Over the last century, the entire world has gone through a lot of changes. The colonial powers of the west have certainly been pushed back but there is still only one hegemonic power in the world- The United States of America. Not only do they have political and economic hegemony, they also have cultural hegemony over the rest of the world. One of the key examples that we will look at in this essay are the various American fast food chains like McDonald's, KFC, Dominos, Subway etc. that, as a consequence of globalization, have spread out to thousands of outlets as a chain all over the world. In this essay, we will look at the impact of these American fast-food companies on the rest of the world.

     McDonaldization is a term that was used by George Ritzer in his book ‘McDonaldization of Society’. George Ritzer defined McDonaldization as “the process by which the principles of the fast-food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society as well as the rest of the world.”(Ritzer 2010, p.4). We will continue to encounter this term and its characteristics throughout the essay.

     The image at Appendix 1 is from an advertisement of McDonald's in China. If we look at the image we can see how the burger itself takes up around half of the picture itself. This is obviously a reference to the caption itself ‘MEGA MAC’. One of the key characteristics of McDonaldization which was given by George Ritzer was Calculability or quantity rather than quality. This is the key when we try to understand how fast food chains work. That is because all fast food chains prioritize quantity over quality as they have to produce these food items daily by the thousands and the larger quality of the food that they produce, the cheaper it is for them. Also, it is much easier to try to assess the quantity of the food rather than the quality of the food. That is why whenever the image of the food is shown in either menus or advertisements, they are shown to tout the quantity rather than the quality.

     As we can see from the image at Appendix 1, the previous statement is also relevant here as the quantity of the product(“the MEGA MAC”), rather than the quality of the product (it is not the “GOOD MAC” or the “DELICIOUS MAC”) is emphasized. Also from the image, we get to see that the quality of the burger looks to be something that would have come out of a gourmet restaurant but this is, in fact, a technique that is used by almost all fast food chains so that their product would look more appealing to the public.

     The common saying of ‘What you see is what you get’ does not apply when we talk of fast-food restaurants. The actual burger is mass produced by the thousand and is later frozen and would probably never look or taste like the burger that is actually shown in the image at Appendix 1. When it comes to food we also have the notion of ‘Bigger is better’ and these sorts of images(ref Appendix 1) do tempt us. Also “People can quantify things and feel that they are getting a lot of food for what appears to be a nominal sum of money”(Ritzer 2008, p.14).  This is again relevant here as in the image above we can see how on the left-hand side of the ‘ MEGA MAC’, there are also options for  a combo meal which would imply that the customer would get two or more products at a lesser price if he buys them together in relation to buying them separately. The discounted offer could again possibly change the mind of the customer and he himself, due to his greed, might buy something more than he wanted as he thought that it was a real bargain.

     Advertisements such as the image in Appendix 1 play a very key role in how fast-food chains attract customers. If we look closely at the image, we can see that the two main colors used here are red and yellow. These two colors are used by many top fast food chains because these two colors play a very important role when it comes to attracting people.When we see the color red, it automatically triggers hunger and appetite. This is why we can see how the background of this advertisement is red and also how KFC uses the color red in most of its advertising, and even its logo. The color yellow gives us the feeling of friendliness and happiness. The color yellow is also the most visible color in daylight. That is why arches of McDonald's are yellow and can be spotted from far away.

      Another important characteristic of McDonaldization is Efficiency. Efficiency or “The optimum method for getting from one point to another”(Ritzer 2008, p.13). In this case, that endpoint is food. As previously mentioned, fast-food chains prioritize quantity over quality. This also includes the time it would take for one either to go to one of the chains of fast food restaurants or to get home delivery instead.Thus, in the image at Appendix 2, which is from Kenya, we can see the caption ‘30 minutes- between you and pizza’.For a family who has two wage earners, cooking elaborate meals would be a hard task as both of them have to work and cooking from scratch takes quite a long time, which they may not always have. In such a situation they might agree that rather than to wait for a couple of hours and cook a meal, it would be better if they would get some pizza within 30 minutes.

     The other caption of ‘free delivery’ if not delivered within that time frame might also be tempting for a few to try their luck for some free food. Another caption which is below the man on the scooter reads Minimum order of KES 1000”, with KES being Kenyan shilling, the currency of Kenya. Dominos also have a minimum order value for home delivery. This again plays to the advantage of the fast food chain as now the customers have no choice but to order a particular amount in order to get home delivery even though they don’t desire so much food. As previously mentioned one the reason why Dominos have the ability to deliver any pizza within 30 minutes is that mostly all of the food items on the menu are already mass produced and frozen. The food is required to be only warmed up and served hot.

