In this commercial men sing about how they want to eat manly food and not queche and salad.  But if they are so manly, then why are they singing in the first place?  But seriously, fast food companies’ primary targets are men.  That’s their demographic.  That’s why fast food companies add bacon and jaleapenoes and barbeque sauce to everything.  This commercial is actually pretty true.  Eating is one of the manliest activities.  Beef, bacon, spicy food, they’re considered “manly” and so is eating alot of food at one time.  Fast food restaurants echo that, and cater to that. Its kind of a brillant tactic.  Most people feel guilty about eating fast food, the fast food chains flip it over on its head and tell men to be proud of the kind of food they are eating.  Well now we know why women outlive us by five years.

Ok, another Jack in the Box commercial.  In this one two adults act like toddlers and complain that they are hungry.  Then they have snacktime and Jack says even adults should have a snack.  This commercial is funny, but the idea that people need a snack, especially one that looks more like a meal, isn’t a good one.  Fast food makes a poor meal, but when you add fast food to your other 3 meals in a day, it’s is even more unhealthy.  Not only is this a fast food commercial, but its promoting bad eating habits in addition to telling you to get fast food.  It’s another reason Jack in the Box is giving customers to go there, but not a good one.

In this video, the viewer is taught how to make a Big Mac at home.  I always thought the special sauce was just thousand island, I guess it’s more complex than that.  But why would anyone want to do that?  If you really wanted a Big Mac you could just buy one, its less work, and probably costs about the same.  He makes these tiny patties and then freezes them.  That doesn’t sound appetizing at all.  The main selling point of fast food is the convenience and when you take that away there isn’t that much appeal left.  This is alot of work for fast food.  I would think that if you wanted to cook a meal at home, it wouldn’t be a Big Mac.

I promise, this is the last Jack-in-the-Box commercial, but they’re hilarious.   Jack has a disreputable “doctor” (who takes his glasses off no less than four times) say that fast food is actually good for you.  The commercial is so over the top that I’m sure anyone could point out that it is obviously a joke, even without seeing the ending.  Of course, if this doctor is saying fast food is healthy and it’s known that it’s a joke, then the actually message is that fast food is bad for you.  That is a well-known fact, but most fast food chains concentrate on their food’s positives and ignore the health aspect altogether.  Now why in the world would a fast food company what to remind their audience how unhealthy their food is throughout the commercial?  It’s for the humor.  In my last two posts Jack has had no problem with seeing vegetarians as an embarrassment and advocating pot (exaggerations, but you get the idea).  The point is that those commercials were just meant to be funny, so people will actually like the commercials, and this one is no different.  It makes sense, but it’s an interesting approach at advertising to say the least.

Here’s another one

Jack knows how to reach his target audience at least.   Just incase you don’t understand (or the embedding didn’t work), the joke here is that guy at the drive-thru is obviously high and is hungry enough to eat somewhere between 30 and 99 tacos.  So the question here is:  was Jack-in-the-Box just making a joke and trying to reach people who like humor in an advertisement, or were they making a joke AND advertising to the “stoner audience” that Jack’s taco’s are a great fix for the munchies?  Either way, according to Youtube comments (which we know we can trust amiright?) these commercials were taken off the air.   Is there something wrong with that? Was Jack in the Box in the wrong because they were advocating an illegal drug and the commercial should have been censored?  Or was it perfectly fine for Jack in the Box to advertise to this demographic?

In this ad, Jack’s son proclaims in front of the whole school that he wants to be a vegetarian. Jack, as a giant in the fast food industry, is distraught. He is deeply disappointed by his son’s defection to the other side, so much so that he immediately stops recording after his sn says this. But all is just find when it turns out Jack’s son meant to say he wanted to be a veterinarian when he grows up. Jack is no longer disappointed in his son, in fact, his malapropism was pretty adorable.

While this commercial is funny, what is it saying? Earlier, Jack’s son says his father makes people happy by providing them with Sirloin burgers. So is this commercial is equating meat with happiness and vegetarians isn’t with shame and embarrassment? I doubt it, but it’s funny. The humor is that Jack is disappointed his son doesn’t want to be just like his dad, and that vegetarianism, to him, is considered horrible dishonor to the family.

I like this speaker, I don’t  agree with everything he says, but the way he says it is appealing.  His friendly, joking attitude makes me want to agree with him.   Health problems are our number 1 concern.  Even auto accidents was a drop in the bucket compared to any one of those diseases he mentioned.  Most of which can be prevented with a healthy diet.  However he goes from saying that to saying meat causes these problems.   Yes, there is a connection between eating meat and developing heart disease or obesity, but all animal products don’t have to be cut out of our diet.

