Eat Fast, Die Young

McDonalds, Tim Hortons, Wendy’s, and Subways are some of many places that we rush to daily. Each one of these companies has a wide variety of fast food choices for those who are scouting for a last-minute meal. However, are we aware of the contents in these meals? With increasingly larger quantities of fast food being sold every year, obesity rates are sky-rocketing with them and we must take drastic measures. The president and public vice president of the Ontario Student Trustee Association, OSTA-AECO, believe “We deserve better”.

“Fast food is slowly killing us”, says Hirad Zafari, president of OSTA-AECO. A collaborative effort has been made by the members from the OSTA-AECO to launch the “Stick It To Fast Food” Campaign to encourage students to boycott these sodium and salt-filled treats. The formation of this initiative began in May, 2012 when Grant Gordon, founder of a Toronto-based design firm, came as a guest speaker at the OSTA-AECO annual conference. Grant’s passion for the food industry and knowledge about current health problems inspired many student trustees to help make a difference by creating this campaign. As a result, T-shirts, Banners, and an expressive logo have been created to further support the cause.Now, students all around the world have access to information about healthy lunch alternatives and what the corporations are trying to hide in their fast food meals through Stick It to Fast Food’s informative website. Moreover, they have the opportunity to sign a pledge to avoid fast food for the month of November while sharing their experiences on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.

Currently, over ten thousand contributors have joined the movement and hopefully this notion of boycotting fast food will spread globally. Perhaps the next time you’ll enter Taco Bell, or any other fast food restaurant, you’ll remember to “Think What’s Inside the Shell”.