According to an internal memo leaked by Advertising Age, McDonald’s knows it’s unpopular with 19-30 year olds. And here I thought it was just us Real Foodies!
These young people are called millennials, and McDonald’s is planning a large push to beef up their popularity with this age group. That’s because millennials represent the largest generation in America and more than 80 million people worldwide.
Given the bashing that McDonald’s has taken in popular documentaries over the last decade, is this any wonder?
This could have something to do with millennials subscribing to healthier, more sustainable food chains. Even though McDonald’s added salads to its menu as a nutritious alternative for health-conscious consumers a decade ago, this effort has proved insufficient—especially when we learn things like its Caesar salad is more fattening than its burger.
I’m not sure that this generation of millennials is necessarily attached to the idea of “healthier” food. I think it has to do with all the bad press McDonald’s has been receiving in popular films.
What are some of the films that paint McDonald’s in a poor light?
Let’s take a look at the most popular ones.
Super Size Me
While examining the influence of the fast food industry, Morgan Spurlock personally explores the consequences on his health of a diet of solely McDonald’s food for one month.
The film is a bit sensationalist, and Spurlock often makes the worst possible food choices even when his own rules dictate he could opt for something “healthier” on their menu. He also unduly criticizes McDonald’s for having playgrounds in their restaurants, claiming that such play places are evil marketing towards children. Personally, rather than critiquing the restaurant for being smart enough to provide play places in neighborhoods that otherwise have nowhere for children to play, I’d instead push for even more restaurants to follow suit. As a mom, I really enjoy taking my kids out to eat at “kid-friendly” places.
Yet despite it’s faults, it also does an excellent job pointing out many of the unsavory business practices that propelled McDonald’s into its status as the number one restaurant chain in the world. And, it was nominated for an Academy Award. How many documentaries get to say that?
(Click here to watch or buy Super Size Me.)
McLibel
In the UK, McDonald’s used to routinely use the UK’s libel laws to suppress criticism. Even major media outlets like the BBC and The Guardian opted to publicly apologize and retract unfavorable statements about McDonald’s rather than face trial.
This is the story of two of the UK’s most vocal McDonald’s critics, Helen Steel and Dave Morris, “two people who wouldn’t say McSorry.”
From the movie’s description:
In the longest trial in English legal history the “McLibel Two” represented themselves against McDonald’s 10 million legal team.
Every aspect of the corporation’s business was cross-examined: from junk food and McJobs to animal cruelty environmental damage and advertising to children. Outside the courtroom Dave brought up his young son alone and Helen supported herself working nights in a bar.
McDonald’s tried every trick in the book against them. Legal manoeuvres. A visit from Ronald McDonald. Top executives flying to London for secret settlement negotiations. Even spies. Seven years later in February 2005 the marathon legal battle finally concluded at the European Court of Human Rights. And the result took everyone by surprise – especially the British Government.
McLibel is not just about hamburgers. It is about the importance of freedom of speech now that multinational corporations are more powerful than countries.
I enjoyed the film if only because it gave me insight into McDonald’s corporate ethics. While some of the statements about McDonald’s that Helen Steel or Dave Morris made me cringe with their half-truth or excessive vitriol, I still enjoyed the movie.
(Click here to get your hands on a copy of McLibel.)
Food, Inc.
While not entirely about McDonald’s, this documentary does show the role McDonald’s has had influencing the standard American diet.
McDonald’s is a big enough buyer in the American industrial food system that they’re purchasing needs have driven much of the industry’s adaptions — including the switch from finishing cattle on pasture to confined animal feeding operations, as well as the routine treatment of hamburger beef with ammonia.
Be forewarned, though. This film is not for the faint at heart — particularly the rather graphic displays of factory farmed animals. Yet, it’s still a great, if incomplete, indictment of the industrial food scene.
You can read my full review of the film here.
(Click here to watch or buy Food, Inc.)
