GarciaMajorProject2

 

Curational Statement

It seems as if everywhere we go in the U.S. there is a golden “M” in just about every town. Of course, it wasn’t always like this. M.A.D., also known as the McDonald’s American Domination, is a theory on how a once small business took the correct steps to one day dominate the fast food industry and the American country entirely. Ranging from the McDonald brothers, Richard and Maurice McDonald, to the famous Happy Meal, announced in 1979.

This exhibition provides general knowledge, opening with the origins of McDonald’s and the M.A.D. project. In addition to this, this exhibition shows exactly how the project came to dominate our country. This includes the steps McDonald’s as a business took that would lead to more consumer attraction. This, without a doubt, would lead to more revenue, allowing for more of their restaurants to open across the country. 

This exhibit invites you to follow along with the M.A.D. project’s sneaky upbringing and ponder how it has gone beyond dominating our country.

As you go along the exhibit, ask yourself how many times you have consumed the product you have seen on display. How much did it cost you? Not just on a financial scale, but your very own health. And, how much do you think McDonald’s has made from not just you, but your loved ones as well?

 

Exhibit 1

Richard (Dick) Mcdonalds and Maurice (Mack) Mcdonalds

Source of Picture – https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3049644/How-McDonald-s-founder-cheated-brothers-REALLY-started-empire-300m-wrote-company-history-left-one-die-heart-failure-barely-millionaire.html

Richard and Maurice, more commonly known as Dick and Mack, were a pair of brothers commonly referred to as the Mcdonald brothers. Maurice was the older brother, born in 1902, living until December 11, 1971. Richard was the younger brother, born in February 1909, and lived until July 14th, 1998.  

Born from Irish immigrants, the Mcdonald brothers lived in Manchester, New Hampshire. Soon in the 1920’s they relocated to California. Later in their life, they would run the first McDonald’s restaurant in San Bernardino.

Exhibit 2

McDonald brothers San Bernardino McDonald’s restaurant 1948-1955

Source of Picture – https://corporate.mcdonalds.com/corpmcd/our-company/who-we-are/our-history.html

The McDonald brothers’ first restaurant they owned grew to fame for it’s customer service system, “Speedee Services”. This system is what created an efficient environment for the store. This system would later on shape the basis of how fast food restaurants work to this day. 

With a small menu consisting of cheeseburgers, potato chips, slices of pies, milk shakes, soft drinks, milk, and their main attraction, the 15 cent burger.

Exhibit 3

Portrait of Ray Kroc, American Businessman
Source of Picture – https://www.biography.com/business-leaders/ray-kroc

Ray Kroc, also known as Raymond Albert Kroc, was born October 5th, 1902 and passed on the 14th of January, 1984. Kroc would be the business man responsible for the rapid growth of the Mcdonald’s franchise. Also speculated to be the mastermind behind the M.A.D. project. 

After the second World War, Kroc became a milkshake mixer salesman. This would later on lead him to find the Mcdonald brothers as they would purchase eight of his mixers.

Exhibit 4

McDonald’s Brothers, Dick and Mack, with Ray Kroc
Source of Picture – https://33713932.weebly.com/mcdonald-brothers.html 

Ray Kroc and the Mcdonald’s brothers would engage in a handshake agreement after numerous discussions. This agreement was to allow Kroc to get control over the business. In exchange, the McDonald brothers would get paid $2.7 Million and receive in perpetuity 1% of revenues.

It was not until the last second, that Kroc informed the McDonald’s brothers that the previously mentioned 1% of revenue could not be documented due to negotiations with the investors. Kroc would later open a restaurant across the street from the McDonald’s brothers, resulting to the original restaurant to shut down. Kroc’s true colors began to show, as he would only support his own agenda.

Exhibit 5

Ray Kroc’s 1st Mcdonald’s outlet – 1955
Source of Picture – https://corporate.mcdonalds.com/corpmcd/our-company/who-we-are/our-history.html

The McDonald brothers asked Kroc why he did not simply steal their idea and do things on his own. Kroc expressed the value in having them for their name, McDonald’s. Kroc explained how their name was a nice All-American name.

