- McDonald's -

You'll have better luck passing out What's Wrong With McDonald's leaflets

Posted by: Hugh Morris ( ISO 9002, USA ) on June 05, 1999 at 11:39:27:

In Reply to: 'The great food swindle.' posted by Paranoid Ghost on June 04, 1999 at 12:11:37:

Ghost: If any of you reading this are under the belief that McRubbish is serving quality food, you have been brain washed.

Morris: Agreed.

Ghost: You can break this chain of thinking. If you still feel that you must eat there, you can at least demand that the food be served as advertised. Your burger may not, if presented properly, stay that way as you eat it, but, you will at least have the satisfaction of knowing it was presented as advertised.

Morris: I do let out a very satisfactory BELCH when I'm done eating.

Ghost: If you really feel the need to pay a vist to McRubbish, I urge you to demand your burger be served as pictured. This is a matter of self pride. Do you not care that the food is a compact version of what is advertised?

Morris: Perhaps the people at McDonald's just don't like you or something. I always end up with a hamburger that's pretty close to the picture.

Whether manufacturing hamburgers or rolling mill liners, the goal is to make tham as cheaply as possible, and as similar to each other as possible, thus making them interchangeable. The latter part is done by inspection, which usually involves measurement. It's simple to drop the hamburger on a scale to determine its weight, but how do you quantify "as pictured"? Remember, the inspection guidelines must be phrased in such a way as to remove all fallible human interpretation from them, like "the pickle slices must not overlap". Extra stipulations slow down production and raise prices.

I can look at the Big Mac in the photograph and see two all beef patties, special sause, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, on a sesame seed bun, just like that cheery song. Or, after some studying, I'll find some picles and shards of lettuce out of place. Am I to give it back, so someone can rearrange the lettuce and pickles, and wrap it in a fresh wrapper? Most fast food customers want instant gratification, prompting the majority of them to say "close enough". By the way, it weighs the same regardless of the relative tightness or looseness of the toppings.

Ghost: What if another product such as a car you wish to buy was advertised as being beautiful? What if this car were pictured as being something really good looking and when you went to see it the car looked like total crap? would you still buy it? NO! The same thing applies to McRubbish. They are advertising something which they have no intention of selling you.

Morris: Car advertising--now THERE'S a bastian of truth. Every ad agency knows a car will look better when shown driving down a deserted rural road, as opposed to the way most Americans drive: bumper-to-bumper in rush hour traffic, choking on the emissions from the car before you. And what's with the beautiful women they show fawning over the guys in the trucks and sports cars? Will those women be waiting to "service" me when I visit my dealer's showroom? The cars are shown as representations of the ones you can buy, with choices in engines, colors, interiors, accessories, etc. In my case, none of those options look like what I'd like to own, so I buy a good quality used car, and make it the way I want it: new engine, custom stereo and interior, black paint with a skull and crossbones painted on the hood (bonnet), and perhaps a horn that plays "La Cucaracha". You'll be met with blank stares if you ask the salesman for that one.

Your comparison is absurd. I keep cars until they are well beyond 10 years of age, while a hamburger is flushed down the crapper within 36 hours. Cars are useful beyond their appearance.


Ghost: McRubbish spends so much time and money on "the great food swindle". They want you to belive that the food served looks very appitizing. Why?...I say again...Why can it not be served as they will have the world belive it to be?...It is because this foul chain of filth does not give a damm about you, the consummer. They never have. I say they should be forced, by the collective consummer, to end the charade now! Let them picture their product as it really is. There is no accounting for bad taste...that much will never change.

Morris: They want you to belive the food is appetizing, it tastes good, your friends will like you better if you get the latest Happy Meal toy, your children will love you forever if you buy it for them, and on and on... but all I see in the pictures is food! You can draw your own conclusions from pictures. If you don't like hamburgers, no amount of cajoling will make the pictures seem appetizing.


Looks Like Food,

Hugh Morris

--
McSpotlight: Well, over 2 million WWWM leaflets have been handed out so far, so they're not doing badly...


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