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wylies99
Joined: 13 May 2006
Location: I'm one cool cat!
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wylies99
Joined: 13 May 2006
Location: I'm one cool cat!
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 Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 11:17 pm Post subject: |
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I WANT a Big Mac  |
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laogaiguk
Joined: 06 Dec 2005
Location: somewhere in Korea
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| Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 11:19 pm Post subject: |
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| wylies99 wrote: |
| I WANT a Big Mac |
I don't  I passed by McDonald's just today for some bibimbap.
For the vid, how in the hell was that an error? How could you possibly make that error without it having been intentional. Maybe McDonald's didn't do it, but someone did. I don't believe any of them though. |
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RACETRAITOR
Joined: 24 Oct 2005
Location: Seoul, South Korea
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| Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 11:28 pm Post subject: |
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| When I saw Supersize Me I had a McDonald's craving. |
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cangel
Joined: 19 Jun 2003
Location: Jeonju, S. Korea
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| Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 11:30 pm Post subject: |
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| Maybe it's a Tyler Durden special.... |
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jlb
Joined: 18 Sep 2003
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| Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 3:20 am Post subject: |
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| RACETRAITOR wrote: |
| When I saw Supersize Me I had a McDonald's craving. |
Me too, but that just seems so wrong! |
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Bibbitybop
Joined: 22 Feb 2006
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 8:03 am Post subject: |
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It's been a few months, and I always catch *beep* for this from McD loving expats, but here we go...
Muck FcDonalds
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McDonald's April 14 "Report on Corporate Social Responsibility" is a low- water mark for the concept of sustainability and the promise of corporate social responsibility. It is a melange of generalities and soft assurances that do not provide hard metrics of the company, its activities or its impacts on society and the environment.
While movements toward corporate transparency and disclosure are to be applauded, there is little of either in the report.
This is not a report about stakeholder rights, as McDonald's would have one believe. It is a report about how a corporation that's been severely stung by bad publicity, poor service and declining earnings now wants to plead its case to its critics. It states that critics don't want to make things better, but it ignores what their critics care about.
The McDonald's Social Responsibility Report presupposes that we can continue to have a global chain of restaurants that serves fried, sugary junk food produced by an agricultural system of monocultures, monopolies, standardization and destruction, and at the same time find a path to sustainability. Having worked in the field of sustainability and business for three decades, I can reasonably say that nothing could be further from the idea of sustainability than the McDonald's Corp.
The report states, "being a socially responsible leader begins a process that involves more awareness on the issues that will make a difference." Yet the company has known for decades that the food it serves harms people, promotes obesity, heart disease and has detrimental effects on land and water. On May 1, the Centers for Disease Control issued a report stating that childhood obesity and related diseases had doubled in the past 10 years, specifically citing high-fat fast-food as a cause. Addressing that one issue would make a difference.
McDonald's has known about the harmful effects of its food just as the tobacco companies understood the impact of their products. Yet McDonald's has done little to modify its menu.
It is good to see ideas about materials and reduced waste being promoted by major corporations. But it is equally important to distinguish among corporations that offer progressive rhetoric but don't change their internal practices or impact on society and the environment and those that actually do. If corporations can make more money by using less stuff, less waste, less pollution, so much the better. To be sure, McDonald's has made progress on recycling, but the underlying nature of its corporate activity has not changed and the larger impact of these underlying activities is dramatic and troubling.
For McDonald's to announce that it now wants to have antibiotic free chickens is a slap in the face to the thousands of small poultry farmers who could not compete and were forced out of business by the agricorporations that introduced the very industrial chicken-raising practices that required antibiotics to avoid massive die-off of their flocks. Simply stated, standardized food destroys agricultural and biological diversity. Nothing could be more antithetical to the recovery of over-stressed farmlands than fast-food.
It is important that good housekeeping practices such as recycled hamburger shells not be confused with creating a just and sustainable world. McDonald's publicly embraces "sustainability" as long as it can make money and it doesn't change its purpose, which is to grow faster than the overall world economy and population, and to increase their share of the world's economic output to the benefit of a small number of shareholders.
The question we have to ask is: "What is enough for McDonald's? Is it enough that 1 in 5 meals in the United States is a fast-food meal? Does McDonald's want to see the rest of the world drink the equivalent of 597 cans of soda pop a year, as do Americans? Do they think every third global meal should be comprised of greasy meat, fries, and caramelized sugar? They won't answer those questions because that is exactly their corporate mission.
A valid report on sustainability and social responsibility must ask the question: What if everybody did it? What would be the ecological footprint -- the impact on the natural world -- of such a company? What is McDonald's footprint now?
