Personal responsibility can be one of the easiest but more often than not the hardest thing to accept, depending on the circumstances. We live in a day in age where everything is connected and everyone has access to all the knowledge they want. Even though we have all the tools to help us to live a better life, yet we still choose the decisions detrimental to us. People make thousands of choices everyday without even knowing it and some of the most important ones like those having to do with our health aren't taken as seriously as they should. We choose to be sedentary and we choose to eat fast food. The fast food industry isn't shoving the food down our throats, we are the ones that are choosing to accept it.
The fast food industry emerged at a time in history where malnutrition was one of the leading causes of health problems and even death. The promise of high calorie food which was good at the time at a cheap price would attract millions of people to adopt this new lifestyle of eating out more often than not and this of course cause the big chain fast food restaurants to grow and explode to the giants they are today such as McDonalds. Yale obesity expert Dr. David Katz quotes, "But at some point food became too plentiful... that's because companies aggressively peddle food to people who don't need it." he explains that since we have such a large surplus of food, the companies are trying to pawn it off on the customers which would explain why it is so cheap. Many of the restaurants are actually printing and releasing nutritional information, making people more socially responsible, should they actually read it. The information can be found it just has to be greatly sought after. The idea that people are more responsible is conflicted when the companies focus their marketing resources on the most impressionable people; children. "Personal responsibility also falters when it comes to children, who are bombarded by junk food ads that undermine parents. Everything from child-friendly merchandising of sugary cereals to cartoon ads is designed to give companies more sway over what children eat", says Dr. Susan Lynch. Its not that companies are making the choices for us, they just are making the choices easier.
Even though people know what they are putting in their bodies, they keep coming back for more. Companies know exactly what they're doing when it comes to both marketing, and even ingredients. A 'menu engineer' Greg Rapp, "An eye is basically lazy. It will go to the easiest thing on a page." this supports the idea that food marketers really aren't trying to advertise a product, but rather trying to sell their "stuff" to the stupid unsuspecting public. They don't take their customers seriously and only see them as profit. They take advantage of customers and how they think of food. Marketers get into their heads and basically make their choices for them, without them even realizing it. Another example of customer manipulation is what the actual food is composed of. Cheeseburgers aren't exactly beef and chicken nuggets aren't exactly chicken. An article by Skyler White talks about just a few of the dangerous chemicals added to the 'compounds' that make up the meat. One of the most jarring is the chemical Casein that is known as "the nicotine of fast food" and is extremely addictive, making customers literally become attached to the food and feel that they need it.
When faced with a difficult decision, people often take the easy road out. They would rather have a quick, easy, and cheap meal that can potentially kill them than cook a healthy meal. Personal responsibility goes out the window because the choices they should be able to have, are really not there. There is only one choice because of all the focused marketing and even addictive chemicals that make fast food so good to have. That is why it is so important to have the most control in your own life and to know what you're eating and the dangers of it. Personal responsibility is the key to having and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
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