Avery Gordon, The Fast Food Cheeseburger: An Emblem of America

In recent years, multiple consumer products have been promoted through the media to the extent that American culture essentially becomes defined by them. Through flashy commercials, widespread slogans, and the improvement and upsizing of products, the evolution of American consumer culture can be traced. The American fast-food cheeseburger is a major product that has evolved from a simple food into a symbol of our nation’s consumer evolution.

The invention of the cheeseburger is credited to Lionel Sternberger of Pasadena, California, 82 years ago. This sparked the wildfire that spread to every fast food chain in the country and likely inspired the birth of many more. Since its invention, the cheeseburger has evolved immensely in size, nutrition, and even in its commercial appearance. The American fast food cheeseburger quickly promoted itself as the official food of America alongside the hot dog. While the hot dog became the symbol of American sport, the cheeseburger established its place as the official fast food product of America. The original cheeseburger, simply a beef patty and a slice of American cheese, has become an entity far more famous than could ever have been imagined. It is no longer a mere food product, but an icon imperative to the completion of the American image. It has evolved into a representative of the country, often more recognizable than our politicians or state symbols.

The evolution of the American fast food cheeseburger was heavily influenced by the changing consumer culture of America. Beginning as a small, individual food product, the cheeseburger quickly attached itself to side orders and drinks, soon transforming itself into a full meal rather than a single entity, a strategy that greatly advanced its success in the fast food world. The size of the cheeseburger has increased immensely and the prices have dropped relatively. Often endorsed through fast food commercials and endless ads, the cheeseburger has become one of the most readily available food products in the nation. It has become a commodity: its commercials promote happiness and wellbeing, causing the cheeseburger, in a sense, to essentially assume the identity of an antidepressant. The McDonald’s cheeseburger is a specific product that has repeatedly shown itself to be a key competitor in the battle of the burger. Through ample commercials and endless value promotional changes on the menu, McDonald’s has become a staple of the average American diet.

In the earliest McDonald’s commercials, the cheeseburger, presented by the McDonald’s clown mascot, Ronald McDonald, was evidently targeted toward the younger population in the form of a happy meal. In a 1970’s commercial, Ronald McDonald takes pictures of kids saying “cheeseburger”, refusing to give a cheeseburger to the unhappy villain.

McDonald's Say Cheeseburger Commercial

Through ad campaigns such as this, it is clear that the earlier years of the fast food cheeseburger involved pursuing children as the main consumer. The hamburgers were smaller, more individual, and the mascot was kid-friendly.

In later years, however, the cheeseburger was transformed into a bigger, more fulfilling, and more appealing product to the older teen and young adult demographic. As Ronald McDonald and other kid-oriented mascots became lesser advocates of the fast food chain, the Big Mac, and huge burgers similar to it, began to speak for themselves. Fast food chains were no longer advertised simply as kiddie playground serving meager portions, but as quick stop before the party or during lunch break at school to pick up a full dinner. They became cool. In this recent commercial for Burger King, competition becomes evident as they compare the size of their burger to McDonald’s. Adding humor to the equation, and using two attractive teens as actors, the commercial is naturally geared toward the young adult population.

Burger King Tiny Hands Commercial

Recently, commercials and advertisements of the American fast food cheeseburger have assumed all of the qualities of commercials for all consumer commodities. Humor, health, and explanation have all emerged within the ads for the cheeseburger. Combining all of these qualities within their commercials, the fast food producers have capitalized on the necessities of a product to the American teen. Low prices, delicious flavor, and extra bacon define the fast food cheeseburger as the perfect creation. In many commercials, humor, if executed correctly, can cause the ad to stick in one’s mind. In a near-future teen dilemma of whether to choose the Burger King or the McDonald’s across the street, the commercial will hopefully come to mind and influence that decision.

