Consumerist
happy meals
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karoshi
Putting In Too Much Overtime Can Kill You
A worker at a McDonald's branch in Japan died of "karoshi" — the Japanese term for death from overwork — according to officials at the local government labor bureau. The employee, a 41-year-old woman, had put in about 80 hours a month in overtime for six months before she died. "We determined her work caused the illness," said an official at the agency. More » -
health
People Ate More After Calories Got Posted At Fast Food Joints
Calorie posting is supposed to help people make healthier eating choices, but study of fast food joints in poor New York neighborhoods saw customers eating more calories after the calories went up on the sign. More » -
royale with cheese
McDonald's Set To Open Branch In Louvre
The French arm of McDonald's may no longer be the target of local farmers and gastronomes who attacked it in decades past. But next month, the chain will ask the French if they'd like frites with their Mona Lisa, as it prepares to open a branch at what could be called Ground Zero of French culture: the Louvre. As one art historian said, the move represents "the pinnacle of exhausting consumerism, deficient gastronomy and very unpleasant odours in the context of a museum." More » -
not real
Fake McDonald's Letter Is Totally Fake, Burger Pusher Confirms
Mickey D's down under wants everyone to know that the parody McDonald's letter making the rounds is indeed prankaliscious. Corporate Communications Manager Bronwyn Stubbs writes: More » -
funny
(Parody) New Profit Center For Australian McDonald's: Fraud?
Note: This memo is a parodic spoof.
You know when you leave a fast-food restaurant, look in your bag, and notice that something small is missing? Like, one of your drinks, or an apple pie? Maybe that's not the result of error. Maybe your local McDonald's is the center of a criminal conspiracy. More »
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above and beyond
McDonald's Workers Rescue Marine From Hungry Thug
We assume that the typical, well-prepared, parking-lot kidnapper eats lunch before deciding to look for a victim. But Anthony Gibson clearly wasn't well-prepared, and that's a good thing. According to police reports, Gibson kidnapped a Marine from a Georgia Walmart parking lot, and after failing to get any money from him, decided the best thing to do would be to have his would-be victim drive him to McDonald's. Where the staff recognized him as a frequent customer. And where the Marine was able to ask the drive-through attendant to call the police. Oops. More » -
mcdonald's
Customer Finds 'Breakfast Large' Is McDonaldsese For 'Medium' ... Again
Rachael wrote us last year about a New York McDonald's policy of selling medium-sized drinks as large during breakfast hours. More » -
supersize me
Brazil Declares McDonald's-Only Diet A Crime
A McDonald's worker in Brazil has been awarded $800 by a court, based on a claim that the company's policy of offering staff a diet of the restaurant's food was harmful to his health. The worker, Rafael Luiz, said the company should have given him a grocery allowance or coupons so he could buy his own food during the two years he worked there. The verdict hinged on a viewing of Morgan Spurlock's "Supersize Me," which apparently so disgusted the court that the judge may have been willing to write a check on the spot just to get Luiz's lawyer to turn it off.
Inside: Poll - Could you live on a steady diet of McDonald's food for two years? More »
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fish
A Global Conservation Controversy Inside Your Fried Fish Sandwich
Here's the problem with fish: it's delicious. So delicious that we humans like to eat some species until they're nearly endangered. (Mmm...sea bass.) "Sustainable" isn't just an environmental concern when it comes to fish—it's good business, too. Which leads us to the problem of the hoki. The what? More » -
globalization
McCurry Defeats McDonald's In Trademark Infringement Lawsuit
In a victory for little guys worldwide, the Malaysian restaurant McCurry has won an epic trademark battle against McDonald's. Yes, McDonald's. McCurry has been open for ten years, and has spent eight of those fighting McDonald's. They won on the grounds that nobody could possibly ever confuse the two restaurants. More » -
supersize me... without permission
Reader Says McDonald's Up-Sized Her Meal Without Asking
An anonymous reader we'll call Redacted was upsold to a large-sized value meal without his permission. She wrote this letter of complaint to the offending store and corporate: More » -
burgernomics
The Big Mac Index: Globalization At Work
Sure, McDonald's operates all over the world now, but that doesn't mean that everyone can afford their products easily. As proof, The Economist has spent years updating its Big Mac Index, which uses the local price of the McD delicacy to estimate the purchasing power of consumers in about 120 countries. Recently, UBS cooked up its own twist on the index, calculating how many minutes the average person would need to work at their job in order to earn that precious, precious Big Mac. Predictably, a worker in Nairobi must work the longest—over two hours—while a worker in Chicago would only need to work 12 minutes. More » -
egg McScorpion
McDonald's Now Serving Free Take-Out Scorpion With Breakfast
Science teacher Jeff Tallman in Arizona ordered an egg McMuffin yesterday morning, and it apparently included a side he didn't order. Not hash browns: a baby scorpion. More » -
mcdonald's
Japanese McDonald's Campaign Makes Fun Of White People, Foreigners
I like to make fun of white people (and, really, who doesn't). Even McDonald's likes to make fun of white people if the white people live in Japan. A new McDonald's advertising there campaign centers on one Mr. James, a bespectacled idiot who tortures the Japanese language and is quite literally crazed for McDonald's burgers. More » -
fast food
Mickey D's Profits Rise 4.3% Thanks To "Fancier" Items
McDonald's sales rose 4.3% on the tongues of customers clamoring for a taste of the good life for cheap. McCafe coffees, which offer a proxy of brews found in places like Starbucks, and Angus burgers drove sales. [Bloomberg] (Photo: andinarvaez) -
coffee showdown
Slate Taste Tests Chain-Restaurant Coffee
A few coffee snobs at Slate have done a blind taste test of regular drip and cappuccino coffees at Starbucks, McDonald's and Dunkin' Donuts. Results? Dunkin' Donuts had the best regular drip; McDonald's, the best cappuccino. More » -
fast food fraud
McDonald's 10 lb. Bags of Ice Contain Less Than 7 lbs.
Did you know McDonald's sold bags of ice? It seems like ice-vending is just the start of that slippery slope down into the pit of conveniencestoredom, presaging the horrific day when you can buy McNuggets and deodorant at the same place. More »