McDonald’s Has A Plan
So, how is McDonald’s going to target millennials influenced by these films and lure them to their golden arches?
With the McWrap — a hip new “healthy” food item and the biggest new product of the year:
Referred to in the memo as a “Subway buster,” the McWrap “affords us the platform for customization and variety that our millennial customer is expecting of us.” The McWrap comes grilled or crispy in three varieties—sweet chili chicken, chicken and bacon, and chicken and ranch—and will range from 360 to 600 calories, depending in part on the type of chicken.
Said the memo: “Our customers are consistently telling us, particularly millennials, they expect variety, more choices, customization and their ability to be able to personalize their food experience.”
I don’t know about you, but I believe a WRAP is in no way the answer to a generation of people looking for more sustainable food choices.
In fact, their “solution” is so far off the mark that I find myself doing a happy dance. Not only are they losing popularity with millennials, but they have no clue how to actually green-wash their product enough to make it appealing to that generation’s detractors.
What do you think? Is this the beginning of the end for McDonald’s?
(top photo by davemorris)
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I ate a meal at a Mcdonald’s last week. I’m pregnant, and when I’m pregnant I love fast food fried chicken sandwiches (I can’t believe I just admitted that), but I still don’t like McDonald’s. We usually eat pretty healthy, but we do fast food once in a while. It was cold, and my husband talked me into Mcdonalds so our kids could play in the playplace since we couldn’t go to the park. Their “Greenwashing” is laughable, and their food is still terrible, just as I’d remembered (even the pregnant, junk food loving version of me was disappointed.) The box my husband’s burger came in said “simple ingredients” with pictures of wheat, beef, and cheese on the front. Except I know that the average McDonald’s burger has seventy something ingredients! My daughter’s apples claimed to be “farm grown” (where else do apples come from? Just because it grew on a farm means nothing) and “only from select varieties of apples”. Well, at least they are smart enough to know that some varieties of apples aren’t that great for slicing and storing, but this says nothing about how they were produced or what they were treated with. It makes me angry that they are intentionally misleading people into thinking they are doing something good for themselves. It makes me sad to see how misinformed and uneducated most of my peers are about the food they put in their bodies and don’t even know what it feels like to be healthy.
I try to avoid “fast food” places like McDonalds, except in rare travel occasions. It’s not that their food tastes bad. In fact they have the science of taste pretty down pat. And the way they have catered to casual Starbucks crowd is pretty ingenious.
However, the health issues, or the horrifying way the food is glued together, and the industrial meat market practices make companies like McDonalds seem disingenuous and vile. And frankly, I can get a burger anywhere!
If they want to win my purchase, they have to dramatically change the way they operate. I had hoped they were on that path, having owned a controlling stake of companies like Chipotle. But it seems they are mired in their own grease, and unwilling/able to crawl out.
I completely agree with your sentiments about what they’d have to do to win my purchase back – basically, total overhaul in how they grow/source their ingredients. Like you said, I can get a burger anywhere.
Life is busy, granted, but I still don’t find myself needing a burger in under 30 minutes very often… actually, make that ever. That’s basically all I see places like McDonald’s as being for these days, since there are healthier (and some would say tastier) options aplenty. There are just too many “fast food” items that are actually healthy and totally possible to eat anywhere (piece of fruit, cheese stick, handful of nuts or seeds, granola bar, etc.) that it makes needing a fast food burger pretty much unnecessary. I am not the busiest person on earth, but I am the pregnant mother of a toddler who works outside the home full-time. A toddler, I’ll add, who is over three and has never been to or had food from McDonald’s. 🙂
I totally agree. I just travelled out of town with my 2 1/2yr old this past weekend. We used to stop at Mcdonalds, and I had a cold lunch for him and my hubby and I ate the junk. Now hes old enough to realize that he is eating something differant, and we also need to be better about not eating crap as well. I packed a lunch for all of us, we stopped and a very nice rest stop with a park. It was relaxing and healthy to do. Honestly with the exception of the occasional Smashburger indulgence, most fast food leaves me feeling wanting and disappointed. Too cold, too greasy, and now that I know whats in it.. too awful.
