Fast food in the Black community - A deep dive
- Michelle Adams
- Mar 26
- 29 min read
You can listen to the video version of this article here.
Have you noticed that in the past few years there seems to have been a proliferation of celebrity fast food endorsements? You may have also noticed that almost every Black celebrity that does a fast food ad is selling the type of stuff that we all need to be eating less of: fried food and sugar-laden drinks. The ironic and sad reality is that Black Americans have the highest rates of several chronic diseases, an overabundance of fast food restaurants compared to grocery stores in their neighborhoods, and are targeted by fast food and junk food companies more than other racial groups. This trend that you are seeing is very real, and also very detrimental.
But, how did we get here?
In today’s article, I’m going to talk about Black people’s relationship to fast food - the good, the bad, and the unexpected. And no, this won’t be a whole article on how racism is to blame; racism does play a role, but this issue has to do with choices made by members of the Black community as well.
I’ll be covering the following topics:
The overabundance of ads for fast food featuring Black celebrities
The health effects of all of this marketing, especially among Black children
The history of how fast food became so abundant in predominantly Black neighborhoods
How we can all do better moving forward
Topic 1: The overabundance of ads for fast food featuring Black celebrities
There are a ton of Black celebrities who are promoting fast food lately. Honestly, the number is bigger than I had even realized before I started writing this article. To start this section off, I am going to take you through a list of celebrity fast food endorsements for the five year period of 2019-2024 (Feel free to let me know if I missed any down in the comments!). Please note that I am not trying to bash or throw shade at any of these celebrities. I am only presenting the examples below because they fit with the phenomenon that I am describing. This is not about musical taste, just facts. Another caveat that I must add is that I will be counting celebrities as Black if they are fully Black or if they are mixed with Black.
Alright, let’s go down the list:
I’m starting off with Travis Scott. He undoubtedly triggered this modern wave of celebrity fast food endorsements as the first celebrity since 1992 to promote the Golden Arches.
Quick pause - if you know who the celebrity is that McDonald's collaborated with in 1992, comment down below. I'll give you one hint – he is a former NBA player.
In 2020, we got the Travis Scott meal, which consists of a Quarter Pounder, fries, a Sprite, and barbecue sauce. This meal was so popular, that McDonald's reported running out of some of the ingredients that go into the meals.
Next up, we have Megan Thee Stallion. In 2021, Megan partnered with Popeye's to sell “Hottie Sauce.” The sauce is made with “honey, cider vinegar, and Aleppo pepper” and is meant to be paired with any of the breaded and fried items on Popeye’s menu. Megan also went the extra mile with this collab and became a Popeye's franchise owner.
Next we have Saweetie. In 2021, Saweetie collaborated with McDonald's to sell her Saweetie meal, which comes with a Big Mac, nuggets, fries, and a soda.
Also in 2021, McDonald's sought out the talented Mariah Carey to help them sell more food over the holidays.
Cornell Haynes Jr., who all my fellow 90s babies will know as Nelly, joined forces with Burger King that same year to sell his version of the #keepitrealmeal – a Whopper, fries, and a Sprite.
After a bit of a pause in celebrity-backed menu items, McDonald's came back in 2023 with the Cardi B and Offset Meal. This meal was meant to celebrate Valentine’s Day and convince audiences that McDonald's could be a good choice for a romantic outing. This was an odd celebrity couple choice, considering that they aren’t exactly the perfect image of a loving couple. Either way, this meal consisted of a cheeseburger with barbecue sauce, a Quarter Pounder with cheese, fries, Coke, Hi-C, and apple pie.
During the same year, Latto worked with Wingstop to sell Latto’s Lemon Herb Remix, which consists of the very original lemon garlic and herb dry rubbed chicken.
Next up, we have a restaurant that I have not mentioned as yet. In 2023, Snoop Dogg joined forces with Jack in the Box to sell his Munchie Meal, which comes with a taco, chicken sandwich, curly fries, a brownie, and a drink.
Then, in 2024 Jack in the Box came out with another Munchie Meal featuring yet another West Coast hip hop artist: Ice Cube. Ice Cube’s meal came with a Chick-N-Tater Melt, a taco, curly fries, churros, and a Sprite.
Lastly, we have Shaquille O’Neal, who endorses a pretty wide array of things. He doesn’t just endorse Papa John’s though, he actually sat on the board of directors from 2019-2024.
Now, do you remember who the first celebrity was to do a fast food endorsement? Back in the day, one of the greatest to ever play the game, Michael Jordan, became the first celebrity to do a collab with McDonald's in 1992. His meal was called the McJordan Special.
