McDonald's, it seems, is everywhere. What is it about dreadful non-nutritious hamburgers, with orange cheese and buns that taste like powder puffs instead of real bread that takes whole nations in around the world - irrespective of their own national cuisine. Is it all just clever marketing and astute franchising? Or is McDonald's really selling something of value. As Australia heads into a McDonald's lead economy where more people are employed in this low-skilled service industry than in any other sector of the conomy, should we try to dissect things more deeply and use a more powerful tool to bring every aspect into visibility.
What has brought on this spate of reflection is this article. In a time when American communities are suffering, when whole suburbs have been turned onto the streeets, and the iconic General Motors is no more, McDonald's forges on. It seems that, between downsizing prices and uppricing higher end coffee, McDonald's is cleverly ensuring its business continues to deliver. And things don't appear to be very different in Australia - which is not experiencing the degree of suffering that the USA is.
However, there is an area of the business where some of us question what McDonald's does deliver: animal cruelty instead of animal welfare.
Pop over here to this Animals Australia site and think about what is there. Ask to be supersized by McDonald's in terms of animal welfare - not animal suffering.
I thought a lot about McDonalds after sitting in the car while my husband fuelled up on the freeway in southern NSW. Hungry Jacks was there too. Then I remembered how bad the toilets were there, and I couldn't understand. Before I realised it was Hungry Jacks it just looked like a rundown roadhouse. Then in McD's the taps were worn out, like a rundown roadhouse. So maybe they are the Shell servo only the 2000+ version?
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