I only go to McDonald’s when I am on a road trip and need iced tea– because it IS cheap (I am assuming they are trying to wrangle people in to buy other stuff, but whatever). I even checked to make sure the tea was JUST tea, because I trust them so little. My daughter, is in that 19-30 crowd, though, and she and her boyfriend do eat out but not places like McDonald’s. They prefer the little, individual specialty type places they have around in So. Cal. So maybe that’s part of it… McDonald’s isn’t hip and indie. I’ll have to ask her!
I think the “not cool” factor is a big part of why they are losing business in that age range. McDonalds is geared toward kids and families with kids. We go there for the play areas because we often have to travel over and hour to pick up items not available in town (or not available in county or state sometimes). With children 2,4, and 6, we need a place for them to run around and play after sitting still for so long. I would love a place with better food to put in play areas–the weather here in the winter makes going to the park a poor option. College students and twenty-somethings with no children don’t want to go to a restaurant geared toward children and their parents.
The McDonalds bashing is trendy BECAUSE of green-washing. Millenials prefer to eat at trendier specialty eateries because of the less than hip stigma that is now associated with McDonalds. It’s a mark of pride and socioeconomic status to eat at trendier joints that boast some strain of (real or fictitious) food enlightenment through their business model.
I have a bit of an addiction to fast food that I battle with and my husband is the same but battles much less. I have sworn off McDonald’s a few times though and ended up back there under weak moments of extreme suggestion. But the last time was the last time I swear to it! I get a really bad stomach ache every time, no matter what I eat. Bad, painful smelly gas that would clear a room. I agree that it is trendy to not like McDonald’s thanks to the back lash from the media etc, but I won’t eat there because it makes me feel bad. That’s the only reason that matters to me!
It’s because it’s all junk, even their “healthy” food isn’t. I’m part of this group and I never eat there and would never let my kids eat there. They also offer nothing that I can eat because it is full of high allergen ingredients.
You know, we stay away from fast food because it’s unhealthy, but even before I started the real food journey I took issue with places like McDonald’s, Taco Bell, Long John Silver’s, etc. I grew up eating that food frequently and loving it. But re-eating it as an adult, you realize it tastes very little like the meals you enjoyed as a child and much more stale and chemical-y. I’m not sure how health-conscious millennials are, but maybe they realize it’s not the same stuff they enjoyed as a kid.
It will be interesting to see McDonald’s’ response to the study.
I’m part of this “millenials” group, and I stopped liking McDonalds sometime in early high school. I just realized that the food wasn’t that good (I also don’t love wimpy, bland fast-food burgers). I ended up marrying a guy who hated McDonalds as much as I did, so if we go, it is only because we’re meeting people to hang out and we get a drink. Thankfully, we’re about to move to a town where there really are options other than McDonalds.
Maybe if McDonalds could figure out how to prevent the food they sell from finding its way back out of the human body in such a forcible manner it might be a tiny bit more appealing to shove into my facehole.
Or you know maybe actually using real meat…
Quite frankly, I hope it is the beginning of the end for McDonalds! Good riddance I say!
Unfortunately, I live in a small town in East Texas and there aren’t many eating out options except for fast food and big chain restaurants (Red Lobster, Applebees, etc.).
Luckily, I love to cook, but it would be nice to be able to go out from time to time. I usually try it once or twice a year, and just come home sad.
Although no-one in our family has set foot in a McD’s for over 15 years, when we told our kids who were far more interested in the ball pit than the menu, that they served McBoogers, I also hope it is the beginning of the end. Not just for this company, but all businesses that sell garbage presented as food.
