Why does everybody hate McDonalds so much?

Blisterman

I was reading, on the BBC website about how McDonalds are introducing staff training and qualification, in the UK, and reading all the people's comments, there's a lot of hatred towards McDonalds. I think it's a bit unfounded. They are no worse than any fast food restaurant, chain or not.

Here are some critcisms I keep hearing, about them, and my response.


Their food is crap and Unhealthy.

True, but so is just about every fast food place. The guy from Supersize Me, could have eaten every day in Borza and had the same effect. At least McDonalds have salads.

Their Food is packed full of Chemicals.

McDonalds give out brochures listing everything in their food, if you ask. Patrick Guillbald's don't even do that.

Their restaurants have poor levels of Hygine

Possibly, but having been inside the kitchens of supposedly upmarket restaurants, I can tell you, for a fact, that McDonalds kitchen's are far cleaner, and have much more procedures in place for food safety.

McDonalds are globalised scum.

The main reason McDonalds has become so popular is because it provides a service and product, that people want. They were once a small company with one restaurant and a few staff members.

So, is there anything really inherently wrong with McDonalds, or is it all really just snobbery, mixed in with a bit of anti-capitalism?

Genghiz Cohen

Blisterman wrote: »

So, is there anything really inherently wrong with McDonalds, or is it all really just snobbery, mixed in with a bit of anti-capitalism?

One person said "OMG LOL!!11! i 1ce got lke a bad burger frm miccky dees and it was carp lol!111!"

So now everyone does ; )

kaimera

Meh, dont hate them myself; prefer BK however.

Trying to get out a habit of eating fast food after a night out tho.

boneless

I hate them all... Pizza Hut, KFC, Burgerking... I include Starbucks too. Homoginised and sanitised and unoriginal stuff... and the fact they are contributing to the death of Mothership Earth!!

MySelf56

Me neither I never understand why people hate so much? Just take example below

Who will feed your gab when you went for piss night on major town?
All the Drive-thru Communities will collapse if Mc D shuts its business.

Capitalism Rocks!!

Rossibaby

it would be rich if people here were anti-capitalism!

i can only verify my reasons for hating mcdonalds and guess at the main reasons for others.

i do in fact hate them out of anti-capitalist reasoning

the suppliers of the meat are unbelievably cruel to the animals,its barbaric

the food is rubbish,not just bad but tiny and not cheap for you only get two bites

and if these people gain qualifications such as the equivilent as an A level in england,what incentive is that for people to go to college when they can get qualifications and earn money at the same time

Collie D

I think it's only crusty types who actually hate the place. Rich, global, successful company. Makes them look good with their mates to hate this huge multinational and make them seem socialist.

monkeyfudge

When I was a child Ronald McDonald touched my special area while the Ham Burglar held me down.

Grimace stood by watching and laughing.

Balmed Out

Having worked in MacDonalds for 4 months in the States id have to say first off that they are fairly clean especially compared to restraunts ive worked in here. However the hamburgers used to come in boxes labelled Grade F meat and cooked in 19 seconds, if memory serves me correctly. During that summer I went surfing every day for one or two hours but thanks to my McD diet i still put on over two stone. By the end of the summer my digestive system was in bits altogether.
I reckon its snobbery mixed in with the fact that the food is really bad for you and annoyingly marketed to death.

catyb20

I like m'd's....as cheap as their burgers may be, they're friggin gorgeous!

Rossibaby

they are tinyyyy

Blisterman

Rossibaby wrote: »

the suppliers of the meat are unbelievably cruel to the animals,its barbaric

That hardly only applies to McDonalds though, does it?

minidazzler

Most of these people who say they hate MacDonalds could really fool you after a few oints on a saturday night.

TestTransmission

It's just one more of those things for ppl to diss so they can be "cool"
Personally,i dont eat there,if i want fast food..id much rather go to the local chipper

Wacker

I haven't eaten McDonalds since 2002, so I'm probably a perfect example for the OP. Now, I don't single McDonalds out - I don't eat Burger King either, and I very rarely get food from chippers. At the same time, I don't picket the places or anything. I'd just rather have a filled roll or something. Too much fat for my liking for something that I would eat very quickly.

MoominPapa

Because their food looks and tastes like sh*t perhaps?

