Essay Sample about The Goliath Effect

The introduction of fast-food restaurants and sodas has changed our ways of consumption. A rumour regarding these foods was spread around, going from person to person, family to family. The food-contamination rumour has circulated through a category of tales known as urban legends. This food-contamination rumour is prevalent through two urban legends, ‘The Mouse in the Coke Bottle’ and ‘The Kentucky Fried Rat’. These two tales are categorized as the “Goliath Effect”, and they register anxieties about food contamination. 

Food contamination can be worrisome to many. Contaminated food can lead to serious illnesses and diseases. This anxiety of food contamination can be described through one of two stories. The first is ‘The Mouse in the Coke Bottle’. This is one of the oldest and most popular goliath effect tales. In this legend, the rumour spread is that there have been dead mice found in Coca-Cola cans and bottles. For a company as prestigious and reputable as Coca-Cola, this seems like a hoax. Legends at times may be dramatized, but there lies a truth to this rumor. “But the stories circulating in oral tradition are seldom based on real court cases that the storytellers have researched or experienced.” This tells us that there have been real-life instances where coca-cola beverages have been contaminated. American sociologist, ‘Gary Alan Fine’, has done extensive research regarding the statistics on this legend. Fine concludes that some of the goliath effect legends have been derived from real-life incidents. This tells us that there have been occurrences of people finding mice in their beverages. For consumers, this is anxious because they may be in fear that they may have consumed contaminated beverages without knowing. Knowing it can affect your health makes this legend a tiny bit more terrifying. Not only will people be anxious about Coca-Cola, but they may develop contamination anxiety for other beverage brands as well. These real incidents reported, prove that this legend can develop anxiety for customers who have purchased Coca-Cola beverages. 

With fast-food restaurants growing over the years, they have been in popular demand. Why wouldn’t one eat fast food? It’s cheaper than foods served at restaurants, it tastes amazing, and it’s a quick grab and dip. An urban legend story, however, might shift people’s opinions on fast food businesses. ‘The Kentucky Fried Rat’ is also another well-known goliath effect, urban legend story. This legend has been circulating since the 1970s which was after the ‘The Mouse in the Coke Bottle’ story. In this legend, there is also a food contamination rumor which has been spread. The rumor consists of a customer that found a batter-fried rat in a bucket of chicken. Unlike our other legend, this story is more so based on the plot of the legend. This legend states, “To Americans, rats are particularly loathed vermin, whereas chicken is one of the most popular meats; the combination of the two creatures in a food-contamination legend seems inevitable.” This tells us that in American culture, rats are not a favourite meat of consumption. To them, rats are disgusting and grotesque. Rats often live in sewers and are disease-filled. Consuming these animals can be harmful to one’s health. Legends like this, cause Americans to become anxious about food contamination. They will be anxious over every meal they consume at a fast-food restaurant. Although this legend is not based on real-life events, it proposes different ways in which fast food can be contaminated. For example, the legend reports that “the fast-food establishments are settings of employee sabotage and corporate greed.” This can cause contamination anxiety because there is a high chance of someone doing this to them. With these possibilities and fears introduced in this legend, these factors can most definitely cause people to have contamination anxiety.

To wrap up this analysis, the goliath effect has been a category of legends circulating from generation to generation, country to country, and family to family. The horrifying rumour of food contamination has developed anxiety for many across the world. We see this anxiety through two of the most popular legend stories. ‘The Mouse and the Coke Bottle’ and ‘The Kentucky Fried Rat’.