McDonald's!
McDonald's
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As the first and largest international fast food franchise, McDonald's has become a focal point in public debate about rising obesity rates, corporate ethics and consumer responsibility. This is discussed in detail under Criticisms.
McDonald's Global impact
McDonald's has become emblematic of globalization, sometimes referred as the "McDonaldization" of society. The Economist magazine uses the "Big Mac index": the comparison of a Big Mac's cost in various world currencies can be used to informally judge these currencies' purchasing power parity. Because McDonald's is closely identified with United States culture and lifestyle, its international business expansion has been termed part of Americanization and American cultural imperialism. McDonald's remains a target of anti-globalization protesters worldwide.Thomas Friedman observed that no country with a McDonald's had gone to war with another. His "Golden Arches Theory" has since been disproved, first when the U.S. invaded Panama (which has had McDonald's restaurants since the late-1970s) in 1989, and later when NATO bombed Serbia in 1999.
Some observers have suggested that the company should be given credit for increasing the standard of service in markets it enters. A group of anthropologists in a study entitled Golden Arches East (Stanford University Press, 1998, edited by James L. Watson) looked at the impact McDonald's had on East Asia, and Hong Kong in particular. When it opened in Hong Kong in 1975, McDonald's was the first restaurant to consistently offer clean restrooms, driving customers to demand the same of other restaurants and institutions.
In addition to its effect on business standards, McDonald's has also been instrumental in changing local customs. By popularizing the idea of a quick restaurant meal, Watson's study suggests, McDonald's led to the easing or elimination of various taboos, such as eating while walking in Japan. McDonald's also flattens the social strata during dining -- there is no problem of losing face for certain customers (who might be embarrassed when someone else ordered a more expensive item in a restaurant); the food at McDonald's is all similarly priced.
McDonald's Legal cases
McDonald's has been involved in a number of lawsuits and other legal cases, most of which involved trademark disputes. The company has threatened many food businesses with legal action unless they drop the Mc or Mac from their trading name. In one noteworthy case, McDonald's sued a Scottish caf' owner called McDonald, even though the business in question dated back over a century.It has also filed numerous defamation suits. The McLibel case, mentioned above, is probably the best known of these.
McDonald's has had to defend itself in several cases involving workers' rights. In 2001 the company was fined '12,400 by British magistrates for illegally employing and over-working child labor in one of its London restaurants. This is thought to be one of the largest fines imposed on a company for breaking laws relating to child working conditions.
McDonald's advertising campaigns and slogans
To date, McDonald's has used a total of twenty-three different slogans in United States advertising, as well as a few other slogans for select countries and regions. At times, it has run into trouble with its campaigns.In 1996, the British adult comic magazine Viz accused McDonald's of plagiarizing the name and format of its longstanding Top Tips feature, in which readers offer sarcastic tips. McDonald's had created an advertising campaign of the same name, which suggested the Top Tips (and then the alternative - save money by going to McDonald's). Some of the similarities were almost word-for-word:
"Save a fortune on laundry bills. Give your dirty shirts to Oxfam. They will wash and iron them, and then you can buy them back for 50p." Viz Top Tip, published May 1989.
"Save a fortune on laundry bills. Give your dirty shirts to a second-hand shop. They will wash and iron them, and then you can buy them back for 50p." McDonald's advert, 1996.
The case was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum, which was donated to the charity Comic Relief. However, many Viz readers believed that the comic had given permission for their use, leading to Top Tips submissions such as: "Geordie magazine editors. Continue paying your mortgage and buying expensive train sets ... by simply licensing the Top Tips concept to a multinational burger corporation."
In 2003, a ruling by the UK Advertising Standards Authority determined that the corporation had acted in breach of the codes of practice in describing how its French fries were prepared. A McDonald's print ad stated that "after selecting certain potatoes" "we peel them, slice them, fry them and that's it." It showed a picture of a potato in a McDonald's fries box. In fact the product was sliced, pre-fried, sometimes had dextrose added, was then frozen, shipped, and re-fried and then had salt added.
McDonald's Facts and figures
The first Hamburger University, a school for future executive managers of regional franchises, is in Oak Brook, Illinois. The company headquarters is also located here,( 41'50'55.62"N, 87'56'43.49"W) at 2111 McDonald's Dr, Oak Brook, IL 60523. Similar "Hamburger U" training schools have been set up around the world.The First McDonalds to open outside of the United States was opened in Richmond, British Columbia in 1967.