Now, you may be thinking – Michelle, "non-Black celebrities endorse fast food too." And, you would be correct. There are, of course, examples of non-Black celebrities that have endorsed food that is highly processed – BTS linked up with McDonald's in 2021 to sell the BTS meal, Jack Harlow did a collab with KFC in 2022, and the list goes on. Still, the fact of the matter is that if I were to put together a list of all celebrity fast food endorsements within the past 5 years - and I am talking about fried/fatty food combos that are actually labeled as meals, not coffee, pastries, or snacks - you would see an overrepresentation of Black people.
Don’t believe me? Take a look at this chart then:
Celebrity Fast Food Restaurant Endorsements from 2019-2024
Black Celebrities | Non-Black Celebrities |
Shaquille O’Neal, Papa John’s, 2019 | |
Travis Scott, McDonald's, 2020 | |
Megan Thee Stallion, Popeye's, 2021 | |
Saweetie, McDonald's, 2021 | |
Mariah Carey, McDonald's, 2021 | |
Nelly, Burger King, 2021 | |
Cardi B, McDonald's, 2023 |
|
Offset, McDonald's, 2023 |
|
Latto, Wingstop, 2023 |
|
Snoop Dogg, Jack in the Box, 2023 |
|
Ice Cube, Jack in the Box, 2024 |
|
The stats don't lie - people of African descent are more often than not the ones behind endorsements for meals that are of little nutritional value. Now, I know that someone out there is going to bring up the fact that McDonald's and other fast food restaurants also offer “healthy” options like salads. Yes, some fast food restaurants have salad menus, but not a single one of these celebrity endorsements for fast food restaurants have been done with the purpose of promoting salads.
Let me make it clear that I am not against the existence of fast food restaurants. I actually think that it’s a good thing that restaurants that sell food that is quick, tasty, and usually cheap exist. It goes without saying that these foods are a gustatory delight, and most of us like to indulge in foods just for how they taste at least sometimes.
After all, not everything that you put into your mouth needs to be a perfect balance of micro- and macronutrients – food is also about joy!
My problem is that there is a major imbalance between the promotion of foods that we should enjoy on occasion, and foods that we should be eating 90% of the time to optimize our well-being. As the writers behind Sesame Street would put it, we have a ton of promotion for “Sometime Foods” and barely any for “Anytime Foods.” What I'm saying is that I would love to see more Black celebrities putting their names on meals that come with more than one leaf of lettuce.
What Black celebrities promote matters, because they have the power to influence the choices of everyone who sees those ads, especially the people who identify with them. This proliferation of fast food ads backed by celebrities that we all know and love, is like having a constant song in our ears telling us to eat more fast food. Even if you think that you are above the effects of all of this, the reality is that we are all susceptible to the powerful effects of marketing and celebrity endorsements. If we weren’t, companies wouldn’t invest billions of dollars in these campaigns. They partner with celebrities for ONE reason - because it increases their revenue.
Topic 2: The health effects of all of this marketing, especially among Black children
Celebrity endorsements are a thing because they work, especially on vulnerable, young minds. Let’s explore the effects of fast food marketing on children. Studies (like this one, and this one) show that the marketing of foods that are high in salt, sugar, and fat, foods that we would typically call “junk foods” to children, has a direct impact on the foods that children end up eating, and their risk for developing obesity.
Quick pause: I understand that conversations about body weight can be uncomfortable and triggering. I want to make it clear that my intention is not to shame children for being overweight, nor do I intend to shame their parents. My goals are just to share the evidence in a respectful way, and to provide you with the information that you are looking for to improve the quality of your life.
Now, the fact that junk food advertising affects the food choices of children matters, because childhood obesity is a major issue. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 1/5 children in the United States (ages 2-19 years) are obese. The numbers are especially concerning for Black and Hispanic children – about 25% of Black children and 26% of Hispanic children are obese, while 17% of White and 9% of Asian children are obese. Childhood obesity is most prevalent in economically disadvantaged communities. It also leads to more healthcare spending; it has been estimated that in 2019, $1.3 billion were spent due to obesity in children.
Image source: Fryar et al 2020
What makes this situation even more concerning is that things are getting worse. As you can see in the figure above from this paper, since the 1960s, the prevalence of obesity has been steadily increasing among young people of all ages. Back then, less than 5% of children had obesity. That percentage has quadrupled and even quintupled if you narrow down the prevalence of obesity by race.
Here is another reason why this is worth paying attention to: Compared to children who do not have obesity, children with obesity are more likely to become adults with obesity. According to this paper,
“Obese children and adolescents were around five times more likely to be obese in adulthood than those who were not obese. Around 55% of obese children go on to be obese in adolescence, around 80% of obese adolescents will still be obese in adulthood...” - Simmonds et al 2015
This does not mean that stopping childhood obesity will put an end to adult obesity – most obese adults were not obese as children – but it does mean that promoting healthy lifestyle habits in people from the time that they are children can set them on a trajectory that reduces their chances of being obese in the future. This would be in the best interest of the child, as living with obesity can lead to a wide range of health issues. For an in-depth look at the health consequences of obesity, you can check out my video on the fat acceptance movement (link) or the related article that I wrote.
