Ever since I could remember, my mother would take me to McDonald’s after she picked me up from day-care. It happened about once a week and I was always so excited. Part of the reason was because it was the only place where I knew I could go run around in the playhouse, while eating a Happy Meal, which indeed came with a toy. Not only did it make me happy, but my mom was able to do some work since I was so engaged with the “McDonald’s experience.”
In Golden Arches East, James L. Watson investigates how the McDonald’s culture of fast food appeals to people in the cities of East Asia, particularly with how the company connects with American culture. Watson focuses on key concepts when visiting each place, including localization of America in Beijing, food choices, identity and nationalism in Seoul, and changing manners and etiquette in Tokyo. Each city has a different aspect and attitude about McDonald’s that is determined by gender, age, and wealth of people. McDonald’s started the globalization of fast food across the world, in which cultural transformations and a new trend have arisen but has kept indigenous culture intact.
Before McDonald’s expanded into East Asia, many people only heard of the big golden arches but once the corporation settled in, cultural transformations took place. As weird as it may sound, table manners were one aspect of eating that changed because of the fast food environment. In Tokyo, McDonald’s impacted the taboo against eating with one’s hand, standing while eating, and {79how to eat ice cream (Watson 178). With that said, McDonald’s brought in a totally different way of eating for these people. They weren’t used to putting their hands directly on the food they were about to eat or lick ice cream wit...
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...nies to globalize fast food in Eastern Asia, while bringing new cultural transformation and trends but keeping the native culture alive. Table manners and the child aspect of fast food has changed because of the presence of McDonald’s to these different cities in East Asia. Along with transformations, trends were made through accurately timing the opening of the corporation, having an easy system to follow, and having an enjoyable atmosphere. Lastly, indigenous cultures are still thriving even though McDonald’s is an American based company because they are adding new menu items depending on the location, use products from local producers, and some people still consider their food a snack. McDonald’s is on the path of being very successful in East Asia in the future and is going to continue to make their bright golden arches even more attractive than they are now.
Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001. Print.
Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser, is a stark and unrelenting look into the fast food industry that has ingrained itself in not only American culture, but in many cultures around the world. There is almost no place on earth that the golden arches has not entered. Aside from Antarctica, there is a McDonalds on every continent, and the number of countries that have fast food restaurants is growing on a daily basis. Schlosser describes in detail what happens behind the scenes, before the hamburger and fries come wrapped in environmentally safe paper and are consumed by millions of people daily.
In “Fast Food and Intergenerational Commensality in Japan: New Styles and Old Patterns,” John W. Traphagan and L. Keith Brown employs ethnographic observation to analyze Japanese reception to the prevalence of McDonald’s in Japan, taking into account the subjects’ and informants’ ethnic backgrounds and cultural contexts. Critics maintain that the invasion of McDonald’s poses as a threat to the traditional dining patterns in Japan; however, few of them attempt to examine the underlying reasons of Japanese diners’ attraction towards McDonald’s. The authors argue that, rather than bluntly intruding the Japanese culture, McDonald’s naturally gain popularity amongst the local customers because of its exemplification of the deep-rooted Japanese values of commensality.
The American life has been transformed by the fast food industry not just changing the American diet but also the culture, workplace, economy, and the landscape. “Today about half of the money used to buy food is spent at restaurants-mainly fast food restaurants.” (Schlosser) This could be due to the fact that about two-thirds of working women are mothers. The impact of fast food on the American culture is transparent when just looking at McDonald’s. McDonald’s has become the world’s most famous brand; the golden arches are more known than the Christian cross. “A survey of American schoolchildren found that 96 percent could identify Ronald McDonald.” (Schlosser) McDonald’s is responsible for 90 percent of new jobs in The United States. The landscape has changed due to the fast food ...
Pothukuchi, Kameshwari. "Book Review of Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal(Eric Schlosser, New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2001." U-M Personal World Wide Web Server. Web. 19 May 2011. .