Kroc wanted to build a restaurant system known for providing consistently high quality food and uniform methods of preparation. Resulting in different locations that served food that tasted the exact same.

Exhibit 6

Newspaper Advertisement for Ray Kroc’s new Mcdonald’s – 1955
Source of Picture – https://corporate.mcdonalds.com/corpmcd/our-company/who-we-are/our-history.html

Kroc wanted to prioritize growth for the business. The McDonald brothers showed discomfort in the rapid growth, wanting to prioritize quality of the product over growth of the business. Kroc’s policies included only opening restaurants in suburban areas to reduce the risk of someone breaking into the store after opening hours.

Kroc also maintained the assembly line “Speedee Service System”  which was created by the Mcdonald brothers to ensure less than 5 minutes of wait time for customers. Exceeding the 5 minutes would result in a refund to the customer.

This fast serving method only increased consumer attraction within the country.

Exhibit 7

An Advertisement showcasing the Big Mac debut – 1968 
Source of Picture – https://corporate.mcdonalds.com/corpmcd/our-company/who-we-are/our-history.html

It is advertised that the Big Mac is a meal disguised as a sandwich. It’s important  to consider the health effects of this statement. The Big Mac contains high saturated fats and sodium levels which can lead to high cholesterol and high blood pressure, increasing the risk for developing heart disease or stroke. Wikipedia provides a statistic of how many Big Macs are sold. 560 Million Big Macs are sold annually, and around 17 each second.

According to Jaime D Stacey from “How Bad Is a Big Mac For You, Really?” published on Medium.com, the nutritional stats from a big mac are as followed

  • 540 calories
  • 25 grams of fat
  • 940 mg of salt

It’s important to consider how dramatic this is when compared to the Recommended Dietary Guidelines,

Exhibit 8

Happy Meal Debut Design – 1979
Source of Picture – https://www.qualitylogoproducts.com/blog/history-mcdonalds-toys/

An effective move for a food business to make was to target children. This provides many families with a solution on how to quickly feed their children conveniently. This aids single parent homes, financially struggling homes, homes with parents high demanding jobs, and so on. Children are very influential and, the future of the country. With the happy meal targeting the children of America, they grow customs of purchasing McDonald’s more often than usual. 

Exhibit 9

Advertisement showcasing the debut of the Chicken McNugget – 1983
Source of Picture – https://corporate.mcdonalds.com/corpmcd/our-company/who-we-are/our-history.html

After the Debut of the Happy Meal, to further attract young audiences, the Chicken Mcnuggets provide a great boost in the young consumers. With the choices of milkshakes, cheeseburgers, and now chicken nuggets, the menu has grew to cater to all ages in society. Quick and efficient customer service also adds more of a reason to purchase McDonald’s as a quick solution to hunger.  

As a business this is very good, however, one can see how the frequent consumption of these foods are not exactly the best dishes to consume frequently.

Exhibit 10

McDonald’s Advertisement on an All day breakfast menu  – 2015
Source of Picture – https://www.bizjournals.com/chicago/news/2015/10/05/mcdonalds-big-all-day-breakfast-advertising-push.html

With all age demographics reached, the next best way to profit is to target the breadwinners in society.  With many people working the common 9-5, providing Breakfast choices caters best to the morning shift workers. McDonald’s provides a quicker alternative to breakfast rather than cooking or meal prep.

Since many are more focused on being on time to work, the smartest decision to opt for would be to make a quick stop to McDonald’s for breakfast. This costs the workers their health. although not immediately, the constant intake of high sugar and fat foods in every morning piles up both financially and on a health perspective.

Ambitious Victory for M.A.D.

Through targeting all age demographics, the bread winners of society, and every generation of children, McDonald’s has succeeded to place a golden “M” all over the country. Profiting off of the very people who maintain this country both financially and with their health. 

We thank you for Exploring this Virtual Exhibit!