McGeography
What is McDonald’s?
List ten countries that don’t have a McDonald’s outlet
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Use the link to the Wikipedia article on ‘History of McDonald’s’ from
geographyalltheway.com to complete this table.
Date
Key Event in the History of McDonald’s
May 15 1940
1948
1953
1954
1961
1967
1968
1971
Aug. 21 1971
1988
1992
1999
Because McDonald's multi-national, multi-billion dollar business and standardized products
and procedures have come to symbolize globalization and the American way of life, the
company has often found itself a target of activism and a focal point of public debate.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mcdonalds#Criticism
What are standardized products and procedures?
In 1996 McDonald's opened in India for the first time: a country where the majority of the
population is vegetarian and the cow is sacred. Just one example of the inexorable spread
of western multinationals into every corner of the globe. A spread which is creating a
globalised system in which wealth is drained out of local economies into the hands of a
very few, very rich elite.
Can people challenge the undermining of long-lived and stable cultures, and regional
diversity? Self-sufficient and sustainable farming is replaced by cash crops and
agribusiness under control of multinationals - but how are people fighting back?
Source: http://www.mcspotlight.org/issues/expansion/index.html
How could McDonald’s be blamed for: ‘wealth is drained out of local economies into the
hands of a very few, very rich elite.’?
What is ‘agribusiness’?
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McDonald’s is a global family of local restaurants. More than 73% of them are operated by
approximately 5,920 local businessmen and women around the world. McDonald’s in the
community means:
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Local employment opportunities.
New opportunities for local suppliers.
Investments in the community, through construction and renovation.
More revenues for local public projects and services.
In 1990, McDonald's Russia invested $45 million (USD) to construct and equip a food
processing and distribution center in Moscow. Today, more than 75 percent of the raw
ingredients used to supply McDonald's Russian restaurants are purchased from more than
100 independent local suppliers.
Source: http://www.mcdonalds.com/corp/values/place/impacts.html
By quoting this information on their corporate website – what is McDonald’s trying to
show?
What was your top score at the ‘McDonald’s Videogame’? i.e. – How long did you last?
What is the ‘Production Chain’ shown in the game?
Give three hints for success for people playing the ‘McDonald’s Videogame’?
Give three ways in which you can ‘fail’ at the ‘McDonald’s Videogame’?
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