The young man in Manila ordered a Spamburger and a side of Caesar salad with Spam. A victim of American global marketing, he was eating at the world’s first Spam restaurant, Spamjam.
And I find it disgusting. Mainly because Spam is the Ann Coulter of meat products, but also because this restaurant is in the Philippines, a country where people consume nearly 2.75 million pounds of Spam each year.
After having recently thrown off the shackles of American altruism, Filipinos don’t need to be ruthlessly subjugated again by a flood of unknown meat products.
But Spam, made by Hormel Foods Corporation, is a small player in this grand game of subjugation. Everyone’s joining in.
Coca-Cola, the infamous offspring of drugs and carbon dioxide, has also wormed its way into foreign markets. Once there, the worm metamorphosed into an ugly moth, wreaking havoc in almost 200 countries.
Now over 70 percent of Coke’s income is from foreigners, who worship the moth infestation.
Another obvious culprit is McDonald’s. On a dreary day in 1994, the opening day of the first McDonald’s in Kuwait City, Kuwait, over 15,000 customers flooded the place, and the drive-thru line stretched for seven miles.
Our protagonist in Manila chews thoughtfully on his Spamburger for a few seconds, then asks, “But why is all this such a big deal if we foreigners like American foods so much?”
Because it’s not healthy for your country. As American food companies emaciate foreign competitors, the foods they distribute gorge the populace on fats and sugars they aren’t used to.
There are many warning signs for foreign countries contemplating buying American sodas and fries.
Obesity is the second-leading preventable cause of death in the United States, and almost two-thirds of all Americans are overweight, a figure that has been increasing for decades.
Obesity has been identified as a risk factor for these diseases: Type 2 Diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, arthritis, cancer, carpal tunnel syndrome, gallbladder disease, gout, hypertensions, infertility, pancreatitis, sleep apnea, stroke and urinary stress incontinence.
In fewer words, fat is unhealthy, and Americans have it.
However, this is not strictly an American problem. In a trend that seems to unashamedly follow the globalization of American foods, the globalization of obesity is on the rise.
This increase in global obesity also happens to be linked to urbanization and economic development, another product the United States seems fond of exporting.
But all these economic and social side effects of the United States exporting food products cannot be blamed on the companies themselves. After all, companies don’t kill people, people kill people.
Still chewing thoughtfully, the man asks, “Well then, what can we do about this terrible invasion by foreigners?”
The key is to decrease the profitability of foreign ventures for American fat. In other words, don’t eat a lot of junk food.
And those of us who live in the United States have a job, too. Tell your friends here and abroad that unhealthy foods are unhealthy.
This is more real for the people of these countries than most realize. American exports are affecting their health, their economies and their cultures. This is no sensationalized story.
Speaking of storybooks, we end at the beginning, with the Spamburger man.
He’s not worried about whether imported Spam is good for the Filipino economy. He’s not worried about whether it could erode his culture. He’s not even worried about the ethical treatment of baby Spams.
But he should be.
Yes, he ordered a Spamburger. He ordered what seemed like a perfectly innocent, harmless Spamburger.
Schenck is a first-year pre-communication studies student. E-mail him at jschenck@media.ucla.edu.