October 13, 2004

Supersize Me: The Debate
McDonalds gets a bit testy when it gets prodded.
posted by forksclovetofu 20 years ago
  • Does "debate" mean "rebuttal" in the UK?
  • What a god-awful interface. :-(
  • Wait. So, according to their opening animated graphic, a Quarter Pounder (aka Royale) with Cheese and a McSalad is nutritionally equivalent to French (aka Freedom) Fries and an Evian? I find that difficult to believe.
  • Ew.
  • People who eat garbage and create garbage to be eaten by others eventually turn into garbage and profer garbage websites to encourage the further consumption of garbage.
  • Speaking of McDonald's. I want to believe this is made up.
  • ??...?
  • People who eat garbage and create garbage to be eaten by others eventually turn into garbage and profer garbage websites to encourage the further consumption of garbage. And it w/the WORKS!
  • McDonald's porridge!?! Haven't supposed there's a way to make the damn stuff any more detestable than the monotonous gunk I was confronted with every morning as a kid. But now I'm contemplating the dire possibility there might be.
  • I don't like being prodded in the testies, why should McDonalds?
  • Pretty incredible indeed, TayBridge (but not the first example of a highly-paid marketing team apparently going insane). If you ask me, McDonalds main problem, in the UK anyway, is not unhealthy food, it's the way they have relentlessly marketed themselves as a kiddie's playground, killing the credibility they originally had with teenagers and twenty-somethings.
  • People who eat garbage and create garbage to be eaten by others eventually turn into garbage and profer garbage websites to encourage the further consumption of garbage. ??? Profit!
  • I think McDonalds' main problem is that it's perfectly obvious to anyone with a modicum of taste that their food is noisome excremental filth.
  • noisome excremental filth. Aren't you hungry?
  • Aren't you hungry? Have you seen the ads for their new McShit sandwich? I can't wait for lunchtime!
  • From Taybridge's link: The golden arches of McDonald's are among the three most recognisable images across the globe. From the third world through to the developed west, only Coca-Cola and the crucifix are better known. Come on people, we have got to work harder! Surely we can supplant the crucifix with the Target logo in the next three years. The only thing I like about McDonalds are the Happy Meal toys.
  • The only thing I like about McDonalds are the Happy Meal toys. Yeah, but when they finally offered Playmobil toys back in the 80s, some fool kids pulled the arms off them in front of alarmed parents. *sighs wistfully
  • Thanks for the excellent link, Taybridge. This rebranding thing must be why they replaced Justin Timberlake with Destiny's Child. Most fascinating. Hee.
  • It's just hamburgers, people. They're trying to sell hamburgers.
  • Ever had an actual hamburger? They don't taste like big macs. They taste like beef and bread and whatever the hell else you put on them.
  • Hamburgers made with meat that has been engineered and processed with who knows what as additives. As opposed to slaughtered and ground cattle.
  • I am no fan of McDs, but don't they deserve some credit for introducing and advertising healthier selections? And if you have a huge fat ass and clogged arteries from eating Big Macs, isn't that your own fault?
  • Fes: how charmingly simplistic of you. I suppose you think that the only aspect of Exxon's business we need to concern ourselves with is that it's just oil, people. How silly are those of us who like to look a little beyond that, eh? It's always interesting to see what people choose to ignore or minimise about a given subject. It certainly helps us understand their political position.
  • I keep forgetting about the giant secret McDonald's plot to, ah, hmm... sell hamburgers? What am I minimzing or choosing to ignore? There's nothing there, Decani. McDonald's is a big, rather simple company that sells hamburgers. If you don't *like* hamburgers, there's no Clown at your door with a gun forcing you to *eat* hamburgers. But to assume that this advertisement is a step in McDonald's malevolent plot to inflate the human population for some unstated but ostensibly nefarious purpose is ridiculous.
  • I'm with Fes...the only reason McDonalds is hated is because they've been very successful at selling hamburgers. Their food is probably no worse, and no better, than that at any restaurant, big or small.
  • Their food is probably no worse, and no better, than that at any restaurant, big or small. I think that's taking it a bit far, but yeah. They sell hamburgers. Surprise.
