Who is McDonald's kidding?

Really, I watch these commercials on TV, full of happy smiling people who look like they want nothing more in life than to work at McDonalds. These people make fresh, tasty food, and their only goal is to make me smile. That's right, they love to see me smile.

I call bullshit. I can't remember the last time I walked into a McDonalds and found someone who looked like they actually wanted to be working there. Fresh, perfectly made food? Not at my McDonalds. Has anyone at McDonalds ever loved to see me smile? Hell no.

I admit it, I just don't get it. What does McDonalds think they will accomplish with these ads? Do they think they are going to trick me into thinking McDonalds is a friendly happy place I should eat at more? They can't. Let's face it, people eat at McDonalds because it's usually pretty fast and it won't kill you (at least in the short term). It doesn't taste too bad either, and you can even eat pretty cheap sometimes. Plus, they are everywhere. No one eats at McDonalds because they like the service. No one eats at McDonalds because they use the freshest, highest quality ingredients. No one eats at McDonalds because they love to see you smile.

Really, if they wanted to attract more customers, maybe they should try offering some foods that have some nutritional value. Maybe they could start cleaning the bathrooms more. Maybe they could use real chicken (that cannot be real chicken they use). But don't tell me that I can go to my local McDonalds and all they want to do is make me happy. I know damn well that for $6 an hour, the kid behind the counter could care less about my happiness, and the very fact that McDonalds expects me to believe this crap is insulting.

Take your smile and shove it!

As a young man desperate in my search for lucre, I was employed at McDonalds. I was desperate and many people wouldn't hire me. I was a punk. I looked like a delinquent; I talked like a delinquent. I would have been a delinquent, if I had ever been caught.

McDonalds opened the arms of employment to me. They cuddled my growing sense of personal pride and initiative by slowly offering me responsibility and a feeling of accomplished goals.

I spit in McDonalds face, and tarnished that trust. I don't think anyone noticed.

I worked at McDonalds for almost two years while attending high school. As a measure of my worthiness I never received a raise. I was regularly rude to customers, often becoming personally insulting. I came to work drunk, took long breaks, stole food and rarely washed my hands before leaving the restroom. I even attacked a customer through the drive through window one night and refused to tender their change, claiming it was an idiot tax.

I was not a model employee. Fortunately for me, and those that chose to be around me, I have grown and matured since then. I am no longer the foolish young man I once was.

The thing that has always bothered me the most about McDonalds is, they never fired me. I received the occasional reprimand, but that was it. I don't think they actually cared about my behavior. Now, every time I eat at McDonalds, I fear that someone like me is preparing my order, just waiting for me to criticize their performance and snap. I don't eat at McDonalds much anymore.

Hm... ccunning's write-up seems mainly to attack the McDonalds advertisements. What is advertising? Advertising tries to
1. Make you desire a product or service.
2. Give information on a product or service in the hope that point 1. will come to fruition.

If we accept advertising in this way, then surely we should take it all with a pinch of salt. McDonalds restaurants are often franchised, meaning McDonalds don't always have ultimate control over their day-to-day running.

So McDonalds advertising, which is an obvious benefit to the franchisee, is trying to make their product desirable. What do you expect them to do, show pictures of unwholesome looking food and angry, bitter staff? No, because then they wouldn't sell burgers.

If your experience in a restaurant is bad, then sure, do what scoopa suggested and stop eating there. In time, McDonalds will learn their mistakes and try to fix them due to lost custom from people who are pissed off. But don't expect them to change their advertising to show unhappy diners!

As for selling more nutritious food... people who go into McDonalds aren't looking for nutritious food, they're looking for something fast and tasty. It isn't in McDonalds interest to provide nutritious food, and I personally don't expect them to do it.

As if previous advertising campaigns by McDonald's weren't enough (we love to see you smile, etc), the latest slogan, "There's a little McDonald's in everyone", is not so much alluring to the product as it is simply scary.

Think of it, if you're in the western world, you have probably eaten McDonald's at some point in your life (I haven't in over two years, but I am aware that I am an exception). Logically, then, a significant porition of the species has been exposed to the food served at these establishments. This yields McDonald's a great deal of potential power.

Say for example there was a drug that would make anyone who consumed it, I dunno, express strong tendencies to pay homage to the memory of Ray Kroc on his birthday or something. McDonald's would easily be able to slip this by the FDA using their immense clout (probably describing it as a preservative), and spread it to the masses unforeseen. Of course, we might get another national holiday out of it (and who doesn't like a national holiday), but that's not the point.

The point is international corporations are now at the point where they can brag about their power in advertisements and expect no action to be taken against them. Of course, I have a friend who thinks that I am interpreting McDonald's new slogan incorrectly, but he eats there so often I'm sure he's only saying that because he's already been infected.