Tow #18: Article: "The 'American Dream' May Be Bad for Your Health" by Namratha Kandula

During the 2014 Superbowl, Coca Cola released an advertisement that reflected a modern United States by showing the many cultures that are in this country.  While most people would view that as embracing the melting pot and diversity of America, Namratha Kandula viewed the ad in a different way. According to Kandula, the Coca Cola ad was actually saying "drinking Coca-Cola is American," therefore "Coke is part of the American Dream." Kandula went on to explain that lots of food companies tend to market to immigrants because psychologically, people associate food with identity. Also, when an immigrant decides to assimilate into American culture, that person tends to gradually change their diet to a super-sized American food that is higher in calories and unhealthy. Kandula in this article attempts to make people more aware of the obesity problem with immigrants to help them avoid the traps of modern marketing. Kandula achieves this purpose first by establishing her credibility, then by using examples from her own research as well as other experts' research. Kandula strongly appeals to ethos throughout the article. First, she informs the audience that "as an Indian immigrant, [she] felt pride seeing the faces and voices" of the people featured in the Coca Cola commercial. However, she later realized that this is exactly the effect that Coca Cola wanted to have on their target audience. If Kandula was not an immigrant, her opinion of the commercial would not have carried as much weight in her argument. Kandula also establishes her credibility describing her profession as "a physician whose research focuses on heart disease and diabetes prevention in immigrants." When she explains her own findings as evidence, the audience knows it is valid evidence. Kandula's research has indicated that "the junk food industry is reaching new immigrants long before the public health system can, leading to rapid deterioration of their dietary habits." Evidence like this example and her appeal to ethos help Kandula ultimately achieve her purpose of counteracting the effects of the modern marketing of food.