The report carefully avoids the corporation's real environmental impacts. It talked about water use at the outlets, but failed to note that every quarter-pounder requires 600 gallons of water. It talked about recycled paper, but not the pfisteria-infected waters caused by large-scale pork producers in the Southeast United States. It talked about energy use in the restaurants, but not in the unsustainable food system McDonald's relies on that uses 10 calories of energy for every calorie of food produced.
An honest report would tell stakeholders how much it truly costs society to support a corporation like McDonald's. It would detail the externalities -- the societal and environmental costs not counted in corporate annual reports and accounting documents -- borne by other people, places and generations.
Unless the core values of the company are to nourish and protect children, you cannot make the supply chain sustainable because the final outcome is destructive to life. McDonald's corporate initiative is best described by the poet Henry Thoreau: "Improved means to an unimproved end."
McDonald's view McDonald's Corp. was invited to comment on its report but declined the offer. To read the report yourself, click on http://www.mcdonalds.com/corporate/social/report/index.html
McDonald's factoids
1. McDonald's spends more on advertising than any other brand in the world.
2. It runs more playgrounds than any other private entity in the world.
3. It gives away more toys than any other private entity in the world.
4. The Golden Arches are more widely known in the world today than the Christian cross.
5. Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonald's said this: "We have found that we cannot trust some people who are nonconformists. We will make conformists out of them in a hurry. The organization cannot trust the individual; the individual must trust the organization."
6. The vast majority of workers at McDonald's lack full-time employment, do not have any benefits, have no or little control over their workplace, and quit after a few months.
7. The average American now consumes three hamburgers and four orders of french fries per week.
8. Due in part to the industrialization of agriculture driven by the fast- food industry, the United States is losing farmers so fast that it now has more prisoners than farmers.
9. Every month, 90 percent of the children between 3 and 9 in America visit a McDonald's.
10. In a survey of 9 and 10-year-olds, half of them said they thought that Ronald McDonald knew best what kids should eat. In China, kids said that Ronald McDonald was kind, funny, gentle and understood children's hearts.
11. McDonald's uses a computer program called Quintillion that uses satellite imagery, GPS maps and demographic tables to automatically site new restaurants. As one observer noted, McDonald's uses the same equipment developed during the Cold War to spy on their customers.
12. McDonald's jobs have been purposely de-skilled so as to be able to hire minimum-wage workers on an interchangeable basis. One-third of fast-food workers speak no English.
13. McDonald's and other chains are aiming for automated equipment that will require zero training and are nearly there. Nevertheless, they fight hard to retain hundreds of millions of dollars of government subsidies for "training" their workers. A worker has only to work for 400 hours for the chain to receive its $2,400 subsidy. In essence, the American taxpayer subsidizes low wages, automation and turnover at fast-food chains.
14. Fast-food pays a higher proportion of minimum wage to its workers than any other industry in America.
15. McDonald's is the largest purchaser of beef in the world.
16. McDonald's buys from five large meatpackers. These companies have gained a stranglehold over the industry (just as in potatoes) that has driven down prices. Over the past 20 years, 500,000 cattle ranchers have gone out of business. Over that time, the rancher's share of every beef dollar has fallen from 63 cents to 46 cents.
17. To satisfy and take advantage of the worldwide growth of fast-food, the large chicken and beef packers in the United States are buying out local companies all around the world. Cargill, IBP and Tyson's control the world meat industry because of fast-food chains.
18. Chicken McNuggets were also cooked in beef tallow until public outrage caused McDonald's to stop. Even in vegetable oil, Chicken McNuggets contain twice the fat per ounce as a hamburger.
19. Every time you eat a hamburger, you are eating anabolic steroids, antibiotics and fecal matter. You can read it again. And it will still be true.
20. Feedlot cattle are also given shredded packaging, cardboard boxes, cement and sawdust to put on weight.
21. In 1991, only four states had obesity rates of 15 percent or higher. Today, 37 states do. Fifty million Americans are obese or super obese. Obesity is second only to smoking as a cause of mortality in America today.
22. The annual health costs to America stemming from obesity are $240 billion. The costs are exactly double fast-food chain revenues.
23. Between 1984 and 1993, the number of fast-food restaurants doubled in Great Britain. Obesity doubled there over the same period.
24. The EU found that 95 percent of the ads there encouraged kids to eat foods high in sugar, salt and fat. The company running the most ads aimed at children was McDonald's.
