald’s for making them fat. Zinczenko shares his experience on how fast food has effect his childhood and teenage years. He explains how teenagers can put on weight with a fast food and part of the problem is the lack in nutritional information about fast food. In addition, he speaks about fast food and the companies behind it.
Zinczenko use of pathos pulls at our heartstrings and allows us to sympathetic towards him. As a child, he fell victim to the fast food industry himself. “By age 15, I had packed 212 pounds of torpid teenage tallow on my once lanky 5-foot-10 frame” (463). He became obese at such a young age because he was a son of a single, hard-working mother whose only way of providing for him was through the fast food industries because of convenience. He would consume two to three meal a day from one of these popular food companies. “Lunch and dinner, for me, was a daily choice between McDonald's, Taco Bell, Kentucky Fried Chicken or Pizza Hut” (462). When one reads statements such as these they are forced to think about their own unhealthy choices that they have made in their lives. One contemplates if they too have fallen prey to the fast food industries. Zinczenko uses this appeal to allow us to assess our own moral and put ourselves in a perspective of someone who has been a victim of the fast food
Obesity has become increasingly more prominent in American society. It is also a major health issue affecting many adults and children in the US every year. In his article "Don't Blame the Eater," David Zinczenko sympathizes with children who are suing McDonald’s making them fat. In his own experience as a “latchkey kid”, he knows how easily fast food makes teenagers put on weight with a steady diet of fast food meals. Zinczenko argues that both lack of fast food alternative companies and lack of providing nutrition information contribute to childhood obesity.
In David Zinczenko’s article Don’t Blame The Eater(November 23, 2002) he constantly blames the consumer for having a terrible eating habits. He talks about how people are suing the cooperations for making the way they are. What ever happened to self responsibility? He continually blames the consumer. His proposal was to prevent parents to consume fast food which could lead to the children. Throughout the article he gives dominant statistical information and also trying to give the reader some sympathy towards what they are doing to ruin the eating habits. He tends for the consumption of all bad food to stop and healthy foods to start being consumed. The community needs to their best to prevent any of these for this to happen. The unhealthy path of eating could lead to some indisputable
In today’s society a huge issue is that we constantly hear about the food industry in America. We often hear in the news that obesity rates have increased, or that Americans have many diseases that contribute to being obese. “What You Eat is Your Business” by Radley Balko expresses that people are at fault for making such unhealthy food choices. Others argue that the food industry is to blame for being so unhealthy. According to David Zinczenko in “Don’t Blame the Eater” he blames the fast food industry as well as the consumer. Zinczenko asks “shouldn’t we know better than to eat two meals a day in fast food restaurant’s?” (392). So, who is to blame for American’s eating so much unhealthy food? Should it be the consumers’ burden or the fast food companies? On one hand, as consumers we continue to purchase foods that we know are making us overweight. On the other hand, fast food companies continue to offer high in calories foods.
Zinczenko’s rhetorical comments on the fast food industry are spaced throughout his piece. Zinczenko also states that alternative options are hard to find when fast food is readily available. “Drive down any thoroughfare in America, and I guarantee you’ll see one of our country’s more than 13,000 McDonald’s restaurants. Now, drive back up the block and try to find someplace to buy a grapefruit” (Zinczenko 463). This strong statement proves Zinczenko’s irritated tone throughout his piece. Zinczenko’s stand that the fast food industry is responsible for obesity.
In paragraph 2, Zinczenko quote “I tend to sympathize with these portly fast-food patrons, though. Maybe that's because I used to be one of them.” Zinczenko quote states his personal experiences as a child compares his life to others. He is reliable because he currently the editor for ABC News. This means he doesn’t have much experience of being unhealthy, but he does have an idea of it. Since he was always expected to be in shape, especially since he works for a health magazine. Zinczenko as a good amount of knowledge of being healthy, but not many of being unhealthy. This makes Zinczenko does not have much experience on unhealthiness, but he sure knows everything about being
In order to provide a solid argument, Zinczenko was able to understand that his opposition believed the reason people were getting fat was due to a lack of personal responsibility rather than fast-food industries being responsible. Following the aftermath of lawsuits involving people suing McDonald’s for his or her own obesity, Zinczenko takes this and likens these lawsuits to, “middle-aged men suing Porsche for making them get speeding tickets”. Zinczenko then goes on to relate to his opposition by stating that he himself used to be one of these “portly fast-food patrons”. This not only allows the reader to see that Zinczenko understands his
With this question, he asks what is actually absurd. However to the audience it seems almost more absurd in terms of the opposing argument since it seems more probable. Following this he questions the fast-food restaurants and the judgment of others considering that “shouldn’t we know better than to eat two meals a day in fast-food restaurants?” (393). Beyond this he appeals to those that cannot afford the health conscious decisions particularly the scenario of a busy mom and most certainly his own experience as a kid. This incorporation of circumstances leads him to ask, “Where, exactly, are consumers—particularly teenagers—supposed to find alternatives?” (392), this question lends itself to make the reader idealize and believe that it is not entirely their own fault but an unfortunate circumstance. Direct questions and personal struggle narrated onto his piece definitely strengthen Zinczenko’s argument about the influence of the food industry on obesity; however, his counter argument as a starting statement perhaps provides a questionable aspect to the reader that prevents full understanding of his own
Zinczenko's is experienced in the matter of fast food and the disastrous effects it can have on a person's health because he experienced it from a first-person perspective. His personal experiences and the knowledge that he gathered through the years enabled him to understand that many fast-food companies make it difficult for customers to interpret information concerning their products. The writer highlights that many people are tricked into adopting particular attitudes with regard to foods because they believe that it is healthy for them to do so. However, it appears that even salads are typically probable to contain much more calories than advertised.
Zinczenko asks questions to support his arguments and guide the reader to what he believes to be actually true. He starts off the essay using an analogy: is the case of children who sued McDonald’s for their obesity the same as the case of middle-aged men suing Porsche for their speeding tickets? (Paragraph 1). He points out the fallacy of the men suing someone else for something that was their own fault (such as receiving a speeding ticket), but brings attention to children who shouldn’t be blamed for what society claims is their responsibility. The next question he asks relates to what fast-food restaurants would argue/rebuttal with; “shouldn’t we
David Zinckenko argues in his article “don’t blame the eater”, that it is a matter of personal responsibility but can sympathize with the obese individuals as there is a lack of alternatives and information regarding fast food consumption. Society in the United States has raised concern about healthy diets, providing alternatives sources of food but unfortunately at a cost. The increased cost for a healthy diet dissuades teenagers from eating healthier food thus without a change of environment it can result in a lifetime of obesity.