This document discusses rhetoric and the influence of fast food culture. It defines rhetoric as how signs influence people through indexical, iconic, and symbolic meanings. Fast food is presented as a cultural artifact due to its widely shared meanings and ability to influence group identification. While fast food fuels a fast-paced lifestyle, it is often unhealthy and has negatively shaped society and culture through its power and prevalence in everyday life. The conclusion argues that fast food has negatively influenced culture by promoting obesity, health issues, and a reliance on quick prepared foods.

1. Rhetoric in
Fast Food Culture
Presentation by Mary Hayward

2. The Rhetoric of Everyday Life
Rhetoric is the way in which signs influence people.
There are three ways signs can be thought about: Indexically, Iconically, and Symbolically
Signs are everywhere and everything.
Books, movies, pictures, clothes
Sounds, smells, textures, tastes
A sign is anything that makes you think of something else.

3. Meanings of Fast Food
Indexical: When a sign and a meaning are linking through association.
You walk into class and instantly can smell the scent of freshly made, salty french fries. Your first
thought is, “I think someone brought McDonalds to class.”
Iconic: If a sign resembles something else.
For the longest time, I kept a Starbuck’s coffee stirrer in my car. It was dark green and had a tiny
mermaid on it. I thought it was too cute to throw away. It had no letters on it indicating it was from
Starbucks, but whenever someone would notice it, they knew right away where it came from. Maybe it
was the color, or maybe it was the mermaid, but it resembled Starbucks.
Symbolic: A sign makes you think of something else because of an agreement or
convention.
You are driving down a street with many restaurants and shops. You are hungry, but in a rush and
and strapped for cash. You see a sign saying, “Drive-Thru.” You put your blinker on and get behind a small
line of cars. While waiting to order, you can sit in your car and look at the restaurants menu before
speaking to a voice through a small, square box. In less than five minutes and under $5, you have your
food and are back on the road.

4. Is Fast Food a Cultural Artifact?
Particularly powerful signs are known as cultural artifacts. This would be any
action, event, or object that:
● is perceived as a unified whole
● has widely shared meanings
● manifests group identifications
Fast food chains are recognized globally and are often similar to one another. Most
restaurants keep to the same theme of quickly prepared food. It is generally
targeted towards the lower or middle class because of the prices.
I would say, yes, fast food is a cultural artifact.

5. Some Critical Perspectives...
❖ The main purpose of food is to keep ourselves alive. It is one of the most
basic components of keeping our minds and bodies functioning properly.
❖ Some people use food as an escape or a way to comfort themselves. In a
food rich society, it is easy to overindulge in burgers, fries, milkshakes, etc.
❖ Big corporations know this and want to deliver food the easiest, quickest
way possible. Online ordering and home delivery have become the norm in
many homes. Thus, the fast food culture was born.
❖ This type of eating can be addictive, cause weight gain, and can even result
in social isolation.

6. How does fast food influence our culture?
❖ Fast food fuels the fast paced lifestyle of many Americans. Exit signs on highways don’t advertise upscale
or local restaurants. Nearly every town has at least one fast food franchise.
❖ While it is easy to access and inexpensive, fast food does have some negative affects on society. It is
usually unhealthy and loaded with sugar, salt, and fattening products.
❖ The rhetoric of fast food holds a great amount of
power.
❖ Something with this much power has the ability to
control and define culture for a society.
❖ With a nation that is always on-the-go, and where
personal health comes second to success and
instant gratification, fast food easily works it’s way
into the culture of everyday lives.

7. Conclusion
Is fast food a positive or negative influence?
I believe fast food has shaped our culture
negatively. It may have started with good
intentions, but now we have a society dying
from obesity, heart problems, other health
issues. We have a culture that relies on the
quickness of fastly prepared food.
People may not realize how much their life
depends on drive-thrus and dollar menus,
but if our society continues down the path
of grease filled foods we won’t be able to
progress to healthy, longer lives.

8. Sources
Brummett, B. (2015). Rhetoric in Popular
Culture. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE