Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Why Your McD's Burger Doesn't Look Like the One in the Ad

adage.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 195 posts

Re: Why Your McD's Burger Doesn't Look Like the One in the Ad

#141

Post by tptacek »

potatolicious wrote: post #140
tptacek wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know, I don't believe most of the urban legends about McDonalds, and there are things they do that I can even respect (for instance, their contribution to french fry science [really], or their [very, very, very, very] gradual adoption of humane farming guidelines.) But make no mistake that McDonalds is a business that is, if not as harmful as Philip Morris, gradable on the same scale. For the most part it's a com…

Can't we say the same things about just about any business? > "but there's a difference between an occasional indulgence" Indeed... > "and the business model that depends utterly on persuading the most persuadable people to harm themselves, for no other reason that they were persuadable" You've lost me. You compare McDonald's to Philip Morris - even though one produces a highly addictive substance and the other produ…

Nobody lives on Ben & Jerry's.

Frito Lay is possibly even more morally fraught than McDonalds, since a large part of their business involves marketing themselves into kids lunches.

I'm not sure where Campbells comes into this. It's not great soup, but it's soup.

Obviously, there are people who think there's nothing wrong with a particularly successful marketing campaign for an unhealthful product. There are plenty of people who think there's nothing immoral about selling cigarettes.

I don't think less of those people, but I strongly disagree with them.

Re: Why Your McD's Burger Doesn't Look Like the One in the Ad

#142

Post by tptacek »

elithrar wrote: post #139
tptacek wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know, I don't believe most of the urban legends about McDonalds, and there are things they do that I can even respect (for instance, their contribution to french fry science [really], or their [very, very, very, very] gradual adoption of humane farming guidelines.) But make no mistake that McDonalds is a business that is, if not as harmful as Philip Morris, gradable on the same scale. For the most part it's a com…

> Also their burgers are pretty gross. Some people must think they taste "good enough", given their popularity. Convenience and price obviously play big roles here, but they are also likely choosing McDonalds over other options on at least some basis of taste. > But make no mistake that McDonalds is a business that is, if not as harmful as Philip Morris, gradable on the same scale. For the most part it's a company wh…

Their burgers are (deliberately, carefully engineered to be) hyperpalatable. There are plenty of hyperpalatable foods that also happen to be gross.

Re: Why Your McD's Burger Doesn't Look Like the One in the Ad

#143

Post by walkon »

tptacek wrote: post #123
planetguy wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

McDonald's is in a fortunate/unfortunate position in that they can afford to have an ad campaign based upon honesty, because the unvarnished truth is still a lot better than the stuff that an awful lot of people already believe about them. I've heard many of these urban myths repeated in the wild by otherwise intelligent people: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonalds_urban_legends My favourite fact about most of thes…

You know, I don't believe most of the urban legends about McDonalds, and there are things they do that I can even respect (for instance, their contribution to french fry science [really], or their [very, very, very, very] gradual adoption of humane farming guidelines.) But make no mistake that McDonalds is a business that is, if not as harmful as Philip Morris, gradable on the same scale. For the most part it's a com…

> For the most part it's a company whose core business model is "leverage unfathomably vast marketing resources to coerce large numbers of people into making the least healthful dietary choice available to them at any given moment".

They don't coerce anyone to eat their food. What a ridiculous hyperbole.

Re: Why Your McD's Burger Doesn't Look Like the One in the Ad

#144

Post by goodcanadian »

elithrar wrote: post #139
tptacek wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know, I don't believe most of the urban legends about McDonalds, and there are things they do that I can even respect (for instance, their contribution to french fry science [really], or their [very, very, very, very] gradual adoption of humane farming guidelines.) But make no mistake that McDonalds is a business that is, if not as harmful as Philip Morris, gradable on the same scale. For the most part it's a com…

> Also their burgers are pretty gross. Some people must think they taste "good enough", given their popularity. Convenience and price obviously play big roles here, but they are also likely choosing McDonalds over other options on at least some basis of taste. > But make no mistake that McDonalds is a business that is, if not as harmful as Philip Morris, gradable on the same scale. For the most part it's a company wh…

In Australia (and Canada for that matter), McDonald's food is far better than it is the the US.