When children watch YouTube, scroll on TikTok, or play online games, they are frequently exposed to advertisements for highly palatable, nutrient-poor foods. According to this publication, kids are four times more likely to see ads for junk food than healthier food options. Online games may feature movie or TV show characters that children identify with consuming certain foods.
What makes them even more insidious is the fact that all of this is occurring in the context of a curated social media experience.
We all know by now that when you click on something once, social media platforms will continue to push that thing down your throat each time you open the app. So, you can imagine that if a child clicks on an ad for a junk food once, they are likely to see lots more of that type of ad each time they look at their screens. Remember, social media platforms are designed this way because their creators know that this curated experience is effective at keeping us attached to our devices for more time than we otherwise would be, viewing ads, and spending money.
Multiple studies show that children do eat more high fat/sugar/salt foods when shown advertisements for those types of foods. Kids are also more likely to engage in impulsive eating habits and grow to prefer these foods. I opened this post with a focus on Black celebrities who back fast food companies, and I want you to remember that as I move on to my next point: Most studies on the effect of fast food advertising among children have also found that economically disadvantaged children, who are often Black and Brown, receive the most exposure to junk food advertising (see here, here, and here). In other words, ads for fried foods by Black celebrities are more often than not aimed at Black children.
It could be said that fast food companies target disadvantaged communities because they buy more junk food that their wealthy White counterparts. However, Shiriki Kumanyika, PhD, MPH of the University of Pennsylvania countered this argument excellently when she said in this quote that:
“More likely, racialized marketing of unhealthy products reflects a flawed business model in which leveraging the demographics of social disadvantage to maximize profits from unhealthy foods and beverages is acceptable.” - from Hardee 2022 article
The persistent use of Black celebrities to promote fast food is tantamount to taking advantage of a community that is 1) already at a financial disadvantage and for that (among other reasons) is more likely to rely on fast food to feed their families, and is 2) also disproportionately affected by the long-term effects of poor eating habits, including obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease.
Allow me to give you a better sense of just how financially disadvantaged the median Black household is, using just two articles. The first is a report by the United States Census Bureau, in which the title pretty much tells you the key thing that you need to know – that “Households With a White, Non-Hispanic Householder Were Ten Times Wealthier Than Those With a Black Householder in 2021.” Householder was defined as the renter or owner of a housing unit – the key part being that their name has to appear on the lease or deed. While Black wealth has been growing with the passage of the decades, the racial wealth gap persists. In this report by Brookings, the authors stated that: “...in 2022, for every $100 in wealth held by White households, Black households held only $15.”
So, I will repeat this point again – Black families are generally among the poorest in this country. Fast food companies know this. It is worth their while to spend endless dollars to market to these communities, because they know that they will have repeat customers who generally cannot afford healthier food options when they need a quick meal.
I also mentioned that Black people are disproportionately affected by chronic diseases in this country. If you are Black, this probably will not surprise you, as you most likely know of not one but multiple people in your family who are struggling with high cholesterol, high blood sugar, and so on. Perhaps you may be one of those people. Nevertheless, it’s always nice to look at the numbers, so let’s do that.
Image source: Hales et al 2020
Take a look at this graph (shown above,) from the CDC. It shows the percentage of people in this country with obesity, which you can see on the vertical axis, and gender is on the horizontal axis. Each color represents a different race. Let’s start with women: 57% of Black women, 44% of Hispanic women, 40% of White women, and 17% of Asian women in this country are obese. For men: 41% of Black men, 46% of Hispanic men, 45% of White men, and 18% of Asian men are obese. Overall, the Black race has the highest obesity percentage, and this is mainly driven by the higher prevalence of obesity among Black women. This higher prevalence of obesity among Black people is also correlated with a higher prevalence of high blood pressure, diabetes, and stroke. All of these are preventable diseases that slowly kill you, and are caused in no small part by diet.
Taken together, these data show that fast food companies are targeting communities that 1) do not have much money, and 2) are disproportionately sick with illnesses brought on in large part by poor nutrition. They know their audience, and they use members of that very same community to market their greasy fries and nuggets and make profits.
By the way, they are not just doing this with their ads; fast food companies target poor Black communities by where they choose to build their franchises, too. Have you ever gotten the sense that there are more fast food restaurants per square mile in predominantly Black neighborhoods than there are in neighborhoods primarily inhabited by people of other races? If it feels like there is a fast food joint on every corner once you pass Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Anytown, USA, well, you’re right.