Rossibaby

Blisterman wrote: »

That hardly only applies to McDonalds though, does it?

no sir it doesnt,it applies to a lot of multinational type organisations in the food industry.

but the two fast places i go are irish owned and are not anywhere near on the levels of mcd's.four lanterns/supermacs should be chosen instead.great to see burger king closed down in sligo a while back and replaced by a book store.only problem it was eason lol

but ya i think countries and city's aare in danger of their main streets becoming identical.maccie d's,river island,accessories,eason etc etc just a few you'll get in most towns in ireland and often in close proximity

Mr. CooL ICE

Blisterman wrote:

Why does everybody hate McDonalds so much?

Not true. I'm lovin' it

togster

meh i think people hate the idea of McDonalds more than anything. Maybe its capitalism. I love their burgers though.

rubadub

Blisterman wrote: »

The guy from Supersize Me, could have eaten every day in Borza and had the same effect. At least McDonalds have salads.

Borza is still a chipper. If he did the same in almost any restaurant he would be the same.

Go to a hotel etc for a full irish and you are served up around 1000kcal with your big orange juice. Lunch in most places is the same thing, if you go like the supersize guy and got starter, main, desert and big drink it would be the guts of 2000kcal, and again for dinner 2000kcal. Some might be more or less but it would be easy to get 5000kcal a day in 3 restaurant meals esp. if you accepted all extra helpings etc like in supersize me. They say the average bloke needs 2500kcal per day, and it takes 3500kcal average to put on 1lb of fat. So in 30days at an excess of 2500kcal is 75000kcal so you can expect to put on 21lb, or 1.5stone per month.

I made a (conservative) estimate of my old favourite chicken balls, curry sauce, chips, AKA Scumbags "Chinese"
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055209321

Maximilian

Anyone who says the food doesn't taste good is more than likely lying. The whole reason it is so successful is because the food tastes good.

Yes, its full of stuff that's not good for you and I for one avoid these places like the plague when I'm sober but I can't see any valid reason to truly hate them. Unless you're one of those commie, tree-hugging, vegan, anarchist plebs that is.

~Rebel~

Id say a lot of the hatred comes from them being The quintessential Global Fast Food chain. If you dislike that type of food, they're the first that come to mind, the groundbreaker and as such get associated with the stereotypical bad points of that industry. BK and all the rest are just as bad obviously but when you think of Fast Food you think of McD's. Price of being the industry leader, they still probably have more success then anyone else in the industry anyway. Have to take the bad with the good.

Personally, dont particularly mind them (though its been years since i ate there), they got where they are by being good and fulfilling a need. Id have more of a problem with the parents who give it to their kids more then once a week max. I dont think any of their customers are under the illusion its anything other then bad for them.

Must admit the ads for the salsa chicken legend thing have been tempting me of late, might have to give it a bash!

Duggy747

The food is quite manky, all sweaty and greasy and feels like a wet arse.......I do love the chips though and the very odd time I might venture in to a McD's, which is quite rare nowadays. God, I loved those Big Macs!

McDonalds is an easy target, granted they have fùcking annoying ads but it is what it is because it had such a huge demand for service. Think about it, people whinge about how bad their food is and all this mullarkey when in honesty there is something wrong with you if eat there quite a lot.......put down the fork, fatty. Plus many who people whinge tend to tell you how bad McD's is for your health while puffing away on a fag and knocking back some rocket fuel of a drink. Any chipper would kill you if their food was a big contribitor to your diet during the week.

Anywho, most people whinge against them to make them appear like a cultured, somewhat intelligent socialist..............who probably listens to some godawful indie crap or Bob Dylan for the same reasons

Susannahmia

I hate them because they put gherkins on everything. Yuck!

BillyoftheBeast

Everybody? So what explains the thousands of packed McDonalds all around the world?

gavrilo princip

Collie D wrote: »

I think it's only crusty types who actually hate the place. Rich, global, successful company. Makes them look good with their mates to hate this huge multinational and make them seem socialist.

Definitely the crusties.
Then they graduate and go to work for microsoft, buy a house in the suburbs, have kids and take the kids to McDonalds on Saturday.

AngryBadger

Because most people are donkeys who'd prefer to point the finger at McDonalds (or indeed any other capitalist institution) than shoulder the responsibility themselves and eat healthy.

I mean come on, the information is out there, anyone with 2 brain cells to rub together knows you're going to pile on the weight if you eat McDonalds everyday.

Personally have nothing against McDonalds. Wouldn't recommend it on a daily basis, but am partial to a Sausage and Egg McMuffin meal the occasional cold morning before work.

Plus it's cool to stick it to the man!

Lil' Smiler

Umm... I got food poisoning for 4 days from them... I have never eaten chicken (or whatever they serve that is meant to be chicken) from there again. The very odd time I will eat chips and a kids hamburger and that's it!