Re: Why Your McD's Burger Doesn't Look Like the One in the Ad

#145

Post by Devilboy »

tptacek wrote: post #123
planetguy wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

McDonald's is in a fortunate/unfortunate position in that they can afford to have an ad campaign based upon honesty, because the unvarnished truth is still a lot better than the stuff that an awful lot of people already believe about them. I've heard many of these urban myths repeated in the wild by otherwise intelligent people: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonalds_urban_legends My favourite fact about most of thes…

You know, I don't believe most of the urban legends about McDonalds, and there are things they do that I can even respect (for instance, their contribution to french fry science [really], or their [very, very, very, very] gradual adoption of humane farming guidelines.) But make no mistake that McDonalds is a business that is, if not as harmful as Philip Morris, gradable on the same scale. For the most part it's a com…

Also their burgers are pretty gross.

Yea well that's just your opinion man.

Re: Why Your McD's Burger Doesn't Look Like the One in the Ad

#146

Post by panacea »

potatolicious wrote: post #140
tptacek wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know, I don't believe most of the urban legends about McDonalds, and there are things they do that I can even respect (for instance, their contribution to french fry science [really], or their [very, very, very, very] gradual adoption of humane farming guidelines.) But make no mistake that McDonalds is a business that is, if not as harmful as Philip Morris, gradable on the same scale. For the most part it's a com…

Can't we say the same things about just about any business? > "but there's a difference between an occasional indulgence" Indeed... > "and the business model that depends utterly on persuading the most persuadable people to harm themselves, for no other reason that they were persuadable" You've lost me. You compare McDonald's to Philip Morris - even though one produces a highly addictive substance and the other produ…

> Last I checked, burgers are non-addictive.

"A growing body of medical research at leading universities and government laboratories suggests that processed foods and sugary drinks made by the likes of PepsiCo Inc. and Kraft Foods Inc. aren’t simply unhealthy. They can hijack the brain in ways that resemble addictions to cocaine, nicotine and other drugs.

“The data is so overwhelming the field has to accept it,” said Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. “We are finding tremendous overlap between drugs in the brain and food in the brain.”"

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-11-11/fatty-foods-addi...

Not saying the science is done, but there's a strong possibility that burgers are addictive.

Re: Why Your McD's Burger Doesn't Look Like the One in the Ad

#147

Post by tptacek »

panacea wrote: post #146
potatolicious wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't we say the same things about just about any business? > "but there's a difference between an occasional indulgence" Indeed... > "and the business model that depends utterly on persuading the most persuadable people to harm themselves, for no other reason that they were persuadable" You've lost me. You compare McDonald's to Philip Morris - even though one produces a highly addictive substance and the other produ…

> Last I checked, burgers are non-addictive. "A growing body of medical research at leading universities and government laboratories suggests that processed foods and sugary drinks made by the likes of PepsiCo Inc. and Kraft Foods Inc. aren’t simply unhealthy. They can hijack the brain in ways that resemble addictions to cocaine, nicotine and other drugs. “The data is so overwhelming the field has to accept it,” said…

The fries are probably more perilous (unfortunately, also the one thing they do really well). The full-sugar soda is probably just straight-up toxic.

Re: Why Your McD's Burger Doesn't Look Like the One in the Ad

#148

Post by maguay »

goodcanadian wrote: post #144
elithrar wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Also their burgers are pretty gross. Some people must think they taste "good enough", given their popularity. Convenience and price obviously play big roles here, but they are also likely choosing McDonalds over other options on at least some basis of taste. > But make no mistake that McDonalds is a business that is, if not as harmful as Philip Morris, gradable on the same scale. For the most part it's a company wh…

In Australia (and Canada for that matter), McDonald's food is far better than it is the the US.

I think it's better in most of the world than the US. It's almost considered classy in Thailand, and to me, it seems to taste better, too.

Re: Why Your McD's Burger Doesn't Look Like the One in the Ad

#149

Post by arthurbrown »

This is a segment from an Australian show (The Gruen Transfer) going over the same question without the transparent Maccas bias. The entire clip from the beginning is worth a watch and talks about the value of relentless advertising.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WUhrIOqdCs#t=3m45s

Re: Why Your McD's Burger Doesn't Look Like the One in the Ad

#150

Post by burrokeet »

oz wrote: post #50

My own amusing anecdote: I grew up in rural Jamaica, where there was no fast food, but I came to the capital city (Kingston) twice per month, where we would always eat at KFC. So I'd never had a burger before (KFC dominates every fast food chain in Jamaica). When I was maybe 12 or 13, we had a class trip to Kingston, and after the outing, we went to a McDonalds. So I'm standing in the line, and looking at the ad susp…

You might be curious to know that the Burger King in Half Way Tree (a major crossroads in Kingston for those who don't know) had something like the largest grossing grand opening of any BK in the world when they opened on New Year's Eve in 1988. Funny place Jamaica - Pepsi, Blackberry and Burger King instead of Coke, iPhone and McDonalds.
Post reply on HN