Fast Food Industry :

Perspectives from Marketing and Psychology

Irma Figueroa
Professor Speiser
Writing 2
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Introduction

Fast food is part of the American culture, it is ubiquitous. Most people think little about how

fast food companies influence them whether by a restuarants specific location or through persuasion of

an advertisement. The fast food industry has grown immensely in the 20th century and it has become a

topic of discussion within many different fields of study. In this essay, I will be analysing how Marketing

and Psychology each approach the fast food industry to fulfill the purpose of communicating to a

specific audience within their discourse communities. For analysis of Psychology, I will be looking at a

scholarly journal article called Receptivity to Television Fast-Food Restaurant Marketing and Obesity

Among U.S. Youth, by Auden C. McClure, Susanne E. Tanski, Diane Gilbert-Diamond, Anna M.

Adachi-Mejia, Zhigang Li, Zhongze Li, and James D. Sargent. For analysis of the Marketing field, I will

be using a scholarly journal article called Product Positioning and Competition: The Role of Location

in Fast Food Industry, by Raphael Thomadsen. I will also be using a course Syllabus from Professor

Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas at the University of California Berkeley Haas School of Business and

personal observation from attending an Introduction to Psychology lecture taught by Professor Tamsin

German at the University of California Santa Barbara to further evaluate the way each discipline is

taught at the university level. Both disciplines have similarities and differences, yet they have completely

different purposes and we will see how each are able to construct a conversation within their

communities.

At the University Level

Psychology is the study of behavior and the mind and Marketing is a field in business that

researches and studies selling, developing, and promoting products in markets of the economy. In

observing the lecture Introduction to Psychology , I noticed Professor Germans (2017) use of studies
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through videos and graphs as a large part of what the lecture consisted of. There was no interaction or

engaging from the students in class. As an introductory course however, the students probably do not

have prior knowledge and therefore the professor is authoritative. In the Marketing syllabus from a class

at UC Davis, Professor Gourinchas (2015) emphasis that the course goal is to build personal and

corporate skills by studying the influences of goods, services, capital, rates and crisis (p.1). In order to

do so, in contrast to Psychology, the syllabus acknowledges that as an upper division course, there will

be an expectation of oral participation and interaction. Another literary practice I noticed was specific

lexis used. Some of the words that I saw come up repetitively in the Psychology lecture were: survey,

categories, control group, participant, demonstration, trial, study, patent, demonstration, research, case

study and measurements. In the Marketing syllabus it is clear to see that some of the literary practices

are based on observations of research and current news of the economy around the world. Examples of

the lexis were : graphs, tables, models, numbers and perhaps even maps to look at demographic

patterns around the world or specific areas. Vocabulary used is key to the communication within the

discourse community. These specific characteristics to the discourse community create a disciplinary

identity. In both subject areas it is clear to see the overlapping of literary practices, however they both

have there own form of lexis, structure and characteristics that makes each field unique.

Two Scholarly Views

As the two fields engage at the university level owning specific characteristics, articles do too.

Articles however, are often directed at a broader audiences. With articles it is more clear to see the

literary practices of the Fast food Industry in action and in depth. Both of the articles I analyzed speak

about the Marketing of fast food however, the purpose of the articles are different.
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In the psychology article (2013), the purpose is to analyze the way that television advertisement

can correlate with the obesity rates among youth in the United States. In the Marketing article (2007)

the purpose is to show the audience, which is stated to be marketing managers, how differentiating and

locating their product affect competition with other companies and profits in the fast food industry.

McClure et al. propose that Exposure to marketing of calorie-dense foods is recognized as a probable

risk factor for obesity (p.560), meanwhile Thomadsen examines, the relationship between product

differentiation and prices and profits in the fast food industry, (p.792) in order to find the optimal

product positioning strategies (p.792). Clearly there are two different purposes within the same topic of

fast food and marketing. Meanwhile McClure et al. (2013) want to analyze the way fast food

advertising and marketing affects youth health, Thomadsen wants to examine the best way to market

fast food to make the most profit for competition.

In order to support their analysis, McClure et al. provide A national sample of 2541 U.S

Youth, aged 15-23 years, that were surveyed in 2010-2011 (p.560). Sampling is one of the key

literary practices in psychology, it allows for evidence from direct populations that are being affected

which gives a more effective result. Thomadsen (2007) on the other hand uses competition models

where the first stage, each firm chooses a location. and in the second stage each firm chooses a price

( p.794). This shows a marketing literary practice. What counts as evidence is through the analyzing of

a set up indirect experiment. Both of these practices although different, in return create credibility of the

authors and the study or claim presented in the article.

McClure et al. (2013) conclude the results as follows: Using a cued-recall assessment, TV

fast-food advertising receptivity was found to be associated with youth obesity (560). Thomadsen

(2007) concludes that the role of price competition on product positioning is fundamentally different
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under asymmetric competition than under symmetric competition (p.792). The language for each

example even though it is fairly simple there is certain vocabulary that would need prior knowledge

within the field to understand. The lexis, in the marketing article is much different than that in the

psychology one, Thomadsen (2007) uses words like, optimal, product positioning, profits, asymmetric,

and symmetric competition and in the article the use of equations with variables such as Vi,0= B0+ni,0

(p.792-800). Meanwhile in the psychology article, McClure et al. (2013) use words such as

methods,cued-recall, covariates,association, data, limitations and acronyms such as BMI, TVFFAR, an

CI. This is significant because it shows an identification with each discourse community. If you are not

the audience of the specific article it is most likely that you would not understand much of the equations

or most of the language. Lastly, another similarity I noticed was the use of tables, figure (models), and

graphs. Even though both McClure et al. (2013) and Thomadsen (2007) both use tables, figures, and

graphs there is a difference in the types of tables,figures,graphs. For example, McClure et al. use

theoretic models,percent to receptivity line graphs and larger tables. Thomadsen (2007), uses models of

maps to show geographic areas, price to distance line graphs , and smaller tables. The vocabulary,

format and characteristics of the literary practices are tailored to serve a unique and specific purpose.

Conclusion

As we can see, within a specific field or discourse community there are similar or perhaps

completely different structures however, there is importance in the vocabulary used and careful selection

of how the information is presented. Whether it is in a classroom setting or in a scholarly article each

field or subject has certain characteristics that their discourse community identifies with, that is what

makes them unique. Even though marketing is focused on the business perspective of the fast food

industry and Psychology on the health perspective they both use logical reasoning when analyzing and
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using evidence to prove their claims valuable to a specific audience. No doubt the Fast food industry

has grown immensely and it is almost inevitable that it will continue to grow. Overall, the purpose is to

show that there is importance in taking a moment to see more than the superficial. Ask why a specific

field like Psychology is trying to explain the effects and damages on youth meanwhile a field like

Marketing is trying to find strategies to sell and advertise more efficiently.Ask yourself why it is that a

certain restaurant is located at a specific location or analyze why an advertisement how it is, because it

might be affecting you whether its in your health or in your wallet.