     The image in Appendix 3 is a McDonald's menu from India.  From the menu, we can see how McDonald's itself has gone through a cultural shift when it is globalized. Through this menu, we can see how there is now a fusion of cultures, which incorporates traditional Indian culinary products and McDonald’s western menu of burgers and fries. One of the reasons for this is the differences in traditions. The traditional American cheeseburger contains beef, which would not be culturally appropriate to be made in an Indian McDonald, as in India the majority of the population worship cows and sees them as sacred. Therefore, for McDonald's to be successful in a place like India, some changes had to be made. For example, as we can see from the image at Appendix 3, the iconic McDonald ‘Big Mac’ which was made from beef is replaced by ‘Maharaja Mac’ which is now made from chicken.

     That is not the only change that was made in the menu as now there were many items in the menu that had a part of the Indian culinary tradition in them, such as, the ‘McSpicy Paneer’ (Appendix 3) and the ‘Masala Grill Chicken meal’(Appendix 3). Another advantage of doing this is that they grab the attention of the local public. The best way to get the public interested is to give them something that they are familiar with, or something that they have been eating all their life. In this case, the terms ‘paneer’, ‘masala’ or ‘maharaja’ are something that the locals are familiar with and can relate to. Thus, the canny fast-food chain combines its secret recipes with Indian spices, and there, you have the Indian McDonald.

     If we look closely at the main caption on the image in Appendix 3, it reads ‘EXTRA VALUE MEALS’. As mentioned before, fast food chains always prefer quantity over quality and if the customer thinks that he is getting a lot of food at a substantially lesser price, then he would buy it. We can also see from the image (Appendix 3) that most of the picture has been divided into eight boxes and in each of those boxes you have an option of an ‘extra value meal’. There is also a variety in it as it contains non-vegetarian, vegetarian and fish meals, in an attempt to attract people of all food preferences. In each of the slots, we can see that there is either the main burger or wrap and also a large glass of coke and some French fries beside it in an attempt to show that it is a combo meal. Below the price of the meal is written how much money a customer will save if he purchases that combo meal. This would make the customer think that he will actually be saving money. So even if the customer wants only a burger and fries, or a burger and coke, he might see the value meal and also the money he might save and that might potentially change his mind towards buying that meal.

 Also, on the top left corner, another offer is given that you can upgrade your coke and fries for just 25 rupees to a large one. Continuing on my earlier argument of ‘Bigger is better’, this image also portrays the same qualities that we have seen earlier in the first image. The name of the wraps in the image (Appendix 3) say ‘BigSpicy Chicken wrap’, instead of just a ‘Spicy Chicken Wrap’ which would also have sufficed.

We also see how many times either Dominos, McDonald or KFC offer limited time offer deals or bring on new seasonal food items. Most of the customers will get excited by these offers as most of them have ‘This is a once in a lifetime offer so I must buy it’ or that ‘This food item won't be here forever, so I must try it’ mentality.

To the second part of the main question, as to whether these fast food chains subvert, the answer is yes. Fast food chains have influenced our society in many ways. Firstly, it affects the economy. Due to the popular demand of fast food, “Potato growing and processing, cattle ranching, chicken raising and meat slaughtering & processing have all had to McDonaldize their operations, leading to dramatic increase in production”(Ritzer 2010, p. 13). The resources put into McDonaldization of their operations could have definitely been put to better use if used wisely. Also due to the increase in popularity of fast food, the sales of local restaurants and vendors, who sell traditional food, also gets affected.

           The internal institution of social ethics within a family or a group also gets affected. The ethics of ‘eating healthy’ has been affected because of fast-food. The advertisements are shown to promote fast food chains, particularly target children. Most fast food is junk food and is not healthy. Thus, due to eating fast-food, the obesity levels in children are increasing year after year. For this, the fault is also of parents as most of the times they are looking for ways to feed the entire family without a lot of effort, especially when there are two wage earners in a family.

            The above examples amply demonstrate how the hegemonial canny and cunning strategies employed by American fast-food giants subvert the cultural sensibilities of vulnerable youngsters in their target markets and lure them into eating unhealthy junk food.

 

REFERENCES-

1.      Ritzer, George, ed. 2010. McDonaldization: The Reader. California: Pine Forge Press

2.      Ritzer, George. 2008. The McDonaldization of Society 5. California: Pine Forge Press