WIR 100
3/28/18
According to the article, kids are suing McDonald’s for making the overweight. However, some people are likely to be against these litigations because they have the responsibility to ensure that the foods they consume are healthy. However, people should not be quick to judge them because of they are likely to be the next plaintiffs. Zinczenko argues that people have access to a lot of information about fast foods thanks to the industry’s aggressive marketing. At the same time, the number of fast food restaurants is very high in the United States. Moreover, these foods are affordable to most Americans. The viewpoint implies people can easily access them, thereby consuming them in large quantities. Nonetheless, this is not the situation in healthy food items, such as fruits and vegetables. He claims that it is difficult to locate grocery stalls across along the U.S. streets when he says, “Now, drive back up the block and try to find someplace to buy a grapefruit.” However, his argument is invalidated by the view that people consume fast foods despite knowing their likely effects on their health. People ignore the information contained in the labels of these meals and consume them. Thus, people are to blame for the adverse effects of these meals on their health.
According to Zinczenko, children do not have information about the nature of the meals they consume when he says, “There are no calorie information charts on fast-food packaging, the way there are on grocery items.” This argument is invalid as modern-day fast foods include information on the nutritional value of their commodities on the packages. Thus, those who consume these meals fail to study the nature of the meals they consume. For this reason, it is inappropriate for the society to blame the fast food firms for the rising obesity cases. People have a duty to ensure they consume healthy meals through evaluating the nutritional contents of their meals.
References
Zinczenko, D. (2002, Nov.23). Don’t Blame the Eater. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/23/opinion/don-t-blame-the-eater.html