Blog Entry 4 Summarizing Arguments 2

   The second chapter of Fast Food Nation is titled Your Trusted Friends. Eric Schlosser uses this chapter to show how the marketing strategies of Fast Foods and their ways of keeping their brands alive. He gives us insight into the manipulative skills McDonald's and other Fast Foods use to get kids to like their brand starting at the tender age of two. Eric states, '' While Disney was much more famous and achieved success sooner, Kroc may have been more influential. Here he is referring to Walt Disney and Ray Kroc the founders of Disney and McDonald's. Eric believes that Disney's brand was recognized universally a while before McDonald's became the most popular brand in the world. Eric however states that Kroc was more influential, one of the best examples is the Ronald McDonald statue which went on to become more recognized than any other fictional character including Disney's Micky Mouse. Eric also backs up his premise by stating that many more people tried to start their own fast food rather than film company, and the Fast Food Industry had more power over the economy than the film-making industry. Eric states, ''the best insight into the thinking of fast food marketers comes from their own words.'' Eric is telling us about the way fast food marketers think and exploit the minds of the youth. One marketer states, ''The challenge of the campaign is to make customers believe that McDonald's is their 'Trusted Friend'.'' He states McDonald's associated themselves with other brands in order for customers to connect their products with those of their alliances. One example is the Big Mac, McDonald's used the Olympics to help launch a new burger that had more meat than the Big Mac. The alliance of McDonald's with Disney was used to enhance the perception of the McDonald's Brand. One commercial read, ''  ONLY MCDONALD'S MAKES IT EASY TO GET A BIT OF DISNEY MAGIC.'' This slogan was used to bait parents into buying McDonald's for their kids on an everyday basis, because it was believed that the same effect Disney toys had on kids loving their parents more was the same effect as McDonald's.