  • people hate mcdonald's (aside from the craptastic website - i agree with ya there, jerry garcia, it's utter shit) because the food sucks. it's fattening. it's served in insanely large portions (does anyone really need pop in 1 gallon glasses?). but the company continually tries to make it look like it's not fattening, and that it tastes good. it's part of a balanced diet, the website says. well, it is fattening, and it doesn't taste good. did you ever once get a burger that looked like the ones in the commercial? of course you didn't. is it healthy? well, plopping a fried chicken patty on top of a bed of salad greens doesn't make it any less of a fried chicken patty. does it taste good? not so much. their "burgers" are stale, tasteless flimsy pads of beef (are they really beef?) that have been scotch-guarded to stop them from greasing up the bun (yes, food-grade scotch guard: that's what leaves the strange film on the roof of your mouth after eating one; your soft palate has just gotten a waterproofing). the fries (now that they've lowered the salt and sugar content) have basically no flavor other than the mild aftertaste of vegetable oil. i'm pretty sure that the move to the happy meal mentality hurt the company's image. the trip to mcdonalds was touted as the highlight of a kid's year. oh boy, we get to go see the fattening clown. hooray. buy the happy meal, buy eight of them, keep the toy and throw out the food. oh gee we sold so many, we'll do this promotional toy again next year. but the food? well, it turns out that a cheeseburger ain't so good for a kid. who knew? aiming the advertising at people too young to resist it probably turned lots of people's opinions. they tell us that mcdonald's food is part of a balanced diet. sure. balanced with what? they know who their business comes from, they know who goes to the drive through every day at breakfast or during the lunch rush. the cheapest food is always the most fattening. they move into the poorest neighborhoods, offering jobs. sure. sell your neighbors the fattening food. mcdonald's gives back to the community. see the customer ordering from the picture menu. see the cashier using the picture cash register to ring up the sale. want a luke-warm apple pie with that, sir? sorry, we can't sell hot ones any more. lawsuits, you know. and of course, mcdonald's supplies food to the olympic atheletes. because all olympic atheletes eat at mcdonald's. that's why they're so thin and muscular. that's why they have such low body fat percentages. hey, mcdonald's, why can't the general consumer get the same type of food you serve the atheletes? once upon a time, mcdonald's sold actual hamburgers and actual french fries. now the meat is processed, frozen, and is shipped in pre-made patties. they can't call it a "hamburger" any more. it's a "sandwich". (but then again they can't call a "double quarter pounder" a "half pounder" either. maybe it's just sematics. maybe it's just lack of math skills.) the fries are made from extruded potatoes, no longer cut from an actual spud. the mcnuggets come in one of three shapes. what part of the chicken is that, exactly? i've been to places that sell burgers made the way mcdonald's started out - handful of ground beef, slap on a fry grill, drop on a bun when hot. those taste good, and there's no way you can look at the grease soaking through the wax paper and think it's healthy... but it tastes good to eat once in a while. they don't pretend either, no cartoon clown doing the joe camel thing to draw in the kiddies. they just offer classic style hamburgers, and french fries that were in potato form hours earlier. can't say the same for mcdonald's. corporate policy seems to be quantity and speed over quality and care all day, every day in the U.S. of A. (damn i guess i have a lot of hate to spew today, sorry 'bout that.)
  • It's always interesting to see what people choose to ignore or minimise about a given subject. It certainly helps us understand their political position. I think Fes oversimplified a bit - McDonald's sell hamburgers, fries and soft drinks, to say nothing of their breakfasts and salads. I don't think there's much to "ignore or minimise" beyond that. Now tell me what my political position is.
  • With so very many people hating them, I wonder how they can possibly stay in business. McDonald's feeds an awful lot of people every single day....if the food is so bad, why aren't millions dying from it? Just wondering. goes off to Taco Bell
  • Fes- I get resentful when people try to clumsily manipulate me in order to take my money. That's where my disdain for McDonald's comes from. Well, that and being vegetarian. But I would like to say, for all you Euros patting yourselves on the back for being enlightened, that when I was in Europe, I never saw a single American in McDonald's, yet the line was often out the door (like in Barcelona). Just lots of contented, slightly bloated, Europeans. (In Paris, mostly Germans. In Spain, all Spaniards...)
  • McDonalds's also dabbles in mind control. I still can't get that stupid 80's jingle that listed their entire menu out of my head... Big Mac, McDLT, QuarterPounder with some cheese, Filet O'Fish, a hamburger, a cheesburger, a Happy Meal, McDonald's tasty golden fries, regular and larger size... I'll stop there. Notice there are no signs of Super Sizing or "healthy choices".
  • ~twoallbeefpattysspecialsaucelettucecheesepicklesonionsonasesameseedbun.
  • He noted that parents play a strong role in controlling food choices for children so young. But Robinson argued that because young children are unaware of the persuasive intent of marketing, "it is an unfair playing field Not to mention that we're a couple of generations into the McDonald's hypermarketing by now. The parents are so brand-loyal that they're like free advertising.