I used to eat McDonalds like crazy when I was in high school. Every Friday for at least a year, a former friend and I would walk 2.5 miles along the railroad tracks to the McDonalds. Between the both of us, we’d eat 30 chicken nuggets and 2 large fries and we’d wash it down with chocolate milk or soda. On my own, I could easily eat 20 chicken nuggets and a large fries as well. Oddly enough, this did nothing to my weight (I remained 102lbs. I’ve always had a very fast metabolism) but I do recall running to the bathroom half an hour later and pretty much destroying the place. I stopped eating fast food for a few years and when I tried to eat some chicken nuggets recently, I started feeling ill 3 nuggets in and gave them to a friend of mine to finish. That stuff is so bad for you that you actually need to build up a tolerance for it. I have a similar reaction to anything from Taco Bell that has “beef” in it. Yuck.
I never ate that much Mcdonald’s food at once, but I totally get what you mean about Taco Bell. I ate there once. I had such horrible diarrhea that I will never eat there again. I’m usually nervous about eating anything from KFC, partly because Taco Bell and KFC are the same company, but also because most KFC food almost doesn’t seem like real food.
I only stop at McDonald’s when I need to use a restroom…
Haha, I doubt that will work for them. NOTHING would ever make me even step into McDonalds, ever. Period. I’ll be 30 this year, and nothing will magically make me like it when I’m 31. It doesn’t matter what they would sell, even if they had an all organic wrap – I don’t want to support a huge corporation that has done so much wrong in the world.
Thank Good for that reply!! I totally agree with you Anastasia…Not only the food is bad for oneself but for the entire world (including people as well as eco issues) Even if they would do an entire U turn into organic- healthy food there is so much more wrong with them, including the oversize power that they hold as corporation and the way they treat people and the environment…It’s not only unhealthy but also unethical!
Dear readers:
McDonald’s food could never be classified as “healthy”.
Let’s start from the top. When food is transported hundreds, or thousands of miles, the vitamin and mineral integrity degrades. Food is sensitive to changing temperatures as well and food does not like to go from hot to cold to hot to cold during transport.
Next- The bread has no nutritional value and contains harmful corn synthetics and derivatives and other extenders and conditioners. If hydrogenated oils are used in the bread, then your health is at risk.
Next- the meat comes from industrial combines where animals are given antibiotics, steroids, and other supplements that your body does not need or like. Animals are often fed corn and foods that they would never eat in nature. That makes these animals sick. So you would be eating a sick animal. By buying McDonald’s food, you are sustaining animal combines where those animals live a miserable life. We would never treat our pets the way the animal industry treats those food animals.
Next-By purchasing McDonald’s food, you take money away from local farmers and local businesses, who are be trying to serve you fresh food. That is a bad business model for our country.
Next- it is imperative that every American learns to cook for themselves. That is the only way to be healthy. When you go to McDonald’s, you are putting off your personal responsibility to cook for your family. You may say, “I do not have the time to cook for my family”. I beg to differ with that notion. I work 40 hours a week and I cook each day for my family. The meal may be just a stir fry, or steel cut oats made into oat meal, or oat flour pancakes, but this is fresh and healthy food for those I love. It can be done:)
You also have a growing number of people who need to be gluten free (not because its trendy, but because it makes them sick). It’s not safe for us GFers to eat there even IF we wanted to.
Our three grandchildren, ages 4, 7, and 9, have never been to a McDonald’s nor any other fast food restaurant!
They have no clue what those places offer.
I am so glad their parents are informed about nutrition (Palio/Low Carb).
AWESOME! Peer pressure is so strong, so way to go!
Let me get this right. Their choices are “sweet chili chicken, chicken and bacon, and chicken and ranch”??? Um ok. Don’t even want to guess how many different (processed) ingredients are in the sweet chili chicken. Chicken and bacon? Oh that sounds healthy, throw some bacon on it. Chicken and ranch? Is this the same ranch dressing that adds 500 calories to innocuous salads? This is a pitiful attempt to look healthy that simply illustrates how clueless the processed food industry really is. McDonalds is not alone in this cluelessness, they’re just a stunning example of all that is wrong with our processed-food world here in the U.S. Major fail.
