Summary on Your Trusted Friedns by Eric Schlosser
: Summary to “Your Trusted Friends” by Eric Schlosser.
Eric Schlosser, an investigative journalist best known for his book “Fast Food Nation”
from where the piece “Your trusted friends” is taken describes few types of marketing strategies
implemented by Walt Disney and Mc Donald’s corporations.
Throughout the text Schlosser is drawing parallels between Walt Disney’s and Ray A.
Kroc’s business practices. What they both had in common, as being friends and children of the
same generation, they used in their business approach. One of the strategies adopted from his
friend Walt Disney was “synergy”, which is the way of selling things by making licensing
agreements with other companies for using their brand name. ……..Another strategy was called
“cradle-to-grave”(p. 190), where marketing campaigns targeted people of different age groups in
their advertising. According to Schlosser, Krok believed that “childhood memories of a brand
will lead to a lifetime of purchases”.
He truly believed that the way the food is sold is as important as it tastes. One of the most
important comparisons the author of the book is stating between Walt Disney and Ray Kroc is
that they both mastered their art of selling things to young children. The idea of fantasy world
borrowed from Walt Disney, resulted in creating the characters further utilized in advertising the
Mac Donald’s foods to children. Mac Donald used a thoughtful way to get kids to eat there by
collaborating with other companies via selling their toys with happy meals and by making a
mascot that would catch a child’s eye. Fast-food companies went even further, creating
the play lands, where smiling and funny Ronald Mac Donald was probably more appealing to the
kids than the food itself at times. And it served its purpose of attracting huge numbers of children
to Mac Donald’s restaurants. Schlosser asserts that the idea of using characters in
Eric Schlosser, an investigative journalist best known for his book “Fast Food Nation”
from where the piece “Your trusted friends” is taken describes few types of marketing strategies
implemented by Walt Disney and Mc Donald’s corporations.
Throughout the text Schlosser is drawing parallels between Walt Disney’s and Ray A.
Kroc’s business practices. What they both had in common, as being friends and children of the
same generation, they used in their business approach. One of the strategies adopted from his
friend Walt Disney was “synergy”, which is the way of selling things by making licensing
agreements with other companies for using their brand name. ……..Another strategy was called
“cradle-to-grave”(p. 190), where marketing campaigns targeted people of different age groups in
their advertising. According to Schlosser, Krok believed that “childhood memories of a brand
will lead to a lifetime of purchases”.
He truly believed that the way the food is sold is as important as it tastes. One of the most
important comparisons the author of the book is stating between Walt Disney and Ray Kroc is
that they both mastered their art of selling things to young children. The idea of fantasy world
borrowed from Walt Disney, resulted in creating the characters further utilized in advertising the
Mac Donald’s foods to children. Mac Donald used a thoughtful way to get kids to eat there by
collaborating with other companies via selling their toys with happy meals and by making a
mascot that would catch a child’s eye. Fast-food companies went even further, creating
the play lands, where smiling and funny Ronald Mac Donald was probably more appealing to the
kids than the food itself at times. And it served its purpose of attracting huge numbers of children
to Mac Donald’s restaurants. Schlosser asserts that the idea of using characters in
Cited: Yves Engler “Your Trusted Friends” article p. 182-197 of Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein, Russel Durst They Say/I Say. New York, N.Y.: W.W. Norton & Company Inc., 2009. Print.