Matters of Scale - The American Way of Choice
Number of types of packaged bread available at a Safeway in Lake Ridge, Virginia | 104 |
Number of those breads containing no hydrogenated fat, diglycerides, or "dough conditioners" | 0 |
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Amount spent by the fast food industry, whose products have been implicated
in cancer, on television advertising per year | $3,000,000,000 |
Amount spent promoting the National Cancer Institute's "Five A Day" program, which
encourages the consumption of fruits and vegetables to prevent cancer and other diseases | $1,000,000 |
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Number of new models of cars available to suburban residents in 2001 | 197 |
Number of convenient alternatives to the car available to most such residents | 0 |
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Number of U.S. daily newspapers in 2000 | 1,483 |
Number of companies that control the majority of those newspapers | 6 |
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Number of leisure hours the average American has per week | 35 |
Number of hours the average American spends watching television per week | 28 |
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Number of "coffee drinks" available at Starbucks, whose stores accommodate
a stream of over 5 million customers per week, most of whom hurry in and out | 26 |
Number of "coffee drinks" available to Jack Kerouac, Allan Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, and
other Beatnik writers as they sat in Greenwich Village coffee houses listening to jazz and talking
about art, literature, and life until dawn | 2 |
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Sources: Eric Schossler, Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American
Meal (Boston: Houghton & Mifflin, 2001), p. 47. Produce for Better Health
Foundation, Newark, Delaware, based on a September 1999 figure reported in Advertising
Age. Facts About Newspapers 2000, “Number of U.S. Daily Newspapers,”
Newspaper Association of America, <www.naa.org/info/facts00/11.html>. Consumer
Reports Buying Guide 2001 (New York: Consumers Union, 2001),
pp. 147–163. Laurie Garrett, Betrayal of Trust (New York: Hyperion, 2000),
p. 353. Roper Starch poll “The American Dream,” <www.roper.com/news/
content/news169.htm>. The World Almanac and Book of Facts 2001 (New Jersey:
World Almanac Books, 2001), p. 315. Starbucks website, <www.starbucks.com>,
viewed 21 January 2001. Arthur A. Thompson and John E. Gamble, Starbucks
Corporation,
Starbucks Case Study, <www.mhhe.com/business/management/
thompson/11e/case/starbucks-2.html>, unscientific Worldwatch estimate.