May 18, 2004

Ugh!

This is probably the most misguided "ethnic outreach" site I've ever seen. What is McDonald's thinking? And what were they hoping to say with this website?

Here's what I got out of it...


  • Hi, we're McDonald's and we like people of Asian/Pacific Islander heritage.
  • Your culture is important to McDonald's, which is why we've included a section of this website that will show you what holidays you should be celebrating, whether you're Cambodian, Laotian or Japanese.
  • McDonald's really respects Asian people, which is why we're providing you with external links from our website to articles like "Top Asian American Professionals" and "The 20 Most Inspiring Asian Sports Stars in America."
  • We have Asian people working for us! Here are profiles of them.
  • Wanna browse meaningless McDonald's trivia? Haven't you always wanted to know what Ronald McDonald's shoe size is?

Perhaps the most profound statement this website makes is its raison d'etre. It's obvious McDonald's looks at Asian-Americans as a media audience against which it needs to beef up its ad presence. Which is why they built this exceptionally lame Asian "culture portal" and why no one will ever spend any significant length of time there.

Posted by THespos at May 18, 2004 12:40 PM | TrackBack
Comments
All comments are property of the individual poster who left them. Everything else, copyright 2005, Tom Hespos

On the contrary. Despite not being Asian (or indeed American) I spent a riotous 15 minutes on it. Admittedly, the majority of those minutes were taken up with helpless sniggering and feeble gestures for colleagues to join me in mocking this execrable site. But the time is presumably logged on their version of WebTrends. Or whatever.

Posted by: Rob at May 19, 2004 11:32 AM

Whooooaaa!!!!

McDonalds leads the way when it comes to patronising content.

Rob 15 minutes is too long to spend on that site, though I can see why you found it funny... I nearly laughed before i threw up.

Posted by: Joe Bloggs at May 19, 2004 12:41 PM

Hm........ intresting now wheres my law suit for racial discrimination I want I-am-English and I-am-british and I-am-american .. blah blah blah lmao!

What a pathetic site but it was funny for the whole 10 min it took to load and 2 seconds it took to close LMAO!

Posted by: JaiB at May 21, 2004 10:56 AM

So hip-hop is Asian? Cool.

Posted by: James at May 21, 2004 01:52 PM

hmm...As an Asian, I'm not sure what to make of it. I am not insulted by it as such and, in fact, I am somewhat encouraged that the Asian demographic is being targeted, despite the admittedly lame and shallow approach. Change will take time. Getting started is the hard part...

Posted by: jimmy at June 18, 2004 12:26 AM
Post a comment









Remember personal info?