this post was submitted on 13 Jun 2025
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These are all reasonable points to make with literally any example other than McDonalds. Saying everything is worse and ruined by capitalism because no one cares about anything except profit anymore is not the trajectory that McDonalds took.
McDonalds in the 1990s was just as cold hearted, capitalist, and profit-seeking as it is today. Its target demo was children who would cry until they got a happy meal, and their weak-willed parents. Thus, it used bright colors, clowns, and ball pits to entice its demo into bringing their money in. McDonalds didn't suddenly become more greedy and capitalist. They were already maximally greedy and capitalist. What happened is that the government told them they couldn't advertise to kids anymore. So McDonalds, being greedy and capitalist, pivoted to appealing to adults. They got rid of the play places and ball pits, which were expensive and labor intensive to maintain and which were constantly covered in children's saliva, puke, and shit. They toned down the color scheme to be less assaulting on the eyes and more relaxing. They improved the quality of their food, and they replaced benches made of cheap hard plastic for padded seats made with some kind of fabric. In many ways, the McDonalds of today are superior to the McDonalds of 20 years ago - it's a place you'd be comfortable grabbing a quick lunch with some coworkers without feeling like you suddenly stepped into an overstimulating children's movie.
I honestly like the new look. It says "We're McDonalds. We sell cheap hamburgers so you can eat and leave quickly, because you aren't rich enough to have free time. We know it, you know it, we're all adults here so we don't have to pretend. Come grab a cheeseburger and get on with your life."