Food Theory: The Dark History of McDonaldland (McDonalds)

one mcdonald's hamburger please the year is 1971 and that'll be 28 cents kid what an unusual thing for you to do to specify the year but okay by the way what are those [Music] why would you fill this family restaurant with these creepy monsters creepy what are you talking about it's 1971 that's what kids like you are into these days apparently [Music] uh hey hey kid you all right sorry i uh i gotta go make a youtube video yeah i have no idea what that is hello internet welcome to food theory where our ice cream machine is almost never broken and for that reason you should probably buy some food theory merch these are actually your final few days to pick up these items so don't be distracted by my stellar modeling theorists the merch line is what you gotta be focusing on right now i absolutely love how this ramen t-shirt came out and if you're in the mood to be flaming hot this summer won't you sport that on your clothing with some flamin hot theory shirt action speaking of it being a flaming hot summer are you staying hydrated well grab yourself some food theory reusable cups to beat the heat complete with a little curly bendy straw and you know we've got ourselves that food theory apron for your summertime barbecue needs links for all of it and more are down in the description below so be sure to check out the all new food theory merch line if you haven't already only available for the next 48 hours or so now then theorists in a previous episode we discussed the incredible origins and expansion of the mcdonald's corporation masterminded by the legendary businessman ray kroc throughout the 50s and 60s i said in that episode and i'll say it again here if you haven't seen the movie the founder yet do yourself a favor put it on the watch list seriously it is fascinating but today i'd actually like to pick up where our previous episode and the founder both leave off because as fascinating as mcdonald's origin story may be it's hardly the most interesting era of mcdonald's history for my money that would be the 70s and 80s when mcdonald's went all in on marketing to children and firmly established themselves as the go-to fast food chain worldwide as a result how exactly did mcdonald's go about hooking gen x on their product so effectively ask illegal stuff and the moral of today's story friends crime sometimes does pay and it all begins with just one word mcdonald land welcome eric to mcdonald land of course it's me and all your other friends too come on in and look around okay so if you're a bit confused by what you just witnessed don't worry you're not alone if you're a millennial of a certain age like yours truly you probably remember bits and pieces of the mcdonaldland era the way that you remember bits and pieces of a creepy dream the fiberglass character statue of ronald mcdonald and his friends the burger stools that were basically too slippery to sit on the playgrounds where kids got to pretend that they were in jail for some reason these were the mcdonald land parks the predecessors of the play place ball pits and the nintendo 64 kiosks that we all know and love today and they were wildly successful at getting families to eat at mcdonald's until they basically got sued out of existence and not for the reasons that you might expect see when ray kroc began franchising mcdonald's restaurants in the mid-50s one of the first things he did was write a letter to walt disney the two men actually knew each other from when they served together in the same world war one ambulance corps small world right at this point walt had just opened up disneyland and already the theme park was connecting with american families in a way that was undeniable croc's letter expressed his desire to put mcdonald's franchises inside disneyland but ultimately the two businessmen were unable to make the deal happen croc who wasn't exactly the type to take rejection lying down started thinking about opening his own mcdonald's theme park in la ultimately though he settled for smaller mcdonald land parks at numerous franchises across the country and the mcdonaldland cast of characters starring the definitely not creepy clown ronald mcdonald were brought to life shortly thereafter in saturday morning tv commercials ronald's friends in genuine mcdonald land included the professor a mad scientist type who schtick was thinking up inventions like the perfect burger only to be reminded that mcdonald's already has that hey hamburger it was it worked well almost there was also mayor mccheese and police officer big mac study harder and have a cheeseburger so it becomes quickly apparent that mcdonald land is in more of a gotham city ineffectual legal system situation where those two don't really do a whole lot and everyone just relies on the local clown to meet out his vigilante justice against the villains so when you think about it actually the exact opposite of gotham city the burger alarm let me tell you there were a lot of villains there was the hamburglar who naturally was a thief who stole hamburgers there was also captain crook a pirate who also steals food but