McDonald's advertising

[Peter North]

Anybody else sick and fucking tired of all McDonald's commercials? Whoever thought of that stupid fucking radio ad for "Salad Shakers" should be shot.

*wields AK*

[Dirty Devil]

Did somebody say...annoying?

Micky-D's ads, though, pale in comparison to the Chilies "Babyback Ribs" song. Grrrrr! I hate those ads with a passion. Of course, nothing can touch the Mentos ads for sheer annoyability. I've never seen such a disturbingly happy group of people in my life.

[kknick34]

In Chicago McDonald's is using some guy who is supossed to have a "chicago" accent. It's like listening to fingernails on a chalkboard.

Here's a sample:
Dat's da problem wit us chicago drivers, we're always on da road.

Translation:
That's the problem with us chicago drivers,
we're always on the road.

If I ever meet this guy I'm gonna hit him in da head!

[Byzantine]

"Did somebody say...McDonald's?"

"No, I said hand me my fucking ammo!"

I hate, no let me re-type that, I HATE McOVER SATURATE THE FUCKING AIRWAVES WITH YOUR STUPID MC SHIT!

Radio ads. TV ads. Billboards. Junk mail. GO AWAY! I wouldn't eat there if I were STARVING! I wouldn't eat there if you PAID me! Loaded gun to my head I'd rather die!

I'm waiting for the hideous Christmas commercials.Chia pets,Sears,Clapper,Salad Shooter...

[Sealemon88]

"Did somebody say...McDonald's?"

Noooooo. I said McDonald's bites the big hairy one.

I think that slogan is just about as pretensious-yet stupid as Compaq's old "Is it Compaq?" ad campaign.

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You say "cheesy" like that's a BAD thing.

[SoulFrost]

Sealemon writes:

I think that slogan is just about as pretensious-yet stupid as Compaq's old "Is it Compaq?" ad campaign.


Ewww...I still have the T-shirt Compaq gave us for that. I use it to wax my car.

-David

[MarkSerlin]

Being one of reasonable intellect, hopefully average in alertness and not one to follow the common herd, I dislike almost all commercials. McGreedy is at the top of the list, closely matched by virtually every car commercial (ever noticed how there are absolutely NO station breaks without at least one car commercial in them)? I'm tired of the disclaimer 'blips' where they either post the message in such tiny letters that your television resolution is too fuzzy to read them or talk so fast that to cannot understand what they say. (A documentary on exercise infomercial once HAD TO TAPE THE DISCLAIMER AND SLOW IT DOWN BY NEARLY 50% TO DISCLOSE THAT THE DEVICE WAS ESSENTIALLY CRAP) I find the food at McD's bland, though the fries are good and the stuff from the direct competitor, Burger King very, very messy and often not very tasty. (I go to a small burger place not affiliated with any of the major chains where I get shakes with extra chocolate added for free, burgers I can taste and pretty good fries.) I HATE stock commercials, want to knock the teeth out of the smiling, oh so sweet bank broad assuring me just how friendly my corrupt and greedy mega-bank is, have this desire to kick some of the 'converter' toy action figure designers right in the ass so hard that they'll have a crack running sideways, and am getting ready to lobby congress to ban RONCO and all of those other friggin' INFOMERCIALS from television. (I love RONCO. He produces another 'kitchen-o-matic' almost yearly, starting at just 4 easy pays of $99.99, which EVERY kitchen needs and two years later, it sells in the store for anything from $19.99 to $29.99.) Ever notice the 'CUT-O-MATIC VEGETABLE SLICERS with their sharp EASY KLEAN blades of stainless steel? Stainless, I was taught, doesn't rust. Their version of stainless does.

I keep yammering for truth in advertising, but congress ignores me. (Our truth in advertising laws are so weak that in New Zealand, many American canned foods are not allowed because they do not display their complete ingredients.)

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Mark
"Think of it as Evolution in action."

[tracer]

MarkSerlin wrote:

I find the food at McD's bland, though the fries are good

That's 'cause they add a little bit of sugar to them.


BTW, how many OLD McDonald's slogans do y'all remember? No, no, not "old McDonald's" as in "had a farm, E-I-E-I-O." I mean, the current slogan is "Did Somebody Say McDonald's?", but I distinctly remember times when their slogan was:

* It's A Good Time for the Great Taste of McDonald's
* You Deserve A Break Today
* We Do It All For You

... and that's as far back as my memory goes. Did they have other slogans?

[Boris B]

Byzantine
You made me laugh out loud. I'm probably going to be repeating, "No I said pass the ammo!" at inopportune times from now on. I hope I don't get arrested.

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Nothing I write about any person or group should be applied to a larger group.
- Boris Badenov

[Sylence]

"Do you believe in magic. . ."


-- Sylence

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And now, for my next trick, I will talk in spooky half-references.

[Byzantine]

Boris B – Thank you! I say it every time I see one of their ads. People just give me a weird look and slowly move away....

A little FYI: Mcshitheads received 466,000 from the U.S. Government in 1992 to promote chicken McNuggets overseas.

