I have been sitting on this post for at least a month if not longer now. I didn’t know where to start. I didn’t want to dive into the whole McDonald’s is awful for you so boycott the chain type of post. I wanted to look at it from the proper perspective and to do that you have to stand back and analyze the situation in front of you. Essentially remove yourself from the scenario you are going to comment on and make sure that you present both sides of the story.
I tried, I really did utnil Kevin (Ironman By Thirty) posted this on my Facebook wall yesterday. You can read the article [HERE]
Every McDonald's In The US
I cringed when I saw it. It looks like what should be an electric grid but instead it is a picture of where every McDonald’s in America is. Let’s be fair and say for the record that it is not just McDonald’s, but Burger King, Wendy’s, Taco Bell, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Domino’s, Pizza Hut, etc that I believe also have a an impact on the waistline of Americans.
So back to the title of this post: McDonald’s TV. As the title says, McDonald’s is launching its own television network. My first reaction to this was to shake my head and say: What will they come up with next. It then turned to rage because I could see commercials or shows of Ronald and the Hamburgler solving math problems and parents putting their kids in front of the TV so they could ‘learn.’ Meanwhile there would be commercial after commercial of McDonald’s french fries or apple pie to lure the kids in.
So after some digging around I learned that the network will only be shown in their restaurants. So my immediate reaction was at least it’s contained, then Kevin’s picture showed up and there are McDonald’s everywhere so not really contained. My next thought was that they are going to broadcast shows and get people to just sit in the restaurant all day long. People will be ordering Biggie Fries (is that the largest?) and just eating while watching TV. They might show up their early in the morning and have the oatmeal and fruit (or is it granola? I have no clue because I can’t recall the last time I was in one) and coffee and work? Then lunch comes and its easy to grab food, then all of a sudden it is 5pm and time to get little Bobby and Suzy from school for dinner. Well they would be near food so just order, pick up kids, toss the sacks to them and they eat in the car while watching the TV on the head rest.
So much was wrong with this picture that I just got angry, and it wasn’t all directed at McDonald’s. This is where I separated myself from the scenario. McDonald’s is running a business. The point of a business is to make a profit. To make a profit you have to be more innovative than your competition so that people will purchase from you. So in this regards, McDonald’s putting its own TV network in its establishments is genius. Think about this for a moment.
- Establish the network so people sit in your store all day long and mindlessly consume your products (profit!)
- Establish relationships with producers, directors, networks so they pay YOU to broadcast to your customers (profit!)
- Establish relationships with companies so they pay YOU to broadcast their commercials on your network (profit!)
- You reinforce your brand/image and product/service to your customers all day long (profit!)
As a marketer and quasi-entrepreneur I love this idea. Capture your market and keep them wanting more. Genius.
As a person concerned for the welfare of our country and its children I am dumb-founded and angry.
I went to Google and searched and found some very good articles HERE and HERE but this article HERE points out my reasons as to why this is such a bad idea for our country. Here is an excerpt from the article written by Marlene Schwartz, Ph.D. that sums up my thoughts a lot better than I could have:
To summarize, there are three huge problems with this initiative by McDonalds. First, the encroachment of television into public dining spaces disrupts the positive benefits of eating together as a family. Television is not meant for consumption during family meals — whether in the home or not.
Second, in-house networks like the McDonald’s restaurant chain will not have any restrictions on food advertisements to children. This means that all the work that McDonald’s has done to limit children’s exposure to advertisements for its less-healthy foods may be undone inside the restaurant.
Third, McDonald’s is an industry leader, and this will likely start a trend in other places. If other restaurants start introducing television stations inside their dining rooms, it will become harder and harder for parents to say no to television while dining.
We urge all parents to take control of the table. This might be the table at home or the table while dining out. Say “no” to television and “yes” to your family. It will be time well spent.
In our house when we have dinner together the TV goes off. I sit with Chico and ask him how his day went, what did he learn. I then tell him what we are doing next and prepare him so that when Karen gets home they have an opportunity to relax and talk without having to do anything else.
Our family does what works best for us and I know not everybody can live like this. We are fortunate, but I do know that everybody can avoid having the TV act as a babysitter and certainly avoid the McDonald’s Network being that baby-sitter.