Source: Eric Schlosser's "Fast Food Nation," (Houghton Mifflin, 2001). The book is extensively footnoted with citations for the above.
Paul Hawken is the author of "The Ecology of Commerce and Natural Capitalism." He is the founder of the Sausalito-based Natural Capital Institute and is on the advisory board of Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy in Oakland. |
Now that that's out of the way, let me note a couple of things about the rediculous video on Inside Edition seen here c/o the OP (thanks OP):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xs8Y5c5Rc8I&mode=user&search=
| Quote: |
| Perhaps there was a subliminal ad, a flash of a commercial product seen on the show. |
The woman on Inside Edition is just doing her job, but who ever wrote that for her is an idiot. There was a subliminal ad, there was a flash, you are showing us the gd evidence. Quit covering McD's and The Food Network's ass.
Barbar Lippert from Adweek on the link
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| It's a flash frame that came up at the wrong time, but it's definitely not subliminal advertising |
So, one of the biggest sponsors had one frame come up during an episode and that was at the wrong time? How many other single frame ads have ever come up during the Iron Chef program? Why didn't you just show a girl riding a pony or a flower blossom?
Not subliminal advertising? You should have just cut to the McD's ad for a full 5 seconds if you are going to BS it. That would have been more effective and more believable.
For those who are gonna bash me for bashing McDonald's, let me say: I'm not bashing you, don't take it personally like many have before. Make your own decisions, I'm certainly not paying for your meal. There are much better places to eat in Seoul and around the world than McDonald's for taste and for social responsibility. The kimbap woman on the corner could use your 3,000 won. |
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Svetlana
Joined: 22 Jan 2007
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| Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 8:47 am Post subject: |
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| As usual, the americans LIE LIE LIE when they are caught doing something wrong. |
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Hollywoodaction
Joined: 02 Jul 2004
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| Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 9:08 am Post subject: |
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| Many corporations create advertising that is aimed at children. It's all about creating lifelong consumers. |
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Bibbitybop
Joined: 22 Feb 2006
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 3:51 pm Post subject: |
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| Svetlana wrote: |
| As usual, the americans LIE LIE LIE when they are caught doing something wrong. |
Do you mean the American government? Corporations?
All governments lie. So do most corporations. And most people. |
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 4:30 pm Post subject: |
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| There is very, very little evidence that such advertising actually works. Technical errors do occur. |
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brento1138
Joined: 17 Nov 2004
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| Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 4:47 pm Post subject: |
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I think the only problem with McDonalds is the fact that some people overdo it. I saw "Supersize Me" but long before seeing that, myself and any person with any sense would automatically assume going there everyday could kill you. But in America and Canada, there are those who go there 5 times in a week or whatever. Some consumers just overdo it.
In small Canadian and American suburbs, where the only place to eat in a 2km radius is your local McDonalds (not even a grocery store in sight), that same 2km radius will have lots of fat, unhealthy people. They just don't know any better. They're uneducated, or lack transportation to a place where they can eat normal food.
Is McDonalds evil for creating unhealthy food? Definitely not! The evil lies in stupid consumers who choose to eat there everyday... Personally, I enjoy eating McDonalds food in my car on a road trip, or scarfing one down when I'm in a rush. There is also the odd time I'll go there and secretly indulge in a Big Mac. When I do, it is rare. And when I do, I enjoy it, even though I know it is absolute crap. |
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Pligganease
Joined: 14 Sep 2004
Location: The deep south...
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| Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 4:54 pm Post subject: |
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| brento1138 wrote: |
I think the only problem with McDonalds is the fact that some people overdo it. I saw "Supersize Me" but long before seeing that, myself and any person with any sense would automatically assume going there everyday could kill you. But in America and Canada, there are those who go there 5 times in a week or whatever. Some consumers just overdo it.
In small Canadian and American suburbs, where the only place to eat in a 2km radius is your local McDonalds (not even a grocery store in sight), that same 2km radius will have lots of fat, unhealthy people. They just don't know any better. They're uneducated, or lack transportation to a place where they can eat normal food.
Is McDonalds evil for creating unhealthy food? Definitely not! The evil lies in stupid consumers who choose to eat there everyday... Personally, I enjoy eating McDonalds food in my car on a road trip, or scarfing one down when I'm in a rush. There is also the odd time I'll go there and secretly indulge in a Big Mac. When I do, it is rare. And when I do, I enjoy it, even though I know it is absolute crap. |
Indeed, and praise be to personal responsibility. |
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Bibbitybop
Joined: 22 Feb 2006
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 5:14 pm Post subject: |
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Just to be fair and balanced....good job, boys:
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McDonald's to pay more for tomatoes
Move will boost wages for migrant workers
By LAURA WIDES-MUNOZ, Associated Press
MIAMI � McDonald's Corp. agreed Monday to pay a penny more per pound for its Florida-grown tomatoes to help boost wages for the migrant workers who harvest them, following a two-year campaign by an advocacy group that called for the increase.