Topic 3: The history of how fast food became so abundant in predominantly Black neighborhoods
According to this article published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine, in a study of the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, researchers found that:
“Predominantly Black neighborhoods have 2.4 fast-food restaurants per square mile compared to 1.5 restaurants in predominantly White neighborhoods.” - Block et al 2004
That article is kind of old though, and limited to just one American city, so we need more data to really understand what’s happening here. This paper came out in 2014 and covered census blocks across the entire United States, not just a single city. Unsurprisingly, they found the same thing:
“Predominantly Black neighborhoods [have] higher access to fast-food” - James et al 2014
What’s interesting though, is that they also looked at poverty as an indicator on its own of how easy it would be to get to a fast food place in a given census block, and they found that poverty alone was not correlated with there being more fast food places. However, when poverty and Black race were combined, there was a significantly higher chance of there being easier access to fast food. In other words, fast food companies are not just aiming to make profits off of poor people – they specifically have their eyes (with dollar signs) set on poor Black people.
But, how did we get here?
How did predominantly Black communities end up harboring so many fast food restaurants?
To answer that question, we need to travel back in time.
You will notice that I bring up McDonald's frequently in this section. Of course, McDonald's is not the only restaurant that sells fried food; they just have the good fortune of serving as the archetype and having lots of media (including this book, this one, and this one) published about them. Nevertheless, much of this discourse is applicable not just to McDonald's, but to any fast food restaurant that serves similar fare.
Now, a little history. Richard and Maurice McDonald founded McDonald's in 1940 in San Bernardino, California. In 1961, they were bought out by businessman Ray Kroc, who is credited with catapulting McDonald's into the global seat of power that it holds today. After Martin Luther King Jr. had his life taken from him in 1968, there was a push from the government for Black communities to heal through entrepreneurship. That same year, an African American man named Herman Petty became the first Black person to franchise a McDonald's.
It is no coincidence that this happened in the wake of the civil rights movement. After over a decade of social unrest in the Black community – and all of America, really - the United States government was keen on finding ways to quell the concerns of its African American citizens. It was meant to be a win-win situation for all involved – McDonald's would expand its market into Black communities and thereby increase their revenue, and more Black people would have a shot at self-determination via entrepreneurship. The problem though, is that instead of funding places that sell fresh fruits and vegetables at affordable prices, people just ended up putting more dollars behind burgers and fries. This is part of the reason why it is so hard to find healthy food options in predominantly Black neighborhoods, yet it is so easy to find a fast food joint in those same communities.
Side note – you may have heard places like these described as “food deserts,” which are regions where people live that do not have easy access to affordable, nutritious food options. However, there is actually a newer, more accurate term to describe these communities – “food swamps.” Basically, a food desert lacks fresh food options, whereas a food swamp also lacks fresh food options, but on top of that, it has a high ratio of fast food and/or junk food relative to healthy food.
Before MLK Jr. died, McDonald's was not as “Black” as it is now. Like many customer service establishments in 1960s America, McDonald's used to be segregated. Do you remember that iconic photo of people at a counter, being harassed by an angry mob as they sit there in peaceful protest? In the 1960s, McDonald's franchises were sites where protests similar to that happened. Back in the day, it was not common for McDonald's to have a seating area for people to dine in; they were typically designed as drive-ins, where people could order and eat from the comfort of their vehicles. Restaurants like McDonald's would still discriminate against Black customers by either flat out refusing service to them, only serving them after Caucasian customers had been served, or making them wait at a separate window. Protesters would stand in line, peacefully waiting to order a meal, while the cashiers shouted over their heads to take the orders of White customers.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) all organized protests against segregation at McDonald’s restaurants in Memphis, Tennessee, and High Point, Ashville, and Greensboro North Carolina, as well as other cities in the United States. These were mostly college students, and they faced everything from having rocks, glass bottles, and acid hurled at them to threats of death. They made themselves known not only to other members of their community, but also to McDonald's executives who had the authority to push franchisees to hire and serve Black people. Like I said before, McDonald's was not the only company that did such awful things, but it can be really jarring to reflect on how a company that now profits greatly off of the Black community used to actually shun that same community.
During the 1970s, as the White suburbs of America became filled with fast food places – to the extent that some cities opted to put in place ordinances to ban or limit fast food locations – McDonald's took the logical step of marketing to communities that had not been saturated by their presence. In the 1990s, McDonald's marketed themselves to Black people not just as a place where they could eat a tasty meal, but as a way for Black youth to earn money and stay out of trouble.
You may remember those commercials about a young boy named Calvin getting a job at McDonald's and becoming a more disciplined and respectful member of society because of it. Eventually, Calvin moves up the ladder to become a manager, making his mother and everyone else in his neighborhood proud. Fast forward to the present day, and The National Black McDonald’s Operators Association (NBMOA) is the self-proclaimed “largest organization of established African American entrepreneurs in the world.”