Apparently there's 74 outlets in the country with 31 being in Dublin...jaysus!! No wonder rates of child obesity are on the rise!!

leninbenjamin

I just hate the food. local places tend to be a lot better than those franchises anyway.

Rossibaby

yup the only thing i get in mcd's now is a mcflurry and maybe curly fries.but having said that i havent eaten either of that in oiver 6 months i'd say,i never would get chips/burgers in there,crap palce really.in usa howver you get like over twice the stuff for your money!

my mcflurry is now replaced with icecream and choc muffin from supermacs

btw abra's is just is bad as mcdonalds,crap portions and really greasey

chinese ftw

beanyb

Every now and again I'll go into McD's forgetting how crap it makes you feel. It makes me feel sick and bloated after I eat it, and then I'm starving again half an hour later.

I think that's a fairly legitimate reason to hate McD's!

Poxyshamrock

I just think McDonalds has gone off!
McDonalds 08 is nothing compared to McDonalds 98!

Just look what they've done to the happy meals

Pal

Rossibaby wrote: »

the suppliers of the meat are unbelievably cruel to the animals,its barbaric

I agree. Its very unkind of them to actually kill the cows.

Beruthiel

Cardboard food. Don't insult your body by eating that crap.
I recall at one stage McD's getting into big trouble for buying meat from south america. Because they were willing to do so, the farmers knocked down great chunks of the rainforest in order to keep cows.
That was the start of public dislike for McD's and the fact that they don't give a flying fuk where or how they get their meat.

Linky

Hail 2 Da Chimp

I don't like them because their food generally is really rubbish.
They always put cheese on their burgers.

BK FTW!

Balmed Out

Balmed Out wrote: »

However the hamburgers used to come in boxes labelled Grade F meat and cooked in 19 seconds, if memory serves me correctly.

This is BS, as far as the irish ones are concerned anyway. I'd also be willing to bet that it's untrue of the ones in the U.S. as well.

Maximilian wrote: »

Anyone who says the food doesn't taste good is more than likely lying.

Very true

Maximilian wrote: »

Unless you're one of those commie, tree-hugging, vegan, anarchist plebs that is.

I'm actually a class IV vegan.....I don't eat anything that casts a shadow.

Susannahmia wrote: »

I hate them because they put gherkins on everything. Yuck!

Here's a thought, ask them for it without pickles/gherkins. Contrary to popular belief, they won't spit on your food, but you will more than likely get a fresher burger. It's better to ask for something that can't be easily removed (like mustard) as it only takes 2 seconds to remove a couple of pickles but they have to make it from scratch if it's a sauce or something.

I don't mind them, I prefer BK because i worked in McD's in Grafton St. for a few years and just got sick of their menu. Every now and then i've been known to abuse the eurosaver menu though.

humanji

~Rebel~ wrote: »

Must admit the ads for the salsa chicken legend thing have been tempting me of late, might have to give it a bash!

Don't bother. They're foul (there's room for a pun there, but I'll let it pass). I was swayed (rather easily) by the ad and then got one. It's a fraction of the size of the one shown and tastes like pepper. Took me hours to get rid of the taste. :mad:

I'm don't particularly like McDonalds because I thing Burger King tastes better, and even then, I don't eat there that often.

briantwin

Blisterman wrote: »

Their food is crap and Unhealthy.

True, but so is just about every fast food place. The guy from Supersize Me, could have eaten every day in Borza and had the same effect. At least McDonalds have salads.

I'm afraid you're a bit off the mark there. I Agree that alot of the fast food places churn out the same chum and people happily pay for it. But there is a difference between the burgers you get in Irish chippers and McDonalds. Apart from the price. The grade of the meat is higher in nearly every other fast food place. You only have to look at the production cost of the food and you'll see its utter sh*te, one step up from eating offal.

Their Food is packed full of Chemicals.

McDonalds give out brochures listing everything in their food, if you ask. Patrick Guillbald's don't even do that.

It would be some very large brochure seeing as for just the lettuce in their burgers there are 12 chemical treatments to ensure the lettuce is the same colour and crunchyness as lettuce from all the other restaurants around the world. Patrick Guilbald's do actually hand out brochures with the contents of the food included, its called the menu.

Their restaurants have poor levels of Hygine

Possibly, but having been inside the kitchens of supposedly upmarket restaurants, I can tell you, for a fact, that McDonalds kitchen's are far cleaner, and have much more procedures in place for food safety.

