Any Port Name-Brand Restaurant in a Storm
I can’t prove it, but I’ve got a hunch that a big slice of McDonald’s’ customers are more than 100 miles away from home.
Like us, over the weekend.
McDonald’s . . . On the Road
Traveling to (kind of) Northern Minnesota to visits friends at their cabin, we found ourselves in unfamiliar territory with three hungry kids.
Practically faster than you can say, “When’s lunch?” . . . a sign for McDonald’s magically seemed to appear (Coca-Cola likes to brag that its product is more readily available, in more places in the world, than potable water).
Pluses — and Minuses
So, we stopped — along with what appeared to be half the other vacation traffic headed north.
Our kids know the menu, the adults can always get salads, and — not least important — we know the bathrooms will be clean, well-lit, etc.
On the negative side, half the customers (and 3/4 of the employees) now seem to be grossly overweight (for now, at least, my family is in the non-obese camp).
Slick Marketing
Then, there’s the too-slick marketing, featuring C-A-P-T-A-L letter tie-in’s with the kids’ movie du jour, plus disingenous come-on’s like “made with 100% real fruit juice.”
Hey, McDonald’s!
How about dropping the “made with,” and just selling “100% real fruit juice??”
Or, failing that, disclosing the percentage of that sugary drink that isn’t “100% real fruit juice” (my guess: +95%).
At least it’s not as lame as “fresh-poured orange juice.”
P.S.: That’s not even my most despised marketing come-on these days.
That would be the even more disingenuous, “save up to” line, as in “save up to 30%!!”