Oh, and I don’t bother with Burger King, Taco Bell, KFC, Wendy’s, Arby’s, any of that ilk. I do like my junk food from time to time, but I have standards 🙂 It’s possible to get fast food made of real food, not overly processed crap.
I bet the bacon they use contains no pork . . .
haven’t eaten at a McDs in over 20 years! My 10 year old son only knows McDs as a pit stop for the bathroom…”hey mama, there’s the golden arches. Can i use the bathroom?”.
Apparently, I am a “millennial.” We choose not to eat at McDonalds for many reasons. The last time we ate there, not one person in my family of five felt well after. It’s not sustainably sourced, it’s not local, it’s not organic, it’s not even real food. My family and I choose not to eat there because it’s simply not good for us. There’s not much they can do to their current food or future offerings besides choosing better and local ingredients, removing colors, preservatives, and other additives, and choosing sustainability that would want us to even try their food again.
I had some recently after many years and it doesn’t even taste like real food anymore. The fries are flavourless sticks of salt, the fish filet is an oily mess and the beef tastes like styrofoam. The last time (prior to this)I purchased the pancake breakfast and the pancakes were still cold. The only redeeming item on the menu is their coffee.
I’m at the top end of that Millenial group, and being 29 years old, I can say, I’m not the youngest who have given the finger to McDonald’s. I can say I do hope trend continues to grow. As mean as it may sound, I honestly hope they go out of business because the food they serve sucks and so do their business practices.
Aside from that, I eat at McDonald’s about three times a year for whatever reason and each time, it’s a reminder of why I don’t. The last time I ate a quarter pounder meal, I felt like crap for the whole next day and I just cannot bring myself to eat food that makes me feel that terrible.
I’ve learned so much about my own body’s optimal nutrition and it does NOT include much fast food. My body doesn’t tolerate fast food well and so I don’t make it. As for what was said about cute little joints that are one in a million–yes. I look for those places. I will definitely go out of my way to eat at a place like that instead of a commercial chain.
(Though I’m glad you’ve obviously come a long way compared to most people I have to say) your (every)body’s optimal nutrition includes no fast food. Optimal being the key word, here.
Eating food someone else prepared while you weren’t watching and without telling you everything that went into it (including the processing of the ingredients) isn’t optimal either. Go out of your way to not eat at any ‘place’ at all, unless it is a friend or loved one’s home 🙂 “Millenial friendly marketing” is still marketing, dead food is still dead food.
Optimal = Growing and minimally processing and preparing your own food. This will always be true for human biology.
I’m 24 and I won’t eat at McDonald’s because of how their animals are treated. I saw some video footage about factory farming, and it was horrifying. Although I can’t be a vegetarian very easily (as I don’t like many vegetables), I can make more informed choices about where I get my meat from. I would consider eating there again if they made an effort to treat their animals more humanely while they are alive.
I think the reason that 19-30 year old avoid McDonalds is most likely they have been so inundated with it as children.
It is now passe and they have eaten tons of McD food already and want something different.
I rarely eat there now only when traveling
I don’t often eat there unless I’m desperate for their “big” breakfast, sans sausage (about 4 to 5 times per year). The hashbrowns are tasty but I need a shower after eating them. When in dire need of coffee and Starbucks is too far to walk, I do like their coffee – black, no sugar, no cream, but it gives me a headache the next day. I happy to say I’ve been completely caffeine free for the last 12 days.
This doesn’t surprise me. The millennial generation was raised on McDonald’s, the way mine was raised on pot roast and potatoes, so I’ve often wondered if, as grown-ups, the millennials would be bored with McDonalds — and real home cooked food, which was so boring to their parents, would seem savvy, new, and exciting. I think it’s great, and I hope that people of all ages discover the fun and wonder of cooking with real food!
Love the Supernatural reference at the end.