Under the agreement, a third party will verify that farmworkers who pick McDonald's tomatoes will receive the increase. Oak Brook, Ill.-based McDonald's will also require its suppliers to follow a workplace code of conduct that the workers would help create.
In this photo released by The Carter Center, Bob Langert, Corporate Social Responsibility executive at McDonald's, second from left, shakes the hand of Lucas Benitez, with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers at The Carter Center in Atlanta, Monday, April 9, 2007. McDonald's Corp. agreed Monday to pay a penny more per pound for its Florida-grown tomatoes to help boost wages for the migrant workers who harvest them, following a two-year campaign by an advocacy group that called for the increase. Under the agreement, a third party will verify that farmworkers who pick McDonald's tomatoes will receive the increase. To the left is Buddy McEntire of McEntire Produce and to the right is Tom Crick with The Carter Center.
Associated Press
In this photo released by The Carter Center, Bob Langert, Corporate Social Responsibility executive at McDonald's, second from left, shakes the hand of Lucas Benitez, with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers at The Carter Center in Atlanta, Monday, April 9, 2007. McDonald's Corp. agreed Monday to pay a penny more per pound for its Florida-grown tomatoes to help boost wages for the migrant workers who harvest them, following a two-year campaign by an advocacy group that called for the increase. Under the agreement, a third party will verify that farmworkers who pick McDonald's tomatoes will receive the increase. To the left is Buddy McEntire of McEntire Produce and to the right is Tom Crick with The Carter Center.
The deal involves payments for round tomatoes that go on McDonald's sandwiches. McDonald's USA Spokesman William Whitman declined to say how much the change would cost the company but said the increase would not be passed on to consumers.
The announcement was made by the nonprofit Coalition of Immokalee Workers and the nation's biggest fast-food restaurant chain at the Atlanta-based Carter Center, where they negotiated the deal.
The coalition targeted McDonald's in 2005 and were about to launch a cross-country bus tour to protest in front of the company's headquarters before the deal was signed.
The coalition had previously won similar concessions from Taco Bell after a four-year boycott against restaurant chain, which is part of Yum Brands Inc. Numerous religious groups, including the Conference of Catholic Bishops and the National Council of Churches lent support to the coalition's efforts.
"This is one step forward in the fight," said coalition co-founder and farmworker Lucas Benitez. "It sends a strong message to the rest of the fast food industry that the leaders of the industry are taking concrete steps to improves the lives of workers, of human beings."
Florida pickers harvest about 90 percent of the nation's domestic winter tomato supply, but McDonald's mainly buys Florida's round tomatoes for its sandwiches, about 15 million tomatoes annually. Farm workers are paid about 40 cents per 32-pound bucket. The extra penny a pound would nearly double their pay to about 72 cents a bucket.
The coalition also recently began a similar campaign against Burger King Corp. Miami-based Burger King has said it cannot control what its suppliers pay their workers.
"Given that we represent such a small percentage, others in the industry need to step up and follow our lead," Whitman said.
Former President Jimmy Carter agreed.
"I encourage others to now follow the lead of McDonald's and Taco Bell to achieve the much needed change throughout the entire Florida-based tomato industry," he said.
McDonald's had previously refused the coalition's requests, maintaining it bought tomatoes through a third party and could not track where its produce came from. Instead, it sponsored a study _ later discredited _ that suggested farmworkers were paid more than twice the state's minimum wage. McDonald's also prompted Florida growers to develop a code to improve workplace conditions and protect workers. But farmworkers were not included in the development of that program, which did not call for a boost in wages.
Whitman credited the Carter Center for facilitating dialogue between the two sides and the company's suppliers who worked with McDonald's.
But Taylor & Fulton Farms co-owner Jay Taylor, who supplies McDonald's with tomatoes, was somewhat wary of the deal.
"I'm trying to digest how this will affect my relationship with McDonald's," he said. "I have to see exactly what this agreement means for us."
The fastest Immokalee pickers can earn more than $75 a day for hours of back-wrenching toil, but most earn far less _ though exact numbers are difficult to come by. Pickers can go days without work and get neither sick leave nor overtime.
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The King of Kwangju
Joined: 10 Feb 2003
Location: New York City
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