You may have asked yourself at some point why Black business owners chose to invest in fast food franchises instead of other small businesses. There are at least three reasons that were identified by Dr. Chin Jou in this book. For one, there is more money in fast food. According to Dr. Jou, the profit margin for fast food can reach up to 6%, whereas the profit margin for grocery stores, for example, is far lower at just 1%. Another factor is space – grocery stores require larger buildings than fast food places do. In densely populated urban areas, space is a hot commodity, so it’s simpler to choose a business that requires less square footage to operate. The last reason is obvious – by opening a franchise, you have a lot of the leg work that is required for owning and operating a business already done for you. Few companies have the brand recognition that McDonald's has, and while being a franchisee still involves a lot of risk, you at least know that your customers are already familiar with what you are selling and have likely developed a years-long loyalty to the company that you work for.
Investing in the Black community by putting money towards Black small businesses should have been a good thing. Unfortunately, this well-intentioned initiative has come with a lot of negative unintended consequences. Furthermore, it’s hard to say with certainty that the issues at hand were really addressed by having more Black people become franchise owners. In the 1960s, people were protesting against inequality and structural racism. Perhaps instead of putting money into franchises, the government should have put more money into improving the education system from pre-kindergarten onwards, as education is one investment that has been well-established as a way to increase lifetime earnings and afford people the opportunity to improve their lives in uncountable ways.
Having restaurants in Black communities is important, as is having Black businesspeople, but the sad reality is that in food swamps across America, Black fast food franchise owners are contributing to all the heart disease, obesity, and diabetes that Black people are losing years of their lives to.
They are basically like Trojan horses that are destroying the Black community, one diabetic neuropathy leg amputation at a time.
These Black franchise owners are doing what Travis Scott did on a smaller scale – serving as the conduit via which McDonald's extends its reach into the Black community. They make a profit along the way, certainly more than the minimum wage workers slinging fries on their behalf, but in the end, it’s the McDonald's corporation that’s really making the big profits.
Now, here is the kicker – despite making millions of dollars for McDonald's, Black franchise owners have reported being subject to racism in the company, resulting in many, many lawsuits. In February of 2021, McDonald's franchisees left their offices and took to the streets to protest outside the McDonald's headquarters in Chicago, Illinois. At the root of this protest was the allegation that McDonald's had been using discriminatory tactics against Black franchise owners for decades with no accountability.
Herbert Washington, a successful McDonald's franchise owner who first got into the business in the 1980s and owned over 2 dozen restaurants at one point in his career, filed a lawsuit that same month against McDonald's. He claimed that McDonald's unfairly raises operating costs for Black franchise owners by forcing them to operate in low-income communities, which in turn makes it necessary for them to pay more for insurance and security, deal with higher employee turnover, and make hundreds of thousands of dollars less than their counterparts operating in predominantly White suburbs. According to Mr. Washington, when he tried to acquire franchises in more affluent, predominantly White neighborhoods in order to make more money, he was prevented from doing so. McDonald's basically blamed him for the lack of growth of his franchises and deemed him “ineligible for growth,” which means that he cannot purchase any more franchises – and neither can his son who worked for him.
Here is a clip of Herbert Washington himself explaining what he went through. It is really concerning to hear these words coming from someone who managed to find some measure of success with the company, yet still had to put up with racial discrimination (allegedly) for forty years.
Prior to this, in January of 2020, Vicki Guster-Hines and Domineca Neal, two former Black McDonald's executives, filed a lawsuit against McDonald's. In their lawsuit, they claimed that McDonald's would only allow Black people to get to a certain level on the administrative ladder before forcing them out of the company. The women reported that the number of Black senior executives at McDonald's shrank from 38 in 2014 to just 7 in 2019. Then, in September 2020, over 50 Black former franchisees filed a federal suit citing similar issues to the ones in the aforementioned cases. Some of the things that they mentioned are that McDonald's violated federal civil rights by:
“Excluding Black franchisees from the same growth opportunities found at safer, higher-volume, lower-cost stores offered to Whites; Retaliating against Black franchisees for rejecting strong-arm offers to continue operations in crime-ridden neighborhoods; Denying Black franchisees meaningful assistance during financial hardships, while White franchisees were routinely given such support.” - from article by Johnson 2020
The lawsuits don’t end there.
Current Black franchisees filed a separate federal class action lawsuit in October of 2020. James and Darrell Byrd, franchise owners in Memphis, Tennessee, filed a class action lawsuit against McDonald's in December of 2020 making the same claims as Mr. Washington.
