McDonalds' advertising... new depths

The BBQ Pit
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Western Canada here. I don’t know about the rest of you, but we are being subjected to a new wave of advertising from everyone’s favourite minimum wage employer… MacDonalds.:rolleyes:

They are trying to flog a $2.00 special on Chicken McGarbage and fries, and the gimmick is they open their ad with a shot of a lawyer, a psychoanalyst, plumber, real estate salesperson, etc. The individual is on screen just long enough for them to say something along the lines of “How long does this (lawyer, analyst, plumber…) work in order to earn enough to enjoy their Chicken McGarbage and fries…” and then it cuts to a product shot, the idea being that the “food” being sold is ridiculously inexpensive.

What I want to see is the bastards to run an add with one of their own counter employees in the starring road… should last for a good 15 or 20 minutes before their wage slaves can actually afford the crap they are selling.

(And no, not a personal axe being ground here… never worked for them, indeed, the only minimum wage jobs I ever had was when I was too young to be legally employed anyway… I just hate the motherfuckers… that and cheer wildly when I see scenes of people throwing trash pails through their windows during anti-globilization demonstrations.)

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I’m far more bothered by their recent use of SPICE GIRLS music to sell burgers. Now that is a new low in advertising.

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Actually, I find those “How long” commercials amusing. And I’m in Montreal, so it’s not exclusively a Western thing.

And only flea-bitten COMMIES are opposed to globalization!

Or is the other way around? What’s this week’s stand on globalization?

Anyway, quit whining.

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checks self for fleas

Anyway, the most offensive McDo commercial I’ve seen was the one during the Olympics that glowingly asserted, “There’s a little bit of McDonald’s in everyone.”

Nope! Not me! Not for the last seven years!

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mmmm…violence! :rolleyes:

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Trash cans through windows?

-Radio Raheem, Do the Right Thing

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Another vote for the Spice Girls music being the new all-time low. Most Spice Girls songs make we wanna puke, not eat.

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God forbid some local franchisee who’s sunk his life savings into a McDonald’s franchise so he can realize his dream of making some money and who’s employing a few dozen people try to turn a profit. Things like commerce and paying jobs are bad, bad bad. Far better to have some idiot who goes to demonstrations because it’s more fun than studying for his upcoming Pscyh 212 exam, wearing a ski mask paid for by Daddy’s credit card, destroy local businesses. That’s the way to build society!

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Ick.

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disclaimer:
I am in no way condoning violence against corporations, etc.

RickJay,

You may want to read Fast Food Nation, because in some instances commerce and ‘turning a profit’ are indeed a bad thing.

The book was an eyeopener for me.

I, for one, refuse to support McDonald’s and other such companies.

It may be a small stance, but I simply won’t condone the actions (or inactions as the case may be) of McDonald’s by eatting their food.

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Instead of us going out and reading this book, why don’t you just tell us why in this case is “turning a profit” a bad thing? Isn’t it the goal of EVERY company to turn a profit? If every company didn’t turn a profit, we would ALL be out of jobs. (Unless you worked for the government :wink: ).

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As long as we’re talking about McDonald’s ads (At least I thought we were), I’d like to bring up an ad that plays around here (MA).

It’s for the new Dollar Menu. It’s one example of a whole class of ads that annoy me. The same can be said for the Wendy’s 99 cent menu and any number of Phone ads. They all start by telling you how you can’t get anything for a buck any more.

Guess what - you can get lots of stuff for a dollar. Hell, there are whole stores devoted to the stuff you can get for a dollar. Why should I be impressed?

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Because per the book, the profit comes at the expense of others.
I don’t have the book in front of me so I can’t quote freely from it, but this was taken from the Barnes and Noble website, with the bolding being mine.:

and the reason I put ‘turn a profit’ in quotes…
yeah, it may be great for Mc D’s Bottom Line and Bank Account to turn a profit, but it isn’t so great for the rest of us.

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“creates an obese society”

BWAHAHAHAHA!! Now that’s comedy!

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My favourite McD’s advertising campaign (in terms of cleverness) is in France. Ronald Mcdonald did not take there, so they bought the rights to Asterix. That’s right, Asterix nows sells big macs. I wonder what his new magical elixer will be?

I don’t know if they coined the term, but glocalization was used in reference to this. That is using local culture for globalization purposes.

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True, because no one did any work until corporations showed us how.

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“Company” does not equal “corporation”. Throwing trash cans into a McDonalds store window does not, most likely, hurt the corporation. It hurts the franchisee (McDonalds Corp makes its money on franchise fees, not from stores – it owns very few). This in turn can cause the franchisee to go out of business. It hurts this individual businessman a lot and the corporation very little.