This is a beautiful! A health-conscious “millenial” myself, I agreed with AdAge. McDonald’s needs to find a way to focus on becoming more sustainable and offering healthier choices.
I have tried my utmost to get McDonald’s eradicated from our family diet, but at this point, I am still foiled by my inlaws, who, in their seventies, still think that the food from McDonald’s is good for you. We’ve tried to educate them, and my dear mother in law remained horrifed for about one week, and then promptly forgot. So, about once every couple of weeks, they pick up some McDonald’s food for my two children. The indoctrination is so deep with them, that when I got sick and landed in the hospital for four days, my father in law offered to bring me some McD’s while I recovered. When I explained that I was trying rebuild my immunity and being very careful about my food intake (I think my exact words were, “I’m trying to only eat foods that are really healthy.”) he replied, “So, should I get you a double cheeseburger?” Because I love my inlaws dearly, I have not made an issue of this and other similar incidents involving Froot Loops and balogna, but I must confess that I find it very frustrating. I try and remind myself that what the kids eat 80% of the time is more important, right?
I’m also in the top end of the Millenial generation, but having taken my time through college, I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know individuals 4-6 years younger than me. Some of the trends of the generation I researched a bit awhile back, and found that a full 3rd of Millenials have voted with their money and consider it an ethic. Climate change and social justice are also concerns of the generation and it is no secret where McDonalds gets their meat from, or the role it plays in deforestation, much less the health implication. I stopped eating fastfood in High School when one day eating a few fries just left me feeling greasy-gross. in college a few friends “had to stop” in KFC and I hadn’t eaten all day so I bought some potato wedges. I ate 3. My stomach told me I was full, even though I’d barely eaten anything. My family ate fairly healthily as I was growing up, and when I realized my body just wouldn’t take the grease…I stopped eating it. Another element is that the chain has been around long enough that someone has known someone who worked there and stories circulate. For me, it was my little brother’s friend’s father (immigrant family) and he told everyone they changed out the oil for the fries once a month. Once a month. My stomach turned. Otherwise it was let to sit. And look at Buffy the Vampire Slayer when she had to work in a fast food joint, or Supoernatural when the Leviathan used Turducken burgers to make the human population docile and fat. It isn’t so much that fast food is “uncool” as I think it has a reputation for being “gross.” Moreover, the shop local movement would naturally have success with a generation seeing some of the highest levels of unemployment ever seen by a particular age group. Keeping money local is supposed to keep jobs local, and hopefully boost opportunities in your own backyard. Big Chains and fast food don’t support the lifestyle or ethic many (though never all) millenials want to express. Besides, I’ve known more millenials that cooked than their parents… not that who I know is a statistical sample.
I felt like junk food tonight so was going to get a veg burger & chips (fries) from the local owned shop down the road (NOT McD’s). I was stoked that even at this, a family member offered to make us all homemade burger & chips instead – telling of my family practices! How lucky I am…
I think this conversation should STOP IMMEDIATELY so that McDonalds doesn’t farm it for better ideas. I’m being entirely serious.
I will admit that I use to love their Big Mac and fries. I even worked for McDonald’s as a technical writer (whodda thunk?) in their corporate offices. However, I knew their food was not good for you and was a big contributor to the health problems that our country has been experiencing. And while the folks I worked with were very nice and I was proud of the work I was doing (which was documenting hardware and software), I was extremely grateful when a job in the tech industry opened up and I was able to leave there.
Now, I won’t eat there because a) I discovered I’m gluten intolerant(source of my migraines) b) I’ve since learned about how bad meats from CAFO sources are and c) I abhor the low wages of their restaurant workers.
As irony would have it, I was contacted by a recruiter recently about a contract job. Unbeknownst to me, the job would have entailed working again for McDonald’s. However, as I was talking to the recruiter about my past job experiences I mentioned my moral objection to working for McD’s. That’s when she revealed who the job was for and we both agreed that I was not the best candidate for it.