On top of the lawsuits, public statements which capture the essence of the ongoing challenges faced by Black Mcdonald's franchise owners add to this already bleak picture. Back in 2019, former chairman of the NBMOA, Larry Tripplett, made the following statement:
“Despite sales growth, Black franchisees collectively earn lower profits than non-Black McDonald’s franchisees due to ongoing systemic and historical inequalities within the McDonald’s Corporation.” - Tripplett 2019
This Bloomberg article summed up the issue best:
“In all but one region, Black owners had fewer stores than the average owner, as well as the lowest volumes, cash flow, and profits—while carrying the highest debt and paying the highest percentage of gross sales in rent.” - Berfield 2021
McDonald's has denied all of the aforementioned claims. However, back in 1996, they did (kind of) admit to doing something that several of the plaintiffs of these recent lawsuits are accusing them of – redlining franchisees.
Just in case you are not familiar with the term, redlining is – according to Wikipedia:
“...a discriminatory practice in which financial services are withheld from neighborhoods that have significant numbers of racial and ethnic minorities. Redlining has been most prominent in the United States, and has mostly been directed against African-Americans. The most common examples involve denial of credit and insurance, denial of healthcare, and the development of food deserts in minority neighborhoods.” - Wikipedia
Redlining of franchisees would entail only allowing prospective franchisees to open franchises in certain neighborhoods, which for many Black franchisees meant that they were limited to operating in what we would informally call, “the hood.” Plaintiffs in the above lawsuits mentioned having to pay more for security and even needing to be armed, something that franchisees in White suburban zones would generally not have to think about.
Now, let's get back to that time when McDonald's indirectly admitted to doing something that sounds a lot like redlining. In 1996, the Executive Vice President of McDonald's at the time, Thomas S. Dentice, wrote that (quoted in this article):
“...for business reasons we thought valid at the time, the Company has placed many Black Franchisees in restaurants that have not allowed them to achieve the same level of economic success as their peers.” - Dentice 1996, as found in 2021 Businesswire article
He also made a promise to:
“...create and implement a strategy designed to achieve parity for African American franchisees.”- Dentice 1996, as found in 2021 Businesswire article
You can see the original document here.
It seems that a significant number of Black franchisees are still waiting for this promise to be fulfilled.
Topic 4: How we can all do better moving forward
In this post, I discussed the overabundance of fast food ads by Black celebrities, how this trend may contribute to high rates of obesity and other chronic diseases in the Black community, especially among children, and how fast food restaurants, particularly McDonald's, went from excluding Black people to heavily marketing to them and setting up a disproportionately large number franchises in their neighborhoods under the guise of progress. Now, I want to end this article by talking about what I think we should focus on moving forward to make things better.
I will start with some questions that I believe are worth reflecting on:
When you choose to open a business in your community, how will the presence of this business impact your community?
When you give money to certain businesses in your community, what are you voting for with your dollars?
What if Black people collectively decided not to allow fast food to continue to flourish in their communities? What could that look like?
What if we didn’t have so many Black artists endorsing fast food?
And, this is tangentially related, what if every other rapper wasn’t trying to sell alcohol? There are countless cases of this, but these videos by Diddy, Young Thug, and Saweetie are examples of what I'm talking about.
Many people think that alcohol is only bad in excess, but the truth is that drinking alcohol is bad for your health even in small doses. I did a video on this topic already, here is the link. You can also read my musings on the topic here.
I know that this is a bit simplistic, but there is a deep part of me that really wants to believe that when we live and operate by our principles, we can make change happen. Still, I also know that the reality of living in a capitalistic society is that businesses are funded based on what will yield the most profits, and people of all races love fast food. Fast food companies don't care about health disparities - they care about profits.
McDonald's is a great model of this cold hard truth, as they used to stand behind a very famous restaurant chain whose whole shtick is selling vegetables in a bowl… or a burrito, if you prefer. Want to guess which chain I am talking about? McDonald's actually used to have a majority stake in Chipotle. In 2001, McDonald's purchased a majority stake in Chipotle after having been a minority stakeholder since 1998. McDonald's maintained its status as a majority stakeholder in Chipotle up until 2006, at which time they opted to fully divest from the company. McDonald's basically had ownership of Chipotle, and instead of pushing this much healthier food option in Black communities, and putting Black celebrity endorsers in their ads, they opted to take what money they had out of Chipotle’s pockets and spend more of it on selling burgers and fries.
At the end of the day, money talks.
Chipotle brings in a lot of money, but compared to McDonald's, they don't bring in that much money. Chipotle brought in almost $10 billion in revenue in 2023, which is impressive but still far less than the over $25 billion in revenue that McDonald's did over the same time period. In a capitalist society where the incentive is mainly to grow and increase sales, it’s actually not surprising that McDonald's divested from Chipotle. There is so much money to be made selling French fries and McFlurries that they simply didn’t need to keep investing their money in Chipotle bowls.
Still… principles. I have no idea how many people these words will reach, but I challenge Black celebrities to be more intentional about investing in partnerships with brands that promote health and well-being. The same goes for Black investors and entrepreneurs.