Even more recently, health has become advertised as an advantage at McDonald’s and similar fast food chains. Perhaps with the recent fad diet craze, producers have begun to notice that thin is cool. While many fast food chains have gone in the direction of “bigger is better” and “more for your money”, such as the hungry cowboy mentality of Arby’s or the “how many toppings can we fit on this burger” policy at Red Robin, chains such as McDonald’s and Wendy’s have began to notice the advantageous effects that health has on advertisement to a different, health-conscious demographic. With the rise of the recent health trend, the rise of obesity as a customer of the fast food restaurant rose with it, and producers noticed that this needed to change in order to keep their restaurant cool. Soon, healthier products such as salads and fruit parfaits were added to the menus alongside the biggest, juiciest burgers. With any luck, a hungry young adult would pull up to the drive through window and, with the healthy commercial in mind, accidentally be tempted to buy that cheeseburger instead of that low-fat yogurt cup. The cheeseburger would be cool again.

The commercial evolution of the fast food cheeseburger also changed in response to complexity. With the addition of exponentially more fast food chains in America, and even more choices on each of their never-ending menus, the cheeseburgers of each were required to make names for themselves. As Loren Geistfeld explains it, “not only does the [recent] consumer need a tremendous amount of information for an informed purchase decision, but the number of purchase decisions is also rather large.” Geistfeld goes on to explain the growing complexity of consumer choice with a comparison. In order to understand this need for explanation through commercial, we must “juxtapose the young homemaker of 1900 with the one of 1977. With respect to major appliances, the modern homemaker may have a dishwasher, range, refrigerator, microwave oven…and a freezer [while] her counterpart of 1900 [merely] had a cookstove. Not only have the number of purchases increased, but also the complexity of the purchase decision has increased” (Geistfeld, 48). Thus, it becomes increasingly necessary to successfully explain the benefits of one’s fast food restaurant over the others while also capturing the attention of a hungry viewer through humor, health benefits, or simply a juicy-looking cheeseburger flashing on their screen. In this sense, the American fast food Cheeseburger has become a commercial product. It is evident that it can no longer stand on its own and sell successfully, but each move and campaign of the producer must be meticulously thought out in order to maximize income.

These changing trends in cheeseburger advertisements follow the trends of young adult hipster society. The necessity of “cool” as an ingredient in the advertisements for the American fast food cheeseburger echo the necessity of “cool” in any successful recent American product or trend. Journalist Paul Flynn explains that the “interplay between business and cool has been simplified to an extent by the fact that, over the course of the past decade, cool itself has become a business”. Flynn explains that “somewhere in the balancing act between big business and the taste makers, a new sort of cool has emerged. This part lifestyle, part vision is exemplified perfectly by the business model, marketing, design, advertising and product profile” (Flynn, 2). This is precisely the approach taken by fast food companies in the advertisement of the cheeseburger.

The American fast food cheeseburger has transformed since its invention from a cookout treat into an emblem of American consumer society. Developing itself into a commodity of our nation, the cheeseburger’s success is due largely to its advertising and its commercials in the media. As many products in American society become their advertisements and all the baggage that comes along with it, so did the American fast food cheeseburger. The cheeseburger is a product that was changed from food into fact by American consumer culture.

Burger King Snake Commercial

Works Cited:

Flynn, Paul. "Don't try too hard: The cool that lasts is born, not made". Sunday Times (London). 24 Sept 2006. 2.

Geistfeld, Loren V. "Consumer Decision Making: The Technical Efficiency Approach". Journal of Consumer Research. Vol 4, No. 1. (June 1977): 48-56.

Henerson, Evan. "The Tale of the Cheeseburger". Voices and Food. June 13, 1999. Accessed Apr 20, 2008. http://www.culturefreak.com/tale.html

"1970 McDonaldland 'Say Cheeseburger' Commercial". Commercial. You Tube. Aug 15, 2007. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWVQpJgPgIU

"Burger King: Tiny Hands Commercial". Commercial. You Tube. Feb 1, 2008. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SltqvE0b9uo

"Burger King Eat Like Snake Triple Whopper Commercial". Commercial. You Tube. Oct 5, 2006. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTXbMCOywVY&feature=related