The whole family at the time (my parents, my two older sisters and me at about all of five years old) piled into a car (I vaguely recall it as blue) and drove an hour from East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania to Allentown. We were Looking for the Golden Arches, the nearest McDonald's at the time. Can you imagine a time when there wasn't one on every corner?
There was a sing along kind of thing going on -- "McDonald's is my kind of place: snap snap snap happy place -- McDonald's is my kind of place!"
Frankly, it was all very exciting. The maiden trip, the shiny french fry arches and solid reds, the gleaming interior and snappy hatted servers, the then rare (and then alluring) aroma of fast food.
I remember looking under the bun of a regular hamburger and wondering at the tiny diced onion squares, the splash of mustard and ketchup. I remember the tasty salted french fries. I think I had a milk shake, probably chocolate. That was it -- yum yum yum yum! Nothing has ever been quite the same since that first foraging experience at the Golden Arches.
Ad campaigns came and went, but the jingles have stuck with the power of the best propaganda.
McDonald's is Your Kind of Place; You Deserve a Break Today; We Do it All for You; "Two all beef patties special sauce lettuce cheese pickles onions on a sesame seed bun!" (vs. Burger King's "special orders don't upset us / all we ask is that you let us /serve it your way!") ;You, You're The One; You Deserve a Break Today -- at McDonald's!; and the last one before I become aware that this was all part of an ongoing campaign orchestrated to get you to eat some of the "millions and millions served" -- It's Mac Tonight. By that time, I knew this was an unwitting parody of Bertolt Brecht, the German playwright who (with songwriter Kurt Weill) searingly critiqued capitalism and other forms of control -- McDonald's marketing had the audacity (or ignorance?) to turn "Mack the Knife," featuring a murderous thug and his gleeful mayhem, into their invitation to drop on by for a Big Mac.
Devo helped: "I think I got Big Mac attack!"
These days, in a pinch, I still duck into a McDonald's on rare occasion. Not quite as magical as the first family time, but still something, I suppose.
Today's Rune: Possessions.
Remember: You're Still the One!
7 comments:
Isn't it funny when capitalists unwittingly lampoon themselves? One that comes to mind is the the use of Creedence Clearwater Revivals "Fortunate Son" in a jeans commercial a couple of years ago. The clipped it to just include the part "Some people are born, born to wave the flag..." They omit the chorus-- "It ain't me, it ain't me...." The song was a swipe at blind patriotism. The commercial was, of course, celebrating it.
About 20 years ago the first place we headed for in Hong Kong, after being in Japan and China, was Mac Donalds for a good old fashioned hamburger. That tasted so much better than fish cheeks or chicken heads even tho the latter were seen as special treats. B
Remember when President Reagan referred to Bruce Springsteen's" message of hope"? That was pretty classic.
Harry Somers was a Canadian composer in the classical genre. He wrote an orchestral piece that was considered very controversial because of its title. Years later he said he was sitting at home when suddenly he heard his music. He said it was quite a shock to discover his piece that orchestras refused to perform was now being being used for a car commercial.
Thanks all for the comments! You're reminding me of all sorts of silly ad links -- The Pretenders' "My City Was Gone" intro. to Rush Limbaugh (how did that happen?), and yeah, CCR, and Bruce doing "Born in the USA;" Iggy's "Lust for Life" intro. on some damned ad; Led Zep = Cadillac ads; and so on. Ridic,' all of them! Even Devo for God's sake is used -- "Working in a Coal Mine". L'absurd ;) I was also reminded via email that you could get that first McD's meal "and change back from your dollar."
Lust for Life is now touting the pleasures of a cruise ship- I didn't know smack was so accessible out on the ocean blue! People are running around, swimming, climbing rock wells and dancing in a salacious manner when really they should be nodding out, flaccid -and falling over the ship rails (how cool would that be)-. That being said, I remember The MCDonalds of my youth and those horrible limp onions they would put on their all their burgers. They enough to make me puke. I haven't eaten at the arches in over four years now. I would rather starve.
It was one of my first jobs - before uni - and a few days before leaving I got sacked for giving added extras to my friends, using food due to be thrown away.
An ex-police woman working there was the grass...
Palette and Danny, thanks, too! Too funny, both of ya's ;)
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