Shout out to Megan Thee Stallion for partnering with Planet Fitness - this is a great example of what we need more of! Celebrities have the power to give things an air of cool, especially for the young people that look up to them. I imagine that Black communities could look very different if the most famous and wealthiest people from those communities made marketing decisions that were not just financially advantageous, but also socially conscious.
Anyway, that’s it for today’s post. I would love to read your thoughts on this topic, so please do leave a comment down below! Take care.
References
Celebrity endorsements:
Celebrities With Signature Fast Food Meals and Merch
February 15, 2022
Lacey Muszynsk
11 Celebrities With Their Own Fast Food Meal
Kory Alden
February 7, 2024
The Year Celeb Meal Deals Got Weird
Nov 30, 2023
Emily Kirkpatrick
Fast-Food and Celebrities| The Rise of Celebrity Fast-Food Meals In The 2020s
Sep 18, 2023
Shola Osiyemi
McDonald’s | The Travis Scott Meal
9 nov 2020
Channel: VCU Brandcenter
Popeyes x Megan Thee Stallion Hottie Sauce - 15s Trailer
14 oct 2021
Channel: PopeyesSingapore
Saweetie x McDonald's
10 ago 2021
Channel: Hamelin Music and Marketing
Ads Mariah Carey "The Mariah Menu' (McDonald's0 2021)
7 dic 2021
Channel: MitsMots
Cardi B & Offset McDonald's Commercial 2023 (HD Remastered) (HD Audio)
17 feb 2023
Channel: Diamond Perry
Burger King Commercial 2021 - (USA)
14 sept 2021
Channel: SN
Wingstop | Latto's Lemon Herb Remix | Agency: 72andSunny
28 jul 2023
Channel: Bóng Đèn
Snoop Dogg Munchie Meal - Jack in the Box Commercial
7 jun 2023
Channel: Keep Calm and Manifest
Cube’s Munchie Meal | BTS | Jack in the Box
27 jun 2024
Channel: Jack in the Box
NUEVA Shaq-a-Roni | ¡Comparte a lo GRANDE!
24 oct 2023
Channel: Papa Johns España
Michael Jordan McDonalds Might Wings Commercial 1993
8 feb 2022
Channel: MJ23 His Airness Forever
POPEYES | POPEYES LOUISIANA KITCHEN COMMERCIAL 2024 | JIMMY O. YANG | POPEYES HAS BONELESS WINGS
24 jun 2024
Channel: COMMENT ON COMMERCIALS 2
The BTS Meal is here!
26 may 2021
Channel: McDonald's Australia
The KFC x Jack Harlow Meal
2 jun 2022
Channel: KFC
CÎROC is for the culture
12 feb 2018
Channel: Diddy
Saweetie - My Type [Official Music Video]
3 jul 2019
Channel: Official Saweetie
Planet Fitness: Megan Thee Stallion is Mother Fitness
29 dic 2023
Channel: Candide Attard
Articles and research on fast food advertising and its effects:
Fast Food Facts
Food Advertising to Children and Teens Score
June 2021
Harris, JL, Fleming-Milici, F, Phaneuf, L, et al.
UConn Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity
Rudd Center: New Study Finds Fast-Food Companies Spending More on Advertising, Disproportionately Targeting Black and Latino Youth
June 17, 2021
Kristin Messina
Source of quote from Shiriki K. Kumanyika, Ph.D, M.P.H.:
New Study Shows Unhealthy Food Advertising Continues to Disproportionately Target Consumers of Color
Carson Hardee, UConn Rudd Center
November 16, 2022
Image source: Shiriki K. Kumanyika, Ph.D, M.P.H.
Smith R, Kelly B, Yeatman H, Boyland E. Food Marketing Influences Children's Attitudes, Preferences and Consumption: A Systematic Critical Review. Nutrients. 2019 Apr 18;11(4):875.
Potvin Kent M, Bagnato M, Amson A, Remedios L, Pritchard M, Sabir S, Gillis G, Pauzé E, Vanderlee L, White C, Hammond D. #junkfluenced: the marketing of unhealthy food and beverages by social media influencers popular with Canadian children on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2024 Apr 11;21(1):37.
Childhood Obesity Facts
CDC
April 2, 2024
Ling J, Chen S, Zahry NR, Kao TA. Economic burden of childhood overweight and obesity: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Obes Rev. 2023 Feb;24(2):e13535.
Fryar CD, Carroll MD, Afful J. Prevalence of overweight, obesity, and severe obesity among children and adolescents aged 2–19 years: United States, 1963–1965 through 2017–2018. NCHS Health E-Stats. 2020
Simmonds M, Llewellyn A, Owen CG, Woolacott N. Predicting adult obesity from childhood obesity: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Obes Rev. 2016 Feb;17(2):95-107.