Cute huh? Our tax money going to annoy folks in other lands? America: Home of the few, the proud, the welfare companies from HELL!


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Best!
Byz

[neuro-trash grrrl]

What I hate about McDonald's commercials is the overtly propagandistic tone. Happy people, with happy bouncy music in the background, I tell you, my pancreas wants to go into shock from it all. We're all so happy to be eating at McDonalds... Come! Join us! Be one with the Big Mac! The one with the little kid going "I wuv this place", and then the announcer going "Yes, me too" always wants to make me blow up the TV. Ronald McDonald can just go stick that up his ass with a bottle of ketchup, I say.

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God is dead. -Nietzsche
Nietzsche is dead. -God
Neitzsche is God. -Dead

[Ophanim]

$99.99 or just four easy payments of $29.99!?!? What the HELL is that!!!???

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Za'an kho'ku na tenshi no teeze. Kyoko Baby!

[Byzantine]

Welcome to non-sequitur theater! What the hell are you talking about!? Did you get the wrong thread? Have you recently eaten at McSHIT? Oh God! It's true! They are putting drugs in the "food"!



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Best!
Byz

[Krispy Original]

I've got to break ranks here and stand up and admit that the new McDonalds commercial, "Fry2K" is pretty funny...

...the series of commercials that I hate are the Pepsi commercials with the little girl that sings...

[Guy Propski]

The worst part about McDonald's (and all fast-food restaurants) commercials is that they are populated with happy employees, just all so smiling-ly happy to serve you junk food. I can say without fear of contradiction that I have never, never, NEVER seen a happy person behind the counter at McDonald's/Burger King/Wendy's/etc. They are all always scowling zombies, totally lacking in personality or warmth. Yes, I know it's a terrible job, but I didn't tell you to apply there.

[Sealemon88]

How about that moon-faced mother fucker who used to sing that "It's Mac toniiiiite!" song?

For that, and that alone, I hope McDonald's gets consigned to the Seventh Circle of Hell.

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You say "cheesy" like that's a BAD thing.

[Gail]

Gradually every McDonald's around me is abandoning its practice of making fresh-brewed iced tea. They are serving that "tea" made out of that tea syrup crap and it tastes awful. Tea bags are cheap...I can't believe that iced tea mix is cheaper..of course it takes a certain number of employee hours to brew the tea. This is why I hate McDonald's.

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--Gail
"Predictable, really I suppose. It was an act of purest optimism to have posed the question in the first place." --John Cleese

[DrMatrix]

The companies don't care wheither you like their commercials or not. If you like the commercial, OK but they want you to think of their name. Seems to me by your reactions, they have succeeded.

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Virtually yours,

DrMatrix

[speakeasy]

McDogmeat's. It's McDogmeat's dammit. Get it right.

[davidbrantley]

CHICKEN MCNUGGETS IS PEOPLE!!!

[RavingMad]

I pretty much dislike all commercials equally, so instead of singling one out for special contempt, I'll just try to stamp out a little ignorance (or at least a misconception).

That's 'cause they add a little bit of sugar to [the fries] - Tracer

What's your source for this, Tracer?

I worked at McD's throughout most of high school, and more than once filled up the salt shaker we used for the fries. The salt came from a fifty pound bag we kept in the basement; it was the salt in the blue packaging with the little girl on it -- Morton's, perhaps?

That's all it was, man. Good ol' sodium chloride. Nothing more. (Well, maybe a little iodine, too, but that's it. Really! :) )


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~ Complacency is far more dangerous than outrage ~

[pldennison]

The sugar is added to McDonald's fries before the restaurants ever receive them, and it's primarily for coloring, not for taste. It causes them to brown more evenly and nicely. BK does it as well.

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"Come on, Phonics Monkey--drum!"

[RavingMad]

pldennison,

Wouldn't any sugar added to the fries dissolve as soon as they're put into the liquid oil bath?

Also, physically (or chemically) speaking, how would sugar help them brown more evenly? The fries are immersed in hot oil on every side. How could sugar possibly do anything to make the browning process more even?

I've still got some stuff in storage in McD's fry boxes. I'll check out all the fries' listed ingredients when I get home tonight and post the results.


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~ Complacency is far more dangerous than outrage ~

[Drain Bead]

As far as I heard, they soak them in a sugar/water solution after they're cut. Knock-off recipes tell you to do the same.

[Guy Propski]

You're all so close to the answer. McDonald's uses a variety of potato that is high in natural sugar. The carmelization of this sugar is what gives McFries their trademark look (source: Wall Street Journal article on McDonald's).

[matt_mcl]

A little FYI: Mcshitheads received 466,000 from the U.S. Government in 1992 to promote chicken McNuggets overseas.

Thanks for the clarification! I had heard about this from an Alison Bechdel cartoon. However, the way she put it ("I'm running a battered women's shelter on a shoestring and McDonald's gets $450 000 of taxpayers' money to advertise Chicken McNuggets in TURKEY!") was ambiguous. I didn't know whether it was Chicken McNuggets in Istanbul or Turkey McNuggets.

[Byzantine]

Matt – I honestly can't remember where I read that.... but below is probably the link to where I found it.

