First, the cookie monster's started eating healthy. Now, if our favorite imposter is to be believed, Ronald McDonald is undergoing a retooling of his own. From the JU blogsite (I don't think names need mentioning), there's a recent article describing McDonald's plans.
What disturbed me was the following:
Then there's Ronald's sense of humour. Mr. Light says it will resemble the comedy used in blockbuster movies Shrek and Finding Nemo, which resonates with children and adults. He would not elaborate. However, characters in those movies are known for double-entendres and pop-culture puns.
OK, then. I've seen both Shrek movies, and I enjoy them for the most part. But the humour, while absolutely hysterical in a movie context, is not humour I would see as being appropriate for advertising. Frankly, the vision of Grimace letting go with a loud fart in the middle of a packed McDonald's is NOT going to sell any of their food to me.
McDonalds' sales have declined because, well, their food sucks. There are limited nutritious options (the fruit and yogurt cup and...SALAD!), and their burgers have become drier and more tasteless as they've tried to increase their profit margins. Even the McNugget (we won't even START into a discussion about what part of a chicken the "mcnugget" comes from), once a junk food staple of mine, doesn't have the "oomph!" it once had.
If McD's and other restaurants want to reclaim their customers, they need to return to the core principles that drove their company: Good, cheap food, and fast. A trip to McD's often requires a minimum 15 minute pit stop (drive through times are abyssmal and the faster counter service is balanced out by parking, going into the restaurant, securing the food and driving off). I can think of a WHOLE BUNCH of better options than McD's...and in my small town, that's saying something!