What Are Your Thoughts On McDonald’s TV?
Do You Eat Dinner With Your Kids And The TV On?
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Yeah. McD’s TV…I guess it is good for McD’s – since I only go to their parking lot to steal wifi I guess I don’t care…But the map is funny to me because there is a McD’s in Madawaska, ME (FARTHEST northern point in ME) and in Fort Kent (next furthest) and I can see the two separate dots.
I am not a big TV person (except the trainer) but if I am alone I often turn on the news and eat…bad I know, but it is true!!
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OHHH I was FIRST!
Mandy recently posted..Wagging Wednesday: Porter gets his day
Congrats on being first. May have to run a contest one day.
That is great that you can spot the two points in ME. Try looking at Texas and you’ll think that it is one of those posters where you should see a picture inside the picture. They are everywhere down here. And more than that there are mexican joints that far outnumber the McD’s from what I can tell. I drove down a highway when I first moved here and counted, I believe, 15 Mexican restaurants. Really? 15? How do they all stay in business?
We do not even go to Mcd’s. To be honest the smell that comes from those places makes me ill. I think it’s pathetic. They are doing everything they can to keep people coming… period. Salads, oatmeal, TV! It’s proven that if you eat in front of TV you will eat more calories because you aren’t paying attention to your food. They aren’t dumb
Mamarunsbarefoot recently posted..Much To Do About Minimalism
Ugh, have you read fast food nation yet? Im almost done with it and Im completely appalled. McTV is only the latest in a long history of how McDonald’s is terrible for America.
I have not read it yet, but I plan on it. I’m just afraid that I would go bananas after reading something like that. But then again we need a revolution in this country to take back our health and lower health costs and live free again.
It’s a great read Jason!
Mamarunsbarefoot recently posted..Much To Do About Minimalism
In our town, the Pizza Hut and another local pizza joint we sometimes go to both already have TVs on. The local joint usually just has sports and my kids aren’t usually that interested. The PH often has Cartoon Network or the like on and sometimes it is hard to keep my kids attention (and they eat mindlessly then too – we don’t go there often – oh, and said PH also has a buffet where the kids eat free on Tue). At home, the TV is off when we eat. No ifs, ands or buts. And the kids are not allowed to leave the table until we are all done and have had a chance to share about our day (although this isn’t every night, but more often than not that we all sit together for dinner). Several McD’s I’ve been to already have TVs as well, but run news or sports on them. And don’t kid yourself, they don’t need the TVs for the advertisements to the kids – the smell of the fries when you walk in the door is usually enough for my kids to choose fries over apple slices. We only go about once or twice a month – much less than we have in the past. It was the one up side to unemployment running rampant in our household – we eat at home a lot more now. And the last time I had food from there – my guts hurt so bad it was just wrong!
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We must have family dinner time. Like you, it is not a question of do we do it but more of a statement. No it doesn’t happen every night but we try to make sure it happens more often than it doesn’t.
As a vegetarian I have no reason to eat at any of these places, but your gut issues are what really scare me. What would happen if I ate one now? How sick would I get,.
I go to a club that has a McDonald’s burger patty on a shelf for the past two years and the thing is still there and hardly changed how it has looked from the day it was purchased.
I still can’t get that documentary out of my head where the guy ate McDonalds everyday for a month. Now I have to admit (and don’t tar and feather me) that I like McDonalds occasionally. I realize it’s crap and that is why I don’t go often, but when I do, I enjoy it. Having said that if I’m going to go off my eating plan McDonalds is never my first choice. I was shocked when I went away up North a few weeks back the town we went to didn’t have a McDonalds.. I was shocked, I thought they were everywhere.
adena recently posted..so I was…
I don’t tar and feather. People will make their own choices and all I want to do is bring them information for them to make up their own minds. Do I have strong feelings about this? Yes, but I also know that people will make their own choices and I cannot stop that.
That being said: STOP EATING THERE!!!!!
They are building a Burger King down the road from me and every time I pass it I think to myself: Why are they building another one? But the obvious answer is that the market calls for it. When I start seeing Vegetable Kings being built then I will know that the message has gotten across.