The first McCafe store in the world was opened in Melbourne, Australia in 1993.
Current members of the board of directors of McDonald's are: Hall Adams, Edward Brennan, Robert Eckert, Enrique Hernandez, Richard Lewis, Andrew McKenna, and Cary McMillan.
Only two McDonald's Restaurants in Australia so far have a double lane drive thru. One is McDonald's North Mackay, in North Queensland and one soon to be completed in North Sydney, New South Wales. Mackay North has also got the longest Drive-thru in Australia fitting a total of 22 cars from start to finish.
McDonald's is well known for its sponsorship in American sports. It is the official fast food of the U.S. Olympic Team, and has former NBA superstar Michael Jordan as a spokesperson. McDonald's is also famous for its longtime sponsorship of Bill Elliott's NASCAR team. Kasey Kahne now carries the Golden arches on his #9 car. Additionally, McDonald's sponsors Sebastien Bourdais' #1 car in CART Champ Car competition.
In the 1980s, the New York Mets had a player in its farm system named Ronald McDonald. He would have been an interesting addition to a squad that already featured a player named Howard Johnson (as in Howard Johnson's hotels). However, McDonald never made it to the major leagues.
Ronaldo's son with Milene Domingues is called Ronald in honor of the famous clown.
In 1986, Guant'namo became host to Cuba's first and only McDonald's restaurant, as well as a Subway. These fast food restaurants are on base, and not accessible to Cubans. It has been reported that detainees showing good behavior have been rewarded not only with dates, pita bread and Twinkies, but also 'Happy Meals', hamburgers or Filet-O-Fish sandwiches from the McDonald's near the Navy Exchange.
McDonald's Australia has cooked up a world first - The New Pasta Zoo Happy Meal. The meal includes 10 Pasta pieces with Zoo Goo (Cheese), Italian sauce, a milk drink with a Sipaah flavoured straw. The meal also includes ripper grippers (a very simple version of chop sticks) and one of three paper masks, either an elephant, turtle or lion. It was expected to be released in August/September 2006, but has since been postponed to January 2007 due to incomplete items in production. McDonald's Australia is also trialling a new promotion called "My Dinner Now" in selected restaurants within the Newcastle area in New South Wales. The menu consists of over 30 different home style based dishes including steak, vegetables and fish.
The volume of food used annually by UK McDonald's Restaurants according to the McDonald's Area Management Guide: Beef: 32,000 tons
Chicken: 21,500 tons
Potato products: 86,000 tons
Eggs: 100 million
Buns: 667 million
Milk shake and sundae: 10.5 million gallons
Cheese: 7,250 tonnes
McDonald's Canada incorporates a maple leaf into the Golden Arches logo, a move cOpied by other fast-food chains. When McDonald's expanded to the Soviet Union, the operation was carried out by McDonald's of Canada, and the Golden Arches there initially included a Soviet flag in the location of the maple leaf.
McDonald's Philippines offers some items on the menu that are not found in other worldwide branches. The Burger McDo is a sweeter version of the standard hamburger. McSpaghetti is exactly what it sounds like: spaghetti. The longganiza meal is McDonald's take on a traditional Filipino breakfast dish. The McRice Burger is a standard beef or chicken patty served on "buns" or hardened rice.
The world's most northern branch of McDonald's is in the city of Rovaniemi, Finland.
The world's most southern branch of McDonald's is in the city of Punta Arenas, Chile.
In African American Vernacular English, it is pronounced "Mac" Donalds.
For the first time in its history, McDonald's did not serve a beef burger when it opened its store in India. Instead of the iconic "Big Mac", the company replaced this with a "Maharaja Mac" with the patties made of mutton rather than beef. McDonald's India also has a very customised menu with items such as "McCurry Pie" and "McAloo Tikki" - a curry Pie and vegetable pattie burger respectively.
From left to right: Hamburglar, Ronald McDonald, Grimace and Birdie the Early Bird (as they appeared in a series of commercials for McDonald's).