One part of his speech that I found was particularly misleading was when he said vegetarian children get higher scores on IQ tests.  He’s implying eating meat has a negative effect on growth and development.  His statistic comes right after he says mercury in fish and animal proteins can damage the brain.  But he doesn’t realize that a correlation isn’t the same as a cause and effect relationship.  For example, I highly doubt children would make the choice to me vegetarians, because kids usually eat whatever tastes the best.  I would say that most children who are vegetarians were raised that way (though I do know of a middle school student who is vegetarian, when no one else in his family is).  I believe that the type of parent who doesn’t let their kid eat meat is also the type of parent who doesn’t like TV.  A parent who is that concerned about a child’s diet is also going to be concerned about their education, and actually help them.  Misleading statements about food can come from any source, not just the food industry.

It’s interesting stuff. I’ll be the first to say that you choose what you eat, and no one can seriously say the government/food industry made them fat. That still doesn’t change the fact that the food industry is part of the problem. “Yoo-hoo is an everyday sort of thing, 3 or 4 times a day. Where as your Yoo-hoo Double Fudge is more like a dessert.” What?! Three or four times a day? I truly hope that’s just the wish of an overly-optimistic salesman, rather than fact. That’s when I ask myself if the company is actually saying that it’s okay, or even the norm to have 3 or 4 “chocolate drinks” a day? I’m not saying it’s the food industry’s responsibility to be worried about people’s health, but American society is heavily influenced by the just the volume of advertisements for unhealthy food. Fifty years ago every other page in magazine was a cigarette ad, but now you can’t find any. I like the comparison to unhealthy food and smoking. They both cause preventable health issues and death. Nowadays health care reform is a big deal because everybody needs it and it is expensive. Most health problems in our country are caused from an unhealthy diet. See where this is going? If people started eating responsibly, then the health problems like heart disease, diabetes, certain cancers, and stroke would drop off significantly.

Do we have to hit rock bottom before we go to rehab?

Is it getting to the point where government should step in? They already tell us about the food pyramid, but they have been drowned out by the food ads. Like they did with smoking, should the government regulate certain food advertisements? Is this right? I very torn about this, I mean, I am not a fan a government regulation. I’m a free market type of person. If you asked me, I’d say you can’t spell Laissez-faire without “fair.”

But I really want to hear about what you think about this. Should the government start either regulating the food industry or their advertisements for the purpose of saving lives?

The Philly cheesesteak is a truly American dish for many reasons (mostly because it is one of the few foods actually invented in American, unlike hot dogs or even apple pie).  Plus, Pat and Joey both forged multi-million dollar businesses by selling these sandwiches: a fine example of capitalism and the American dream.  They are also incredibly unhealthy.

A “true” Philly cheesesteak is made from, chopped steak cooked in grease, and cheese-whiz.  That’s right not real cheese, cheese-whiz, and the final product should actually drip with grease as you’re eating it.  Sound appetizing?
No?
Well it was. Last summer my family and I went to Philadelphia and my dad wanted nothing more from the experience than to try a cheesesteak from both Pat’s and Geno’s, and I was happy to go with him. Most of the other people we saw were doing the exact same thing. Something that I found interesting was that when we asked residents how to get to Pat’s and Geno’s, they gave us directions, but also told us that we didn’t want to go there, and told us place they thought made the best Philly cheesesteak. This happened four times. And they all suggested different places.
It is pretty funny when you think of it, two world-famous (there were actually foreigners sampling both) restaurants selling the exact same food, across the street from each other, both making millions of sandwich (and dollars) every year.  But it’s no laughing matter, when we were eating at Geno’s, someone who came over from Pat’s (just as we did) tried to put ketchup on their fries. They were yelled at and told they were not allowed to put Geno’s ketchup on Pat’s fries. That’s how strong the rivalry is.  It makes you wonder why these two establishments are so famous and why the rivalry even exists. Maybe one causes the other?

All in all, a sandwich made with cheese-whiz is actually a lot better than it sounds, amazing actually.
And Pat’s makes the best cheesesteak that I have ever tasted.

This commercial is a good one. In the commercial the the “Piña Colada” song plays, and people sing about their mundane work days. It’s pretty interesting that the song still maintains part of its original meaning, not the part about the two lovers that try to cheat on each other, but the idea that people need an escape (or as Taco Bell calls it a “break-cation”). The idea that fast food companies advertise by saying you deserve a break is nothing new, McDonalds has been doing it for years. But this commercial uses a song about escape to convey the message. In addition, pina coladas are a tropical drink that people often drink while on vacation, so people can easily make that connection.   And I’m pretty sure most people don’t like meetings or getting stuck in traffic, so they always have an opportunity for a “break-cation.”  The main idea here is nothing new, that a pina colada from Taco Bell can make you day go a little bit smoother and overall make your life better.  But it is an effective commercial, or a the very least a fun one.  I know I’ve watched it about 10 times now, “If you hate filling out your timesheets…”