EntertainmentThe Man Who Destroyed Meal Times
Fri, Jan 18 2007
Richard McDonald, who founded the McDonald's restaurant chain, died in 1998 but as long as our civilization survives he will never be forgotten. The golden arches he invented seem to infest the planet like a bright yellow plague. On American highways where once there were spectacular views stretching to the horizon, the landscape is now dominated by fluorescent plastic letter Ms, the height of four-storey buildings.
McDonald's restaurants are impossible to ignore. They are found in over 96 countries, including a vegetarian version in non-beef-eating India. Last year the chain's busiest restaurant was the Moscow McDonald's in Pushkin square.
It is widely thought that the restaurant's opening there, in the 1980s, was largely responsible for introducing capitalism to the old Soviet Union. This year a new McDonald's will be opened somewhere in the world every three hours. The company is obviously aiming for world domination, and is destroying traditional eating habits wherever it goes. In Japan the arrival of McDonald's has even overcome the traditional taboo about eating with your fingers while standing up, which was always regarded as bad manners.
Richard McDonald's has taken his place among the people who have shaped the modern world and lifestyle-every day 32 million people worldwide eat a "Big-Mac". But he has altered far more than just our eating habits and skyline. His fast-food chain has fundamentally changed human behavior in every country that has been "McColonised", and it is argued that this is responsible for causing obesity among millions of its customers through the easy availability of a cheap 500-calorie meal with an above average fat content.
It all began in 1948 in San Bernardino, California. In the post-war "Baby-Boom" American families were becoming increasingly concerned about value for money. Richard "Dick" McDonald's was a quiet, thoughtful man, who had already earned himself a reputation as a marketing genius-he invented drive-in laundries and was the first person to use neon signs to advertise. Richard and his brother had the idea of feeding people quickly and cheaply from a simple, fixed menu without making them get out of their Chevrolets. And so McDonald's, and the concept of "Fast-Food", was born. The company expanded quickly and in 1955 the McDonald's brothers sold their 25 restaurants, although Richard continued as a consultant until the seventies
In the 50s and 60s, before McDonald's restaurants took over mealtimes, the "dinner", the traditional American restaurant, had been considered king. American families used to go to their local dinner to eat freshly made food in a relaxed atmosphere, and to chat to friends and neighbors. This "Golden Age" was destroyed by the golden M restaurants and the new concept of fast food which has helped to create today's society where people don't even know their neighbors and are so suspicious of strangers. It is perhaps no coincidence that several of America's worst mass murders have taken place in McDonald's.
The stuff at McDonald's are all taught at the McDonald's university, set up by Richard McDonald to maintain high standards in his restaurants. It emphasizes how the company is "One big family" (but with strict rules-e.g. nobody can 'wear vulgar nail polish'). This model has been borrowed by numerous other companies from Ford to Microsoft, and is said to have spread American values worldwide more effectively than any other US export.
With his system Richard McDonald has given us faster food but this has arguably created a demand for everything else to be faster too. Modern society has become impatient and easily frustrated. Above all Richard McDonald created an unstoppable monster that gave birth to the phrase "Junk food". The world will never recover the innocence it lost when it first tasted a "Big-Mac".
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