I worked in several restaurants and kitchen enviroments over a period of 6 years and i know for a fact that there is not one kitchen i ever worked in thats hygiene standard was on par or below any fast food restaurant. The fact of the matter is , if i'm sending out any meat dish i do a core temperature test on it to ensure its a minimum of 85degrees. All the sauces we made were fresh and our fridges and stock rooms immaculate. Do you honestly believe that a kitchen enviroment filled with a staff turn over so high with the volume of people working in the kitchens can really stick to an HACCP guidelines rigidly.

McDonalds are globalised scum.

The main reason McDonalds has become so popular is because it provides a service and product, that people want. They were once a small company with one restaurant and a few staff members.

So, is there anything really inherently wrong with McDonalds, or is it all really just snobbery, mixed in with a bit of anti-capitalism?

Well apart from the 800 square miles of forest removed every year for McDonalds "recycled" pacakging and god knows how many other enviromental devastating things they choose to continue doing. Using dangerous toxins to clear areas of the rain forest to graze cattle. Which will then be slaughtered and sent globally as burgers or pet food.(true)

God all this talk is making me hungry

AngryBadger

beanyb wrote: »

Every now and again I'll go into McD's forgetting how crap it makes you feel. It makes me feel sick and bloated after I eat it, and then I'm starving again half an hour later.

I think that's a fairly legitimate reason to hate McD's!

No I think that's just a legitmate reason for you to get "Don't eat McDonalds it doesn't agree with you" burned into your retinas, or you could be REALLY radical and just not eat there if it makes you sick.:rolleyes:

Rossibaby

Pal wrote: »

I agree. Its very unkind of them to actually kill the cows.

are you an idiot,do you not know where they get their chicken from and how the chickens are treated.

and did you never see how a 'mcnugget' is made...its not even proper chicken they are little circular pieces of crap

Collie D

briantwin wrote: »

I worked in several restaurants and kitchen enviroments over a period of 6 years and i know for a fact that there is not one kitchen i ever worked in thats hygiene standard was on par or below any fast food restaurant. The fact of the matter is , if i'm sending out any meat dish i do a core temperature test on it to ensure its a minimum of 85degrees. All the sauces we made were fresh and our fridges and stock rooms immaculate. Do you honestly believe that a kitchen enviroment filled with a staff turn over so high with the volume of people working in the kitchens can really stick to an HACCP guidelines rigidly.

So you're implying that McDonald's runs unhygienic premises? Just because it's at the lower end of the market doesn't mean they don't have to apply the same hygiene standards

gavrilo princip

Lil' Smiler wrote: »

Umm... I got food poisoning for 4 days from them... I have never eaten chicken (or whatever they serve that is meant to be chicken) from there again. The very odd time I will eat chips and a kids hamburger and that's it!


Apparently there's 74 outlets in the country with 31 being in Dublin...jaysus!! No wonder rates of child obesity are on the rise!!

No.
Child obesity is up because kids sit at home and play games about people playing football, rather than actually playing football themselves.

I ate crap as a kid, but I got lots of exercise. I was far from obese.

AngryBadger

Rossibaby wrote: »

are you an idiot,do you not know where they get their chicken from and how the chickens are treated.

and did you never see how a 'mcnugget' is made...its not even proper chicken they are little circular pieces of crap

Don't all takeaways everywhere get their "nugget" meat from exactly the same place (on the chicken!)?

But of course it wouldn't be as cool for you to give out about every single takeaway in the world/country that serves chicken nuggets, it's only cool if you slag McDonalds :rolleyes:

Dinter

I never understand all this anti globalisation stuff. All these crusties giving out about anti competition laws or global brands before going home to their free council houses and gorging on their soya bean drinks bought with their hard earned dole money because their "principles" would never allow them to have a real job and contribute taxes to "the man".

Bunch of lazy good for nothin' bums. I wish they'd p1ss off to Kenya and help harvest the "Fair Trade" coffee beans but that'd be too like hard work and they'd miss their free medical care and any number of disabilities they're claiming under aliases.

Best way they could improve the lot of the "poor old cattle" would be to line up in the abbatoir in their place.

Until I get reincarnated as a small rancher in Brazil,McDonalds ftw.

gavrilo princip

Rossibaby wrote: »

are you an idiot,do you not know where they get their chicken from and how the chickens are treated.

and did you never see how a 'mcnugget' is made...its not even proper chicken they are little circular pieces of crap

Where do they get the chicken?

They say it's Irish chicken.
If it's not, then they can be done for false advertising.

kodute

McDonalds killed my father and raped my mother!!