McDonald's Parodies
In the 1973 film Sleeper, Miles Monroe (Woody Allen) stops at a McDonald's from the year 2173. A sign on the restaurant shows the number of customers served to date as a '1' followed by fifty-three 0's.In one Calvin and Hobbes strip, Calvin refers to "McZargalds, over 75 Million Earthlingburgers served."
In a skit on his popular show, Chappelle's Show, Dave Chappelle portrays a young black man (Calvin) who gets a job at the local WacArnolds.
In Mind of Mencia, Carlos Mencia in the opening title of the show goes to a drive through restaurant named "McWorship". In the movie Coming to America Prince Akeem of Zamunda and his servent, Semmi, go to work at a franchise called McDowell's, which is so similar to McDonald's that the owner is constantly shooing off people taking pictures of the place and accusing him of copyright infringement. Apparently his "differences" were the "golden arcs" rather then "arches" and his signature hamburger was the "Big Mic (or Mc)" which distinguishes itself from the Big Mac only by not having sesame seeds on its bun.
In the anime series InuYasha, Kagome, a main character sometimes is seen eating at a fast-food restaurant called WcDonald's. Its logo is a "W" which is identical to the golden arches of McDonald's, except it is upside-down. In another anime, Please Save My Earth, a restaurant with a similar logo appears. In the video game Prehistorik Man, food items such as coke and fries bear the same logo.
In the animated series Beavis and Butt-head, the duo works in a fictitious fast-food restaurant called Burger World with a golden upturned arches as a sign.
In the video game series Space Quest, a recurring location is the fictitious fast-food restaurant called Monolith Burger which has a more pointy version of the golden arches as its sign. A restaurant of the same name also appeared in the game Jones in the Fastlane; this was the lowest paying place to work in the game.
On an episode of Robot Chicken, Mayor McCheese is a real mayor.
In the cartoon Invader Zim, there is a fast food chain called McMeaties
In Kevin Smith's "Jersey Trilogy" movies (mainly Dogma, Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, and Clerks II), there is a fictional fast food chain named "Mooby's". While it could be a parody of any burger chain, its heavy level of advertising to children parodies McDonald's, as does its "I'm Eatin' It" slogan (seen sporadically in Clerks II).
In the anime series SuperGALS, the McDonald's Arch Logo can be seen, however it's flipped upside down.
In the animated series Clerks, the Mayor and Chief of Police are stuck respectively in Mayor McCheese and Big Mac costumes with faulty zippers. Later, when asked if anything can kill the Grimace, the Chief of Police replies scornfully, "Nothing can kill the Grimace."
There is a flash movie called McDoobies ( http://mcdoobies.funnypart.com/ ) about weed, and one called Mc Diddies( http://mcdiddys-2.funnypart.com/ ) about terrorisim.
In the anime Ah My Goddess, Keiichi and Belldandy are seen eating at a fast-food restaurant called NcDonald's, which is identical to McDonald's except there is one arch in the logo instead of two.
In The Simpsons episode Treehouse of Horror X the display changes from 99 Billion Served to 0 Served after the Y2K bug hits making all computers display the year as 1900.
The Simpsons also has a Krusty-owned line of fast food restaurants called Krusty Burger (featuring the Krusty Burger, the official meat-flavored sandwich of Krusty Burger). McDonalds has also been referenced twice while talking about Krusty burger, once as Police Chief Wiggum is saying that he went to some unheard-of restaurant called McDonalds, and another time as Fat Tony is collecting money from Krusty for keeping McDonalds out of Springfield.
In the anime Zeta Gundam, an AEUG meeting prior to their invasion of the Titan's Jaburo base takes place at a fast-food restaurant called McDaniel's.
In the movie The Flintstones, McDonald's is called "RocDonalds" and was marketed as such during a campaign promoting the movie at real McDonald's restaurants.
In the "Myth" series by Robert Asprin, the Bazaar at Deva has a restaurant called 'the Yellow Cresent Inn' and serves 'pink goop the consistency of swamp muck' (Strawberry Milkshakes)
In Season Six of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Buffy serves Xander the Double meat burger. Joss Whedon intended this to mock McDonalds.
The game Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 features McBurger Kong restaurants on several of its maps. John Byner did a "McSex" sketch on the television show Bizarre where he pulls up to a McSex drive-thru to order various sexual items.