Paul C. Coleman, Petra Hanson, Thijs van Rens, Oyinlola Oyebode. A rapid review of the evidence for children’s TV and online advertisement restrictions to fight obesity. Preventive Medicine Reports. Volume 26, 2022, 101717, ISSN 2211-3355,
The wealth gap:
Households With a White, Non-Hispanic Householder Were Ten Times Wealthier Than Those With a Black Householder in 2021
April 23, 2024
Authors: Briana Sullivan, Donald Hays, and Neil Bennett
United States Census Bureau
Black wealth is increasing, but so is the racial wealth gap
Andre M. Perry, Hannah Stephens, and Manann Donoghoe
January 9, 2024
Health disparities:
Hales CM, Carroll MD, Fryar CD, Ogden CL. Prevalence of obesity and severe obesity among adults: United States, 2017–2018. NCHS Data Brief, no 360. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2020
Lofton H, Ard JD, Hunt RR, Knight MG. Obesity among African American people in the United States: A review. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2023 Feb;31(2):306-315.
Fast food access in Black communities:
Block JP, Scribner RA, DeSalvo KB. Fast food, race/ethnicity, and income: a geographic analysis. Am J Prev Med. 2004 Oct;27(3):211-7.
James P, Arcaya MC, Parker DM, Tucker-Seeley RD, Subramanian SV. Do minority and poor neighborhoods have higher access to fast-food restaurants in the United States? Health Place. 2014 Sep;29:10-7. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4783380/
The history of McDonalds:
Wikipedia articles/Wikimedia (sources for visuals too): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonald%27s
Image source McDonalds Brothers:
How fast food “became black”
Cynthia Greenlee
Jan 10, 2020
When McDonald's Was A Road To Black Liberation
Gene Demby
February 4, 2020
Desegregating McDonald’s
Marcia Chatelain
Jan 9, 2020
'Supersizing Urban America': How U.S. Policies Encouraged Fast Food To Spread
Tove Danovich
June 15, 2017
Wikipedia - source for photos from civil rights movement
Books:
Link to Marcia Chatelain’s book: https://www.amazon.com/Franchise-Golden-Arches-Black-America/dp/1631493949
Link to Naa Oyo A. Kwater’s book: https://www.amazon.com/White-Burgers-Black-Cash-Exploitation/dp/1517911109
Link to Chin Jou’s book: https://www.amazon.com/Supersizing-Urban-America-Cities-Government-ebook/dp/B06WWRPB8Q
Food desert vs. food swamp:
Cooksey-Stowers K, Schwartz MB, Brownell KD. Food Swamps Predict Obesity Rates Better Than Food Deserts in the United States. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2017 Nov 14;14(11):1366.
The NBMOA:
Image source for Herman Petty and information about the organization:
National Black McDonald’s Operators Association (NBMOA)
2020
McDonald’s CEO salary:
McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski got a raise last year
Jonathan Maze
Apr. 03, 2024
Racism within McDonald’s:
McDonald’s Franchise Owners Alleging Anti-Black Racism Protest in West Loop
Naomi Waxman
Feb 26, 2021
How McDonald’s Made Enemies of Black Franchisees
Susan Berfield
December 17, 2021
Image source for Herb Washington smiling between the Golden Arches:
Former A’s player Herb Washington files civil rights lawsuit against McDonald’s
Alex Coffey
Feb 16, 2021
Image source Herb Washington with bat:
McDonald's settles Herb Washington lawsuit by buying franchises for $33.5 million
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
Jan 11, 2022
Big Mac racism at McDonald’s
Whitney Gresham and Trevor W. Coleman II at The Michigan Chronicle
Jul 9, 2020
Letter from Larry Tripplett on behalf of the NMBOA directed at McDonalds executives
Case: 1:20-cv-05132 Document #: 30-6 Filed: 11/16/20 Page 2 of 5 PageID #:1186
Image source Larry Tripplett:
Larry C. Tripplett explains how NBMOA aids African American McDonald’s owners
May 23, 2020
Peiffer Wolf: Most Successful Black McDonald’s Franchise Operator Faces Racial Discrimination, Forced to Sell 7 Stores to White Owners
February 16, 2021
Source of quote: “create and implement a strategy designed to achieve parity for African American franchisees.”
McDonalds and Chipotle history and revenue:
"McDonald's sets October deadline to sell Chipotle stock". Denver Business Journal. July 25, 2006. Archived from the original on July 23, 2015. Retrieved August 10, 2009.
Chipotle founder had big dreams
Rachel Brand, Rocky Mountain News
Saturday, December 23, 2006
CHIPOTLE ANNOUNCES FOURTH QUARTER AND FULL YEAR 2023 RESULTS
Feb. 6, 2024
McDONALD'S REPORTS FOURTH QUARTER AND FULL YEAR 2023 RESULTS
2/5/2024
Comments