But seriously, their food tastes like crap and you feel like crap after eating it.

briantwin

briantwin wrote: »

I worked in several restaurants and kitchen enviroments over a period of 6 years and i know for a fact that there is not one kitchen i ever worked in thats hygiene standard was on par or below any fast food restaurant. The fact of the matter is , if i'm sending out any meat dish i do a core temperature test on it to ensure its a minimum of 85degrees. All the sauces we made were fresh and our fridges and stock rooms immaculate. Do you honestly believe that a kitchen enviroment filled with a staff turn over so high with the volume of people working in the kitchens can really stick to an HACCP guidelines rigidly.

I'm with Collie on this one. The standards of hygiene and food preparation were of the highest order. Especially regarding the chicken.

~Rebel~

humanji wrote:

Don't bother. They're foul (there's room for a pun there, but I'll let it pass). I was swayed (rather easily) by the ad and then got one. It's a fraction of the size of the one shown and tastes like pepper. Took me hours to get rid of the taste. :mad:

I'm don't particularly like McDonalds because I thing Burger King tastes better, and even then, I don't eat there that often.

oh well, looks like my solidarity continues! I figured it was probably too good to be true alright.

I agree with the BK statement too, haven't eaten there in a long time either, but you cant go wrong with the odd bacon double cheeseburger.

Collie D

Dinter wrote: »

I never understand all this anti globalisation stuff. All these crusties giving out about anti competition laws or global brands before going home to their free council houses and gorging on their soya bean drinks bought with their hard earned dole money because their "principles" would never allow them to have a real job and contribute taxes to "the man".

Bunch of lazy good for nothin' bums. I wish they'd p1ss off to Kenya and help harvest the "Fair Trade" coffee beans but that'd be too like hard work and they'd miss their free medical care and any number of disabilities they're claiming under aliases.

Best way they could improve the lot of the "poor old cattle" would be to line up in the abbatoir in their place.

Until I get reincarnated as a small rancher in Brazil,McDonalds ftw.

I think a lot of the smelly crowd with dreads tend to be Trinity/UCD students who wouldn't know what a council house was if it fell on them. Bunch of rolly smoking, non-McDonald's eating, living off Daddy rich kids. Oh, and they smell. God, I hate crusties.

Rant over

Rossibaby wrote:

and did you never see how a 'mcnugget' is made...its not even proper chicken they are little circular pieces of crap

No, I've never seen a McNugget being made. If it's not chicken, please enlighten us from your time in the secret Mcnugget circular crap factory

jdivision

I do cos
a) after about half an hour my stomach feels like crap
b) in order to produce cheap beef they encourage farmers in Brazil to clear rainforest

Other than that no problem with them, but prefer taste of Burger King.

I suspect the reason they're bringing in the training courses is to qualify for job creation grants - they do this in the United States, as do BK.

faceman

Im not a fan of mcdonalds or any fast food chain and i have odd moments of hungover weakness when i would buy (and regret after) a big mac meal or something. There are a couple of seperate issues with macdonalds and similar fast food joints.

McDonalds have had very unfavourable and in many cases unethical business practises over the years since they were turned into the corporate machine that they were many decades ago. Granted that some of the their practises are not directly visible in ireland or the UK, that doesnt deter from the fact that those practises take/took place under the golden arch corporate brand. They have to be fair, tried to clean up their act quite successfully in recent years and have become somewhat more transparent. However this was a result of consumer pressure. Sales were dropping and they were forced to change.

The food. we all know that the food is full of natural and artifical flavourings (natural flavourings btw are artifical flavourings depending on the chemical!!) and thats why it tastes as good as it does. This is my problem with it. Im not denying that the big mac is tasty at times but taking a step back from it, i want to enjoy food for its own natural flavours, not for its chemically enhanced flavours.

Some of the ingredients used in fast food is addictive. in fact scientists have done studies into fat and grease which show that its addictive too.

On the environmental side, i have issue with many deforestation schemes that claim to recycle or plant 2 trees for every 1 tree knocked down. Deforestation has many knock on affects to the local eco system. It causes watering holes/lakes to dry up, unnaturally forces migration or extinction of flora and fauna. Plant 2 trees that take 10-30 years to reach full size doesnt prevent it from happening.

taking an example i know quite well. Lake Naivasha in kenya was always known to tourists as the place to see "blankets" of pink flamingos as thousands upon thousands live on the lake. However within 10 years those numbers have dramatically as local deforestation as caused the banks of the lake to receed and the lake food stocks to reduce and thus had an impact on the flamingos.

Anyway despite all the coverage in the media, all the documentaries, all the scientific studies, people dont really seem to care and continue to eat crap and throw a blind eye to all the bad stuff.