I’m not going to defend McDonalds as a business – as a vegetarian and an environmentalist it would be nearly impossible to do so. But if you’re championing local businesses but plundering McDonalds stores, you’re a hypocrite. Many ‘chains’ are in fact franchise stores that are, essentially, small businesses that pay for rights to use a brand name and for advertising and corporate costs that benefit all of the stores. Franchising is very popular because it decreases risk and it makes opening a small business more financially feasible for individuals who would ordinarily not be able to.

There are some McDonalds store owners who are genuine assholes and who do crunch the employees at every chance (I worked for one). There are some who started a small business in order to make a living, provide jobs, and to provide for their family, and who are good people.

Turning a profit is the only way having a business is sound. I don’t think it’s necessary growing fat over the losses of others. A big organization can provide goods (in this case, food) either faster, or more conveniently, or better than an individual could themselves and therefore the consumer pays them for that. If you don’t think it’s economically sound, then don’t buy.

Yes, there are bad businesses, and there should be strict laws governing business practices and businesses should be monitored for crime. However, whining that companies are making money is just plain foolish. They’re not charities; people don’t invest money and take all the risk associated with that just for a lark. Businesses make money or they don’t exist.

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…and here I thought this was going to be a thread on crummy commercials.

Minimum wage being a Bad Thing? Geez, when we ever learn that standing behind a counter and saying repeatedly, “Want fries with that?” is definitely worth $20/hour? Get a clue!! It’s a minimum wage job because that’s all it’s worth!!!

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“Turn a profit at the expense of others.”

BWAHAHAHAHAHA. Sorry, that was mockery, not a proper response. I’ll try again.

This is capitalism. Unless you’re running a completely egalitarian society–maybe cooped up in an arcology with a bunch of hippies in Arizona or something–everything you do to make money will be at “others’ expense.” It’s called competition. Heard of it?

If you don’t like the way they do business–they exploit 3rd world workers or deliberately make Americans fat by forcing them to eat Whoppers–then start your own better version and drive them out of business. It’s a free country. Go for it.

I’m sick of all this limp-wristed passive-resistant boycotting of products, particularly when it’s mostly because people want to find a more hip way to say “I don’t eat at McDonald’s because their burgers suck.” If you truly boycotted because of disturbing business practices, you wouldn’t use Microsoft products, you wouldn’t use any telecom lines, buy any records, watch any movies, wear most brands of clothing or travel on anything but horseback. You’d also think twice about reading most books (after all, a lot publishers are exploitative bastards).

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Slortar,

I simply stated that I do not care for the way they do business and that I personally do not eat there.

I do not make others not eat there nor do I stage massive protests against McDonald’s.

As for boycotting all other stuff… it’s true. I do not deny it. Nike is really bad about stuff, too. So is the Gap. I could go on and on and on…
I don’t claim to be a saint in Ethical issues.

Call this a limp wristed boycott if you will. To me, I see it as my choice about this particular company.
(shrugs)
The choice is for you to make: eat there, don’t eat there. I do not honestly give a shit. I simply found that book to be eye opening and recomend it as a read.

It pointed out that McDonalds is SO big that they effect other industries in manners in which other corporations do not. The meat industry, for example, is very much affected by what McDonalds says and does.

The book went on to describe how the poultry industry was regulated by the government and in reality, nothing ever changed (i,e the laws were blantanly ignored) but when McDonalds decreed something, the changes were instantaneous.

and as for the comment about making a profit at other’s expense?
Many companies do just fine (re: In N Out Burgers)

As for my opening up a chain of burgers, well exactly does that have anything to do with the topic at hand? The way I see it, if you don’t like something, don’t go there. so I don’t. end of story.

Or is this some pat reply? Maybe I should copy and paste it and use that as a response for every pit rant against a company?

ooo…you don’t like Circuit City cause they are assholes? Well, Open up an Electronics store and drive 'em out of buisness!

ooo…you don’t like Walmart cause they are don’t have enough products made in America? Well, Open up an discount store and drive 'em out of buisness!

I am not so grandly impassioned by the McDonald’s Corp to devote my life to flipping burgers in order to drive them out of Business. I have other fish to fry (sorry, couldn’t help the bad pun).

I realized a long time ago that I can’t fight each and every grand battle about right and wrong that comes my way.
So, intead, I do what I can in my own business, promoting causes via it. They say that the smallest deed is greater than the grandest intentions. So I do small things and hope they add up in the big picture somewhere. Really, its all any of us can do.

-BNB