Prompt 4- Kincheloe
A very central theme in Kincheloe’s article on McDonald’s is that McDonald’s is a very powerful force in society and culture whether we see or acknowledge it or not and that is fact. It drives a lot of what people, especially those of the lower classes, do and has a varied set of impacts on peoples lives in ways that some if not most people would never think of. This in turn, as the article does allude to, has a greater impact on society as a whole. McDonald’s represents aspects of United States culture in both small and large ways such as the fact that the restaurant champions the American ideals of capitalism in the strongest sense in that it produces cheaper and more accessible food than most of its competitors and in addition to this it champions the overtly American values of family and patriotism. The irony though is that as far as all of this goes, the capitalist side of McDonald’s is the strongest and the establishment uses the whole family focus to draw people in, feed them, and get them out fast. The company targets children as consumers too as stated in the article, and this causes other issues. Not only are all of these aspects of the article important, but they have greater and more far reaching implications as a whole. McDonald’s food, as many people know, is not the healthiest and since the food is more easily accessible and for the most part cheaper than other options, the poorer demographic areas which McDonald’s permeates are naturally going to be even more unhealthy. Now, this relates to Appalachia in that many of it’s demographics are in-fact poorer and have this exact problem. The advertisements also draw people in more as it seems even more appealing. The proliferation of McDonald’s into American, specifically Appalachian culture, has had a huge impact on people and the way that they live for better or for worse.