I will consider your advice the next time I find myself at the drive thru. ;-) Like I said, it’s a rarity (sp?) I tried a salad there once, disgusting!!!! These days I’d rather go out for a steak and a glass of wine as a cheat than a fast food chain. I need a sugar daddy to afford these changes in my lifestyle.
adena recently posted..so I was…
crap, I’m off sugar, what I meant was a “sugar substitute daddy”.. I feel better now.
adena recently posted..so I was…
HA HA HA HA!!!!! A Stevia Daddy? A Truvia Daddy? A Honey Daddy? A Maple Syrup Daddy? An Agave Nectar Daddy?
I was waiting for this post after I told you about the new McD channel
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I kept researching articles to find out what this was all about. My visions of Ronald McDonald shows interuppted by French Fry commercials was not allowing me to take a view that was unopinionated. I wanted to view it from the macro level first. That being said the more I read the more agitated I got because the concept is just crazy and worse yet crazy enough to work.
It is very scary. Big corporate McBiz trying to get a nation addicted to garbage however they can.
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Omg I cannot imagine anything worse than eating McDonalds except sitting in a McDonalds, eating McDonalds and watching McDonalds TV. Shoot me now. WTH is this world coming to??? As if we need to promote more fast food and more tv watching.
We eat together every singe night. A home cooked meal. TV is strictly forbidden as are cell phones, etc. We also don’t answer the phone or door during dinner. Except for Friday nights. That’s a special night to eat in the living room with the tv on. Makes it special.
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That is awesome. Friday nights are pizza nights and we have not moved it to the living room but that isn’t a bad idea. I like it as a treat.
NO TV during meals…only exceptions are
1. March Madness if Duke is playing.
2. Stanley Cup finales
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Did you see this?
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/checkup/2011/01/is_that_right_mcdonalds_oatmea.html
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I have heard from plenty of people that the oatmeal is good and it would seem on the surface to provide you what you need, what I don’t understand is not making oatmeal at home. It takes no more than 5 minutes. Same as going to the drive-thru, ordering and then pulling up, paying and leaving before you get to a spot you can eat it at. And making your own at home, should produce close to the same nutritional value, it will be cheaper. $1.99 for one serving of oatmeal at McDonald’s could net you an entire container of oatmeal from the grocery store.
I am not saying that you can never eat there, I’m just wondering why people make the choices they do when there are clear alternatives that are better for you and cheaper.
wow, this is a great post and i feel a lot like you. trying to be neutral or not immediately jump to disgust, i agree that from a marketing standpoint they are geniuses and power to them. also, ultimately it is up to the clientele to order wisely and choose to eat there. however, it’s kinda like the tobacco company in a way.
that and i think u do have to put some accountability on the consumers, or mainly parents to teach their kids to eat healthy and make wise choices. now, there ARE times when fast food meals can be healthy and not horrible options…but u have to be informed.
then, cut to my disgust face…ya, that is a pretty gross picture and it looks like a lightbright on steroids. again, u just have to hope that people make smart choices…but i think that hope is a flickering candle when u look at the obesity problem.
here’s an idea: maybe mc’d's should put the TV’s in front of treadmills and make them run for those fries! ;)
Cait – Thank you for stopping by and leaving a comment. I hope you return and continue to interact as each persons point of view brings more discussion to the table and who knows where it can go from there.
I like the idea of the treadmill TV with dangling fries. Perfect.
Accountability starts and ends with parents in my opinion. Today’s parents think that there kids need to be involved in every single activity or little Jimmy and Suzy are not going to make it in this world. So they shuttle the kids from end to end of the city while talking and texting and emailing on Blackberries because of the demands of the job and so they end up at McDonald’s because its the easiest thing for them to give their kids while they are in between soccer practice and chess matches. I find it utterly absurd and yes I am a parent. Let the kids choose what they want to do and enroll them in that and see if they flourish. We all know the saying Jack of All Trades, Master of None. That is what these kids are becoming by being shuttled around.
Time to start parenting and stop letting electronic devices do it for us.
i think it’s fruit and maple oatmeal? cause you know, maple syrup is also healthy for you, especially in the quantities a fast food restaurant would use. i don’t really know either, as i can’t remember the last time i went to a mc’ds.
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