Horatio Alger, with a Side of Fries

It's that most wonderful time of year once again--Monopoly is back at McDonald's! Though McDonald's is promoting this year as the 20th Monopoly sweepstakes, the restaurant has been collaborating with Hasbro since 1987 all over the world. We all know about the elusive Boardwalk piece and the 1,000,000 McDoubles it would buy. Besides that top prize, the rest have shuffled over the years. Yet, the allure of the money has never been my main excitement over Monopoly at McDonalds. I decided to analyze the aspects of the promotion that make it so appealing.

More... Monopoly has always been about the American Dream. With some luck and saavy investing, you can become rich and powerful in your own little world. This concept is what drives American ideas of economy and power--we don't mind inequality, as long as everyone has a chance to make it big. We're inundated with individual success stories, despite the fact that real life odds are heavily stacked in favor of certain individuals. We celebrate that poor, come from nothing individual. This had special resonance during the Great Depression, when the game experienced its greatest growth. While there are plenty of iconic American board games, this is what makes Monopoly the most "American."

Pairing Monopoly with McDonald's was a stroke of marketing genius. If Monopoly is most representative of this country within the game sphere, then McDonald's dominates the food. These two powerful brands form a successful synergy, despite the fact that Monopoly at McDonald's is completely a game of luck, disregarding any semblance of strategy (unless you make tactical menu choices to optimize your game pieces, like me). If anything, Monopoly at McDonald's involves teamwork, pooling your pieces and splitting the winnings.

What Monopoly at McDonald's gives you is not just the sliver of hope of winning one of the prize. While that lottery mechanic's effect on behavior is well-documented and intuitive, the best aspect of the game is that it gives you a justification for eating at McDonald's. We have the chance to eat our way to fortune. How cool is that? If Monopoly is an analogy for life, Monopoly at McDonald's is the gloss of the American obsession with unhealthy food. We're all dreamers, now we can channel our dreams through fast food. ^

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The Rise of the McDouble

The New McDouble. Looks pretty familiar, but with one important difference

I love McDonald's. There, I said it. Shower all the hate and shame you want on me, but I don't think it's a paradox to be a foodie and like McDonald's. I've posted about it before on a lighter note, but now I have some grave news. I went into the restaurant today for my $3.25 lunch of double cheeseburger, McChicken and small fries, only to discover that the double cheeseburger is no longer on the Dollar Menu.

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I never understood how the double cheeseburger costs the same as a regular cheeseburger. No wonder it was the best selling item on the wildly successful Dollar Menu. According to the LA Times, it costs McDonald's $.06 for each slice of cheese. In an effort to cut costs, the double cheeseburger has been removed and replaced with a McDouble, the same thing minus one slice of cheese. I applaud McDonald's effort to maintain the Dollar Menu, which makes up 14% of their sales. It takes a lot to maintain that Dollar Menu when so many other places have opted for "value menus" instead. And I'll be honest, I ate the McDouble and didn't miss that extra slice of cheese. Would I pay $1.15 for the extra cheese? Nah, definitely something I could live (longer) without.

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I'm Running Late to My McMeeting

So I'm driving up the coast of California for a family road trip when we stopped at the American pit-stop to refuel. Yet this wasn't your run-of-the-mill McDonald's, it had gone through a little misguided remodeling. Entering the restaurant, I was greeted by a cheerful employee with a tray of samples. It's not like this is a food court menu, we've all grown up Ronald. The McGreeter was strange enough, but the sign behind her was even more peculiar. Yes, that's right. You can rent out this McConference room for your next board meeting. Of course it's not for kids' birthdays, unless your kid enjoys meeting rooms. Personally, I would've liked my birthdays to involve some sort of combination of ball and pit.




That's when I realized that this entire McDonald's deviated from the plastic furniture and red and yellow motif. I understand catering to the diverse clientele, but maybe clientele is too strong a word. Who wants to have a meeting that smells like French fries? In international McDonald's the brand is slightly skewed to reflect the culture. In China, Ronald is known as Uncle Ronald. There is also a country that features a Mrs. McDonald as the wife of Ronald McDonald because a lonely adult man who hangs out with kids is slightly offensive in that culture--not that Americans have problems like that. The menus are always a point of cultural flux, as any kid who found pizza at a Canadian McDonald's can tell you. McD's in India serve lamb burgers because of prevailing Hindu reverence for beef.

I am impressed by McDonald's evolving identity. They know how to perpetuate their brand and stay fresh, even giving Starbucks a run for its money with the new line of McDonald's coffee. Recently, the Hacienda Heights store has been redesigned with feng shui in mind to reflect the Chinese population. But perhaps I'm a little biased; I do have one share of McDonald's stock given to me for my tenth birthday.

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