Did you actually look at those links before you linked to them? The second one requires an account before you can even see the graph. The first one is to a press release that says that, in 2013, when about 35% of the US population was black, Asian, or Hispanic, 40% of McDonald’s customers were in those groups. That doesn’t exactly support the claim you made. But yeah, those links sure do come up early if you Google “McDonald’s Demographics Race” or some similar combination, don’t they? Great for linking to if you want to look like you’re supporting your preconceptions and are hoping nobody else will actually check your cites.
Never heard it before this thread. I’m a middle-aged white chick who grew up in pretty white surroundings.
I don’t remember when – must have been sometime in the 80s – but the first time I heard “Mickey D’s” was in a McDonald’s commercial featuring a black family. The teenage daughter said it, and I remember thinking that it was so sad of McDonald’s to be trying to give itself a “hip” nickname that would never catch on.
I’ve never heard it before.
For us, it was a great occasional treat to get takeout from McD’s. We lived within a mile of Lake Erie; my dad would park the car at a road that dead-ended at the lake shore just behind these huge concrete block barriers. Sometimes, waves would hit the barriers and spray water on the car windshield. Exciting times!
I was just about to post the same thing. I’ve never, ever heard anyone say “Mickey D’s” in real life, not even ironically. I always thought it was invented by some ad exec trying to be hip and only actors in commercials said it.
We never had fast food, or any restaurant food except on road trips, as a kid. My parents were kids in the Depression/World War II-era so very thrifty. Although one of my Dad’s standard responses to complaints about dinner was “you can always take your allowance money and walk to Crap-in-the-Sack if you don’t want to eat this” (There was a Jack in the Box about 5 blocks from our house). Never took him up on the offer. Instead I would go to the kitchen and make a PB&J sandwich, as that was the other option.
White, mid-50s, lived in exurbs and suburbs all my life. This post is the first I’ve ever heard of the term. But a day ago, after reading the OP, I did some duckduckgo-ing and found “McDonalds Money” is indeed a thing.
Did you? If you’re in doubt, you could just read the OP. I mean, have you ever even seen or heard any McDonald’s advertisements? It’s not a controversial position.
I mean, do we need to ask the marketing director herself? It’s in the article.
Keep grindin’ that axe, buddy.
No, never heard of it. Fast food was pretty affordable for us and we went there a lot. I know that was unhealthy but that’s what we did. What I wouldn’t have asked for was something we probably couldn’t afford like going on a big trip.
This “McDonalds money” saying is the total opposite of what I grew up with. I learned that I would get told yes for food but no for ”big asks.”
Until I opened this thread, I’d never heard of “McDonald’s Money”
White, in case that’s important.
We had takeout more than occasionally, but I had a similar experience with Kentucky Fried Chicken and at least seeing, if not parking near, Lake Erie. I always associate the particular sound of the spork hitting the styrofoam with those occasional meals. (Back when they had real mashed potatoes. Someone pointed out that they’re now reconstituted and now that’s all I can taste.)
That McDonald’s is “a black thing”? That’s not controversial, because it’s wrong. You may be confused because their ads aren’t as lily-white as the ads of some other companies.
Right: that article says that they incorporate an “ethnic perspective.” That’s not remotely the same thing as being “a black thing.”
If you mean my axe of calling out sloppy cites, I’ll keep at it!
64, white, and no, I’ve never heard the phrase. I don’t think that we had a McDonalds nearby until I was in junior high.
Nope. But as some point Dad got a promotion and we went from knowing not to ask to if we were good then we would have McDonalds on Tuesday after piano lessons.
Mind you, that was a hamburger and fries, only. We had milk at home and it was both healthier and not a sucker’s markup. The hamburgers were 25 cents.
“You got McDonald’s money??” is definitely a Black thing. Heard it often growing up. Heck, I still use it on my own kid occasionally (for the culture!), even though we definitely have McDonald’s money. Well HE doesn’t, so I suppose it’s still a valid statement ;).
When I was 8 and 9, I belonged to a children’s orchestra (I played violin). We practiced once a week, and many of the parents would take their children to the nearby Friendly’s afterwards. This was a sit-down restaurant, not just an ice cream stand. Before long, they started going as a group. When I asked my mom if we could go with the others, she said, “I can make you a hamburger at home.” I never asked again. But since part of the purpose of my being in orchestra was so I could be with other kids my age, I should have said “Can you make me friends at home?”.
What is so wrong with having fun once in a while?
I’ve never seen a Friendly’s that *wasn’t *a sit-down restaurant. Most of them also had a walk-up window for getting ice cream, but I’ve never seen one that was just a stand.
White, and I’ve never heard the “McDonald’s money” phrase. However, this well-known joke of David Letterman has me wondering:
After learning that “McDonald’s money” is a Black thing, is the beggar in Letterman’s joke also black? Was Letterman’s joke in any way racist?
Next you’ll be telling me Cracker Barrel isn’t a white restaurant.
BTW, I don’t know what’s up with the graph link. It was there yesterday. Perhaps there’s an algo that makes it premium when people start clicking it. Anyway, it was a survey of what percentage choose McDonald’s over another fast food restaurant, broken out by race. African Americans were slightly, but clearly, ahead of every other race. It was something like AA choose McD’s 38%, whites only 33%. I’m a little off on the numbers, as I’m going from memory, but you get the jist.
Secondly, not being “lily-white” doesn’t somehow invalidate the point. McDonald’s corporate executives not only say they target minorities, but are proud to say it. Surveys show African Americans prefer McDonald’s to other fast food restaurants, more than other races do. Black and other minorities patronize McDonald’s more than their proportion to the general population. What’s the objection, exactly? Do you disagree with one or more of these claims? What statistic are you taking issue with?
McDonald’s being a “black thing” is a new thing to me. I guess I didn’t get the memo.
No. I’ve heard about this before. There’s also “walking around” money. I’ve never heard either of these associated with race in any way.
50, white, grew up in a mixed area of Minneapolis. I didn’t get “Do you have McDonald’s money?”, I got “WE don’t have McDonald’s money”.
The only time my parents would buy Macca’s would be when they had sales. I remember two instances - cheeseburgers for like 15c and fish sandwiches for something ridiculously cheap. We had frozen cheeseburgers and fish sandwiches for a few months. Absolutely repulsive. Funnily enough, while my sister and I were pushed to eat the cheeseburgers (wrap in foil and bake!), the fish sandwiches seemed to disappear much faster despite mom being the only one who would eat them. She later admitted to buying in bulk was a very bad idea and was throwing them out quietly, so dad wouldn’t get upset at food waste.
Same. McD’s is omnipresent: from the whitest town in the middle of the Great Plains to the deepest heart of the urban jungle. It’s not an any race thing, it’s just an always thing.