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1 A Advertising Can you complete this commercial jingle? Big Mac, Filet-o-fish, Quarter Pounder, French fries, icy Coke, thick shake, sundaes and apple pie. You deserve a break today at. Or how about this one? A good time for a great taste at. And where does this one come from? I m lovin it. B Did you know? Did you know that McDonald s did not start out as a fast-food hamburger restaurant? In fact, McDonald s was originally a drive-in barbecue restaurant in California. Two brothers, Richard and Maurice McDonald, opened McDonald s Bar-B-Q there in A drive-in meant that you sat in your car, your food was brought to you there and you ate it from a tray that was hung onto the driver s window. Today there are hardly any drive-in restaurants around anymore. In 1948 the two brothers changed their menu and offered hamburgers, cheeseburgers, French fries, shakes, soft drinks, and apple pie because these were the things that their customers were eating the most of. Another big change came in 1954 when a salesman of milkshake machines visited the California restaurant. This man was Ray Kroc, from Chicago, Illinois, and he made McDonald s into what it is today. He started in 1955 by establishing McDonald s restaurants all over America as franchises. - Look up the word franchise in your dictionary and write a definition here: By 1958 Ray Kroc s McDonald s restaurants had sold their 100 millionth hamburger and in the same year the 100 th restaurant was opened. The first McDonald s restaurants outside of the United States were opened in Canada and Puerto Rico in In 1978 the 5000 th restaurant was opened in Kanagawa, Japan. Munich, Germany, is home to the 6000 th restaurant. When McDonald s opened in Moscow in 1990, 30,000 customers visited it on the first day. Today you can find the Golden Arches (one of McDonald s nicknames in America) in 119 countries. However, McDonald s in America is not that same as McDonald s in Germany or India. Find a sandwich that you can buy at McDonald s in Germany but not in the US and the other way around. What is different about the menu in India? And did you know that there is even a Hamburger University? Actually there are now seven of them, including one in Munich! The first Hamburger University was opened in 1961 in Illinois. The universities not only offer courses for restaurant managers, business consultants, department heads and for top management positions in the McDonald s Corporation, but they also have development classes for crew members so that these workers also have the opportunity to move up into management positions. 1

2 - Look up the word corporation in your dictionary and write a definition here: C What s right about McDonald s? Ray Kroc changed the restaurant scene in America and did some other good things along the way, too. In 1999 he was included in TIME magazine s list of the most important people of the century. Now you re going to do some research on the internet to find out about McDonald s image or images. Use the timeline to find out what McDonald s did in these years to promote a certain image. Some of the years have more than one page to look at (see upper right corner). Timeline 1. Family-friendly image Environmentally friendly image Social responsibility image Health-conscious image

3 D What s wrong about McDonald s? McDonald s can be found all around the world. You know what you re going to get before you go in. The bathrooms are (almost) always clean. So what do some people think is the problem? For years, British chef Jamie Oliver has been fighting against fast-food restaurants and McDonald s in particular. Why would a cook who loves hamburgers be against the world s number one hamburger seller? Oliver said that the hamburgers sold at McDonald s restaurants in the US were made with meat not fit for human consumption. - Re-write this last phrase in your own words. Use your dictionary if you need to. This famous cook, who also has his own line of food products in supermarkets, accused the fast-food giant of using meat that was only good enough for dogs. He said this meat is treated or washed with ammonia (ammonium hydroxide) and water to kill germs and then it ends up in the burgers. He has named the so-called ground beef pink slime. In America it is legal to have up to 15% of the pink slime in a burger. And you are not required to write the word ammonia anywhere. McDonald s has since said that they no longer use this beef filler in their burgers in America. A group called London Greenpeace (not connected with the environmental activists Greenpeace) also fought against the Golden Arches. They published brochures accusing McDonald s of many different things: damaging the environment, supporting cruelty to animals, serving unhealthy food, paying their workers low wages. They even made a special brochure for children. In 1990 McDonald s took five supporters of the group to court for libel. - Look up the word libel in your dictionary and write a definition here: McDonald s said they would stop the court case if the group apologized and promised not to do it again. Two of the people refused to do this. The court case, nicknamed McLibel, lasted for many years and in the end McDonald s won, although they did not make the people pay the money. But the fast-food chain also lost because they got a lot of bad press during the case. Morgan Spurlock, an American filmmaker, wanted to show why so many Americans are obese. - Look up the word obese in your dictionary and write a definition here: To do this he made a documentary film called Super Size Me. The title refers to an offer at McDonald s in the US, where you could get extra-large orders of French fries and drinks if you said, Super size me. But in the film the title also refers to the 11 kilograms that Spurlock gained in 30 days while eating only at McDonald s. Three meals a day, every day, for one month. He ate every product on the menu at least once. During his experiment he experienced health problems and depression. After his experiment it took him 14 months to return to his normal weight. He says the fast-food industry in general is partly responsible for the bad eating habits of 3