Woo hoo!!! About time!!!
haha.. me too!!!
My son refuses to eat fast food, at all! Yeah
Pamela Prettynose, that’s awesome! Glad he’s learning to avoid junk!
He is in that age range
I wish it was their end. Sadly they are building one at the end of our street. That will make number 3 for what was once a very rural area with only mom and pop places to eat. Sigh….
Hopefully the END. 🙂 Haven’t had it in years and I am 29. Vote with your dollars!!!
Even better, 19-30 yr olds who are starting their families don’t take their kids there so the next generation will hopefully be less inclined to do so themselves.
Prayers and hope!
It is going to take a lot for McDonalds to go away. I live abroad and McDonalds is always the busiest place in the food court.
My daughter (6 year old McD fan at the time) decided, after watching how nuggets are made, she never wanted to eat there again. It’s been 3 years now and I’m so thankful. Now we have moved onto no fast food at all…but I was so happy when she made that choice at such a young age.
I’m at the top end of that and my family doesn’t eat there. My dad has gotten a coffee there every morning since I was a child. Now my 4 year old calls it “grandpa’s coffee place” cause he’s gone through the drive through with him. I don’t even think he knows they have food there!
Maybe “Supersize Me” had something to do w it?
MacDonald “food” if you want to call it that, causes all the major stomach and intestinal issues. See any nutritional source to see how bad it really is.
Well, this is good if they haven’t just changed their preference for a different fast food restaurant. I mean if they just go to Taco Bell instead its not going to make them any healthier. I haven’t been in a fast food place in over 5 years and have learned to find healthier alternatives but it wasn’t always fast or easy.
it’s plain old Nasty, lol
I’m at the very end of this age group, but I think it has a lot to do with this age group really questioning what we’re eating, and the real food movement coming when our kids are young enough to not have learned about happy meals, and therefore not throw tantrums about not getting them anymore. I hope this trend will continue until all “fast food” is more like Chipotle and we have more options for a quick meal that we can feel good about.
What Do you ThinK Happened!? My boys are 24 and 25.. we never had a farm or a garden and I’m ex military. What happened was that parents started including their children in not just decisions about flavors, but what it took to create them!! I credit my generation for educating you kids when we found out how we had been mislead by our babyboomer parents.. and i’m off the soap box
warms my heart! I can only hope that the trend will be even greater with the young kids that we’re raising. I know my kids think their food is disgusting!
I cannot stand McDonald’s & haven’t for years!
My son found out about the calories and did not like the food sometime around 8 yrs old. Then he found out how chicken nuggets are made, that a Shake is not a milkshake, how the french fries are flavored, what is done to the beef …He never eats at McDonald’s and will openly tell someone that he doesn’t eat their food. He will do without if he had to be in there.
Always consider the economics around any perceived social change. Taco Bell is cheaper – what are their numbers, and how is their popularity among the same demog.? Considering the true unemployment among young people, and doing the math – I suspect it has little to do with nutrition understanding. Let’s keep it real.
Or maybe they don’t wanna get sick under Unaffordable Sick Care, i.e., Obamacare?
naw. they’ll change their image as the world changes
Yes – unless they begin to offer stuff that’s organic.
That would be cool.
I think the place being full of old people turn the younger people away, like other places the older people go to, the young people do not go.
It’s in popular with the 40-46 years olds as well!!
I stopped eating McDonalds (and all other fast foods) about 5-6 years ago because I was getting sick every time I ate it.
Nice, I agree. Happy dance. They are so far off! As Chipolte does an extra $650 a day at their stores.
McD’s still has the 0 – 18 yr/olds to work on the next generation.
Hopefully!
Someone has to pay 7 Euro for a MCDonalds menu !
For around half the price you get here much better food from Asia take-aways, really dishes with rice, vegetable and meat.
If you pay only 2-3 euros more you can go to a restuarent and get even more great food.
So, why should someone eat at MCDonalds ?