A world without the Big Mac, Happy Meals, Chicken McNuggets, and the phrase “I’m lovin’ it,” is almost inconceivable. People around the globe have become accustomed to the high gleaming golden arches that make up the famous emblem for McDonald’s. McDonald’s has grasped the concept that culture flows from power. In this case, the American culture flows through the veins of this fast-food giant and the more that is supplied, the greater the demand. It is no secret that McDonald’s has become one of the world’s largest fast-food retailers. It has become a well known icon that has played a huge part in globalization, with chains located in many different countries… transforming the meaning of fast-food all around the world.
James Watson’s McDonald’s in Hong Kong is a textbook example of globalization. According to Webster’s dictionary, globalization is defined as “worldwide integration and development”. In McDonald’s in Hong Kong, Watson discusses a well-known and successful American fast food chain migrating over seas and embedding itself in the Hong Kong culture. Although Hong Kong was already recognized as an extremely transnational civilization, there were worries that the country would lose cultural identity. The fears were that Hong Kong would become more Americanized and lessen their ties to the Cantonese ways.
McDonald’s workforce consist of 73 percent women and people of color making, 43 percent of them are franchise staff and 55 percent are suppliers; additionally, the company has two stores opening everyday in China (Singh, 2010). Furthermore, Lee and Kye-Sung (2000) states 49 percent of McDonald’s total revenue comes from the international market. Gibison (2008) states in order for McDonald’s to reach and increase consumers from diverse backgrounds and different cultures the company tailor its menu by added specialty food for different countries and cultures. An example is the company...
Ritzer, George. The McDonaldization of Society. Revised New Century Edition. California: Pine Forge Press, 2004.
McDonald’s is known for its greasy and unhealthy food, but many disagree that McDonald’s is to blame for people, particularly children, being overweight. Schlosser creates this image that McDonald’s is to blame for the escalated weight of people, specifically Americans. In this article, Schlosser ignores the multiple other causes of obesity. Many people are overweight due to health issues and prescribed medications that can cause increased weight gain. Schlosser is so focused on his view of McDonald’s being bad that he does very little to address the other causes and factors for weight gain. Eating at McDonald’s is more about personal choice, parenting and lifestyle issues. Americans choose not to exercise, and they choose to play video games instead of participating in actual sports; they eat McDonald’s instead of healthy and homemade meals. If a
McDonald’s is one of the popular fast food chains in Hong Kong and the success of McDonald’s is due to it is able to create a homogeneous “global” culture that suit to the demands of a capitalist world. In Hong Kong, Time is money thus McDonald’s strategy is consistently fit to the fast food industry. The company has both economic strategy targeting at customer globally and locally.
McDonalds also uses diversification in its global marketing. McDonalds recognizes that different countries have different values, customs, and tastes. Therefore, McDonalds satisfies these diverse global tastes by diversifying the menu according to each country’s unique preferences. This added diversification tactic, allows McDonalds to stay competitive in a global market. Examples of McDonalds globally diversified menu would be that McDonalds offers an exclusive beefless menu to its customers who live in India. This is because eating beef in India is sacrilegious. To meet the tastes of customers in India, McDonalds created new offerings such as the “Pizza McPuff” and the “McVeggie.” McDonalds considers the cultural tastes in every country it opens its doors
McDonald’s was the first company to try to export America’s fast food and changes in eating habits to other nations. McDonald’s has over
In today’s market, McDonalds faces numerous challenges such as fierce competition, a more health conscious customer, and the continual need for improved customer satisfaction and menu. McDonalds needs to go through some changes in order to remain ahead in the fast-food industry.
Overall, McDonalds are able to reach customers all around the globe and they market their products inexpensively. According to Naim (2001, p. 1) it is acknowledged that, “McDonald 's is a global brand, but we run our business in a fundamentally different way that ought to appeal to some critics of globalization. We are a decentralized entrepreneurial network of locally owned stores that is very flexible and adapts very well to local conditions. We offer an opportunity to entrepreneurs to run a local business with local people supplied by a local infrastructure. Each creates a lot of small businesses around