In case you haven't noticed, like I haven't hit you in the head enough, I REALLY hate McDonnalds! Yes, I know, there are bigger issues in the world besides this one but hey, I pick my fights!

For some other fun facts about McShit please visit:
http://www.mcspotlight.org/


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Best!
Byz

[Doug Bowe]

Well, I don't hate McD's as much as Byzantine. But I have questioned some of the ways they spent their money.
You remember the McD's near Downey that was the center of a "historic preservation" fight a few years back? That particular place was run by a fellow named Roger Williams who purchased the franchise direct from Richard and Mack McDonald.
When you-know-who took over in 1955 Roger's franchise got grandfathered in.
Over a period of 20 years McD's tried to get that location to lose money. A company McD's opened up a few blocks away down Riverside. Another opened up a few blocks in the other direction.
I always wondered why this huge corporation got a hair up it's a-- over a little hamburger stand that had been franchised by Richard and Mack.
And saw fit to spend shareholder's money attempting to shut it down.

[Wendell Wagner]

What I find strange about Salad Shakers is that they're now apparently stealing product ideas from Saturday Night Live sketches. Does anyone remember the Big Shredder parody from SNL a couple of years ago? It was supposed to be a fast food restaurant that did shredded cabbage with a side of mayonnaise which you mixed in yourself. They had a parody commercial in which they had teenagers (well, SNL cast members dressed up to look like teenagers) in one of these fast-cut montages doing teenage things and talking about how wonderful this stupid product is.

[RavingMad]

Well, pldennison, it looks like you’re at least half right about sugar being added. From the list of ingredients on a box of McD’s fries:

Potatoes, partially hydrogenated soy bean oil, natural flavor, disodium dihydrogen pyrophosphate (to promote color retention) and dextrose

So sugar (in the form of dextrose) is indeed added, although the box doesn’t make it clear what its purpose is. It looks like disodium dihydrogen pyrophosphate (whatever the hell that is!) takes care of the color issue, though.

And as an aside, doesn’t "natural flavor" cover quite a bit of territory? I mean, arsenic and strychnine would be natural flavors, too!


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~ Complacency is far more dangerous than outrage ~

[AWB]

Here in DC, McDonald's has an insipid radio spot where some woman with a sickly-sweet Southern accent is the voice of the "Mickey-D's Menu Line". She starts:

"Good mornin' or good afternoon! You have reached Mickey-D's Menu Line"

She continues on with the special of the week. Her sentence syncopation is bizarre; she almost sounds drunk. Then at the end, she sings a cappela (and poorly):

"You get more for your money 'cuz McDonald's treats you riiight."
"<small>Did somebody say 'McDonald's'?</small>"
"You don' have to whisper!"

[Troy McClure SF]

I've really gotta wonder: where are these McDonalds with these great fries?
It's unanimous on this board- McDonald's makes fries somewhere bewteen good and divine, while BK fries are crap.
In SF, I find it to be the opposite. McD's are limp and always way too salty or practically unsalted. BK are crispy and perfectly salted. Or are my tastes bizarre (in which case, what the hell is wrong with all of you?).

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JMcC, San Francisco
http://members.tripod.com/~weirdstuff/index.html
"Hear the voices in my head, I swear to God it sounds like they're snoring"

[bj0rn]

i hate to take up the glove for mcstuffers but do not forget that the coca-cola company makes the number one WORST ads in the world.

we all hate mcstuffers, but how much more do we hate "santa drinking coca-cola", "polar bears drinking coca-cola" or "its so funny" etc...

bj0rn - coca cola is a product of a company made to brainwash us all!!! but sprite is ok ;)

[voguevixen]

the McD commercials I hate the most are the ones that play so hard on your heartstrings. If you come home from a shitty day and are hanging by a thread as it is, you don't need to see some little cherubic blind girl ordering a Happy Meal from the braille menu. Goddammit! You have pushed me over the edge into helpless sobs for the last time!

[tracer]

Remember, McDonald's is a vital family-bonding part of growing up, so if you don't take your kids to McDonald's they will all run away from home and become crack whores.

[CatRimbaud]

I used to work at McDonalds (Yes...my nametag did say McCat) and discovered that there is nothing that really bothered me about their advertising. It is something I programmed myself to ignore.
My problem lies in the fact that, while opening the store one day at dark-thirty in the morning, someone said the words "Sausage McMuffin with Egg".
Now, this may seem trivial to anyone else, but I am a freak. The way it was said made me think of "The Wizard of Oz", specifically, "Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh my!!"
Now, clear your head. Take a deep breath and say it..."Sausage McMuffin with Egg, Oh My!!" Rinse, spit, and repeat. "Sausage McMuffin with Egg, OH MY!"
I am sure you can understand my pain as I am sure this will stick in your head as it did in mine 10 years ago. It is a plague that I cannot escape. It calls to me in the night. The voices scream it. They chant incessantly. They won't leave me alone. They won't stop!!! AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!

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"One evening I pulled Beauty down on my knees.
I found her embittered and I cursed her."
--Excerpt from Une Saison en Enfer
--A. Rimbaud