McDonald's Wrappers: Making Food Tastier?

haha! Not sure if you'll trick 'em with that one. But just in case, I bet McD's will whore out their logo for anyone who pays, and we can try wrapping tofu-burgers in them. ;)

"Public service advertising for healthy foods will never compete with the colossal budgets of the fast food giants."

That's because no one really enjoys eating health food, unless you cultivate the habit.

I think what most people fail to realize is that McDonalds has found a way to cheaply, efficiently, and reliably associate their brand with food that is enjoyable.
I know that comes as a shock to many people, especially the health nuts who hate McDonalds, but the fact is, they're not holding guns to peoples heads to get them to eat there.

So, my advice to the health food folks is this:
Get creative, find a way to plate, prepare, and deliver health food in a way that is nutritious, healthy, and delicious, and find a way to turn a profit on it, and now you don't have to worry about PSA's.

The market has allowed for the creation of places such as Trader Joes, Whole Foods, and Henry's, and they're not only surviving, they're flourishing.

Lastly, McDonalds has made it to where poor and low-income families can eat quite well for a small amount of money. That's the next bar to hit for health food.

If someone can do that, they not only don't have to worry about McDonalds and their big budget, McDonalds will change their menu in response to the demand.

Just a thought :)

Crazy survey... I've always thought Coca-Cola from McDonalds tasted better than other fast food places. I still don't know why.

Nate said: That's because no one really enjoys eating health food, unless you cultivate the habit.

Couldn't agree more. We evolved, remember. Calories weren't easy to come by - you had to hunt, gather, forage, fight. The ease with which we can stuff ourselves now with empty, plentiful calories is unfortunate, because our bodies are built for scarcity. We're hard-wired to eat as much as possible - it's only been in the last 10,000 years or so, and only in certain areas of the world at that, where "easy calories" have become so prevalent. And the junk food and excessive calories have only really become accessible in the last few generations and only really in developed nations. And wouldn't you know, obesity and disease rates mirror that.

Just incredible, but it is the sad 21st Century reality. Junk food is "in" and Healthy food looks "weird."

A simple "McDonald's wrapper" can make a junk food look healthy and appealing?

Healthy oriented restaurants should start using McDonalds strategy....

... no wonder we see so many obese children lately.

It is time to start learning how to make healthy choices.

That is terrifying. I wonder, I just wonder, what would happen if they were to wrap an apple in a McD wrapper. Would make for an interesting experiment.

I've noticed that my cousins (who are all very picky eaters) will eat apple wedges from McDonald's simply because they are from McDonald's. If I cut up an apple and give it to them on a plate at home, they won't eat it. They tend to eat the healthy stuff more readily if I use cute Ziploc bags that are decorated with cartoon pictures and stickers.

Back in the day, my dad used to pack our lunches for school...he'd put our sandwiches in sandwich containers that he'd put different stickers on each day. Or he'd wrap them in "fancy" parchment paper with decorative designs on it. It always made our lunch feel special and we always ate it.

Spectra said:
Back in the day, my dad used to pack our lunches for school...[...]

Ha, yeah...he also knew that kids are pretty impressionable. We used to beg for brand name cereal at the store, INSISTING that we could tell the difference between that and generic. Once, he bought generic frosted flakes and the Kellog's ones we wanted. He poured us each identical bowls of cereal and told us he wanted us to pick out the brand name stuff. We couldn't and we lost the cereal battle that day. From then on, it was generic cereal for us.

I guess that's called "Tough Love."

Or a scene from the sitcom. "Everybody Hates Chris.":-)

Had these children never had McDonald's food before? How do we know they preferred McDonalds because of advertising rather than their preexisting associations with having fun eating at McDonalds? I used to love going to McDonalds when I was a kid and we didn't own a TV.

Stu : "I've always thought Coca-Cola from McDonalds tasted better than other fast food places."

I always thought Wendy's diet coke tasted like there was some captain morgan in it :)

My girls (8 and 10) have never eaten McDonald's and can count their fast food restaurant experiences on three fingers. They've seen Fast Food Nation and actually boo and hiss when we pass a McDonald's on the road. We've talked a lot about how things are marketed and advertised, and they are pretty quick to find the underlying agenda in these things.

That's not to say they don't love their fries and burgers and hot dogs and potato chips and fish sticks and chicken nuggets and ice cream and candy and soda and won't often pick these things instead of healthier foods, given a choice.

I can see how labels can make a big difference. Last winter our supermarket was selling Clementines in fun, bright boxes with tv characters on them (Dora the Explorer, Blues Clues, Sponge Bob...). They were definitely a lure for my girls, and it was so nice to be able to say "yes, these are healthy and we can buy them" to them for once. I wish we could find more things like that. Packaging can make eating more fun.

Your dad fixing your lunch says it all.

Funny how fast food restaurants are treated like they are evil when a culture where the traditional American family in on a decline are the ones giving them the most business.

I wonder how many families sit down at a family meal? It's probably rare when 2 parents work, then send the kids off to soccer practice after school, or many other activities.

I think our life styles support the fast food industry. Bravo to those who don't allow for that.

Keep in mind tho' that fast food places employ a lot of our sons and daughters. They are not the evil ones, only those who support them beyond moderation.

If anyone needs to go to a fast food place more than
once a week it's time to evaluate your life style before what should be ordered on the menu.

"These children (aged 3 to 5) actually thought the food tasted better - simply because it had a McDonald's logo on it."
Are you absolutely positive there are no other factors here? This is an inference that you have made from your data, it is not necessarily the 'truth.' Are there other factors involved, perhaps the order in which the food was served, how much was given, parental/researcher influence, etc?
I do not mean to subvert what is likely a meaningful point, but it is difficult to make such a powerful inferential statement without knowing the method and motivations of the researchers.

That is a tough test because I think kids in general would be drawn towards saying one is better than the other more so than adults. I also would think any kind of fancy wrapper, not just a mcdonalds wrapper would make kids like the food more.