America Spreads Success: One fat culture at a time (so why not profit from a nickel alternative?)

America's mission is now complete. We have won the world, introducing one of the most earth-shattering successes next to greenhouse gases to the rest of the world. We have fully exported our processes for mass consumption, condemning this and next generations of young people to lives and menus of fatter and fatter McAmericanization.

News reports today say that by the end of this decade 38% of European youth will be at risk of severe obesity (only a few tons behind the 50% of American youth condemned to the same cultural gluttony). A tribute, some would say, to the billions of dollars our top fast food processors spend each year to suck up the world's largest percentage of apples, exercise play equipment and incentive goodies as they turn business success into a giant Happy Meal gimmick.

But we should give credit to these profiteers. It appears they are following the tried-and-true model founded by the tobacco industry, and they may be doing it better. In the face of lawsuits and social criticism, they have already made token changes in their US sales strategies to promote the consumer's role in his or her own health, even as they publish nutrition information on the inside of McBurger packaging that one doesn't see until after the purchase is made.

And we collectively hear little about what their attorneys are doing to avoid the drive-thru lawsuit phenomenon that occurred against tobacco, even though they too know that whatever they give away to sooth the US consumers will have little impact on markets around the world who are only too gleeful to get their cultural hands on various McHappy packaging.

What's worse, however, is that we as consumers continue to jog, walk and dance our way down this sweet road to oblivion. Clearly we believe, as with gasoline consumption, that if we all just do our little part all will be fine. "Can't we all just exercise together" and make this ugliness go away?

Personally, what I find offensive is that even among those who should know better—activists for social and community empowerment—we face all of this activity under the assumption that the only option we have is to sweat away this death sentence. Dutifully we are all standing in line to order our own super size package of consumer guilt as we too blame ourselves for falling in to the trap of cultural success.

I believe that we can solve this problem for ourselves and for the rest of the world for just five cents on the dine. And we ought to be pursuing this kind of option faster than we can personalize our pickle rations.

The answer is that we as consumers need to have an active voice in the issues of food and nutrition to the point where we give up our belief that we have no right to talk about important issues of survival. As it stands now, we turn over critical issues to mysterious private forces just to keep them out of the public domain, even as capitalist use the public sphere fatten us up for their kill.

And we can do it for just a nickel a shot.

Sometime ago I started advocating for the idea that we need to develop a common logo (say a contemporary rendition of a nickel) that can be posted in the windows or on the drive-thrus of participating food outlets that will willingly collect these funds for each burger, wrap or super deal purchased. These millions (if not billions) of annual dollars would then be turned over to locally based nonprofit entities who will use or distribute the funds for exercise, nutrition and FOOD EMPOWERMENT programs—the latter being projects that teach us all to be at the table where food policies are made and implemented.

It is one thing to have food businesses here and there in our lives; it is something entirely different to have them in their junky, convenient, inexpensive and entertaining way on every street corner or in every school or mall or business gathering point of every neighborhood on the planet.

As a voluntary (meaning non-tax-based) program, it would both serve as a nongovernmental inspiration to communities to be proactive on their own right, and it would eventually build a network of activism that could be integrated healthy alternatives into the profit-making structures that created this pandemic of consumerism in the first place.

A Nickel-a-Meal campaign is an empowerment idea harvested out of a proud tradition of social and community activism. We know from civil and health rights campaigns that came before that these approaches offer the best opportunities to change the direction of the world eating habits. Brazil is doing it to overcome malnutrition, so why can't we do it to promote a balanced menu?

I also suspect if this is done right, we can help guarantee that the next great American product will be Happy Diabetes Boxes that serve only to empower young people to be tied to their own ill-functioning health systems.

If you want to talk about the Nickel-a-Meal campaign (or have any rich relatives or foundation friends), send me a message at epower.ventures@hotmail.com. I have many materials to support the idea.

Allan Shore