4 Americans and that the industry makes a profit while serving unhealthy food. E Right vs. wrong 1. Use the information from parts C and D to compare and contrast McDonald s many images. For example, you can make a poster, give a presentation using the computer or write an article. Choose one aspect to focus on. 2. In part D you read about McLibel. What does the prefix Mc mean in modern language usage? Collect and/or invent other Mc-words and write definitions. 4

5 Teacher s page: A small disclaimer before we begin: We are not promoting McDonald s, nor are we condemning it. It cannot be denied that this fast-food chain is a part of American life for better or for worse. McDonald s has expanded across the globe for better or for worse. It is influential and can even become a political issue (e.g. the closure of restaurants in Russia after American sanctions were put into place in response to the civil war in Ukraine). It is controversial and so we sincerely hope that in this newsletter we have done justice to both sides of the story and that no one feels we are leaning too far one way or the other. We invite you and your students to use your critical thinking skills while discussing this issue. Your students should have an English-English dictionary for reading the newsletter, and internet access would be ideal. A Of course the answer to all three of these is McDonald s. These are all jingles or slogans used at one time by the restaurant. The current slogan I m lovin it is used quite universally, but others are country specific. Some other slogans that have been used in the US include: Food, folks and fun ; McDonald s where what you want is what you get ; The good time, great taste of McDonald s. It might be fun to try to translate some of these slogans into German or rather come up with a German equivalent. B franchise: giving permission to someone (or to a business) to sell your products and/or services If internet access is not available, the questions about the menus can be left out. Germany: McFarmer, Big Tasty Bacon US: Bacon Habanero Ranch Quarter Pounder, Bacon Cheddar McChicken India: they only use chicken but no beef, almost all vegetarian corporation: a big company, or a group of companies acting together as a single organization C If there is no internet access available, we ve included the answers for the timeline research in a list on the teacher s page. These should then be matched to the correct category/image. The years are then unimportant. -family-friendly: cent hamburgers; 1966 the clown Ronald McDonald introduced; 1979 Happy Meals; 2002 one-dollar items -environmentally friendly: 2003 world s first hydroflurocarbon-free restaurant in Denmark; 2009 Green Building award -social responsibility: 1968 hamburgers to homesick Olympians in France; st Ronald McDonald House Charity (RMHC) in Philadelphia; 1977 All-American High School basketball team; 1984 provided money for Olympic Swim Stadium in LA; 2002 McHappy Day to raise money for RMHC and children; st Global Social Responsibility Report -health-conscious image: 1987 fresh salads; 1997 chicken sandwiches; 2000 Fruit N Yoghurt Parfait; 2003 Premium Salads; 2006 nutrition info on packaging; 2011 improved nutrition choices, new Happy Meals 5

6 Teacher s page: List hamburgers to homesick Olympians in France Happy Meals 1st Ronald McDonald House Charity (RMHC) in Philadelphia 15-cent hamburgers nutrition info on packaging All-American High School basketball team world s first hydroflurocarbonfree restaurant in Denmark Fruit N Yoghurt Parfait one-dollar items 1st Global Social Responsibility Report D Ronald McDonald introduced Green Building award McHappy Day to raise money for RMHC and children chicken sandwiches not fit for human consumption: not good enough for humans to eat fresh Premium Salads provided money for Olympic Swim Stadium in LA improved nutrition choices, new Happy Meals libel: publishing untrue information about someone so that others have a bad opinion of them obese: extremely overweight, so fat that it s unhealthy Here s a link to an article and video about Jamie Oliver: Here s a link to the London Greenpeace children s pamphlet: It s important to mention that Spurlock also greatly limited his physical activity during the experiment. E The prefix Mc is used to emphasize low quality, cheapness and the fast speed at which something is done. Examples of McWords : McJob - a low-paying job that requires little skill and provides little opportunity for advancement McPaper or McNews low-quality newspaper or news program What about a McSchool or a McStudent? A McHouse or a McCar? 6