pretty much focused all his efforts on the filet-o-fish sandwich and last but certainly not least there was the evil grimace yeah for the first year of the mcdonald land campaign the grimace was a huge purple blob monster with forearms that he used to snatch up milkshakes and soda like a fast food job of the hut uh where's the coke where are the shakes now on one hand mcdonald land and disneyland aren't even close to each other like one is a world-class tourist destination spawned from one of the greatest entertainment mines of the century the other is trying to sell you grilled pink goo in 30 second increments i don't mean to be negative towards mcdonald land or anything but it kind of has to be said the characters are just downright creepy and i don't think anyone's gonna disagree with me when i say that they don't achieve that same disney magic don't forget to feed the wastebaskets because they're hungry too that's right we are and we'd like to ask a favor of you would you mind letting us have the paper please when but for as fun as it is to rag on the mcdonald land production values and general weirdness simple fact of the matter is that mcdonald land really really worked the 70s and 80s mcdonald lands heyday were boom decades for mcdonald's the corporation navigated the 1970s recession with ease growing at an average rate of 15 with its new recession-proof image the mcdonald's corporation would go on to join the prestigious dow jones industrial average the mcdonaldland characters were used to launch the happy meal in 1979 today happy meals rake in three billion dollars in revenue annually that is 8.2 million dollars per day on happy meals alone and on top of boosting food sales the mcdonald land characters brought in untold amounts of revenue decade after decade in the forms of toys merchandise straight to vhs series in short mcdonaldland was everywhere for american kids in the 70s and 80s it was about as ubiquitous as a marketing campaign can possibly be and you want to know the craziest thing about it the entire mcdonaldland campaign was built on stolen intellectual property see creepiness and low production values aside it's pretty plain to see how a lot of mcdonaldland's inspiration was um let's say borrowed from disneyland both are immersive magical worlds where costumed characters interact with children and both feature themed attractions though of course not all attractions are created equally a hamburglar themed swing set does not a space mountain make heck even the names are similar i mean come on mcdonaldland like did mcdonald's even consider a second name or did they just immediately rubber stamp the first thing that popped into ray crock's head the only thing that would make the rip-off even more direct was if this place was called crocland actually croclan would be pretty cool and this whole practice of borrowing ideas let's just say mcdonald's is no stranger to the practice if nothing else ray kroc was a man who knew great business ideas when he saw him he recognized the mcdonald brothers speedy service system as a great idea he recognized harry sonneborn's model of leasing company-owned real estate to franchisees is a great idea and he obviously recognized the brilliance of disneyland but it doesn't stop there the inspirations get even more intense the ronald mcdonald character was rather liberally borrowed in affect and style from another baby boomer kid culture phenomenon bozo the clown a tv series that syndicated its live clown show concept to different regions by having local tv employees wear identical makeup and yes this is what the simpsons krusty the clown was a direct satire of one of those local tv guys was future national tv news icon willard scott who mcdonald's hired to recreate his version of the routine as the first ever ronald mcdonald after some trial and error with the costume of course mom told me never to talk to strangers well your mother's right as always but i'm ronald mcdonald give me a mcdonald's shake and if mcdonald's had just stopped there if they had merely borrowed mcdonald land concepts from disney and bozo the clown yeah probably wouldn't be a lawsuit there's a connection certainly but not a direct rip-off but mcdonald land clearly crossed into copyright infringement territory when it came to h.r puff and stuff a 1969 television series lol about a young boy who visits a magical island where everything is alive and ruled over by a friendly dragon that acts as the mayor yeah i don't know what's harder to believe here the fact that that thing's a mayor or that thing's a dragon the show created by sid and marty croft featured their signature blend of live-action actors puppets and light special effects huh why do those talking trees suddenly look so familiar 17 episodes of hr puff and stuff hit the airwaves in 1969 but the show was so popular that those same 17 episodes remained on tv via reruns and syndication until 1985 decades later puffinstuff was named one of tv guide's top cult shows ever mcdonald's ad agency at the time needham harper and steers thought that this was exactly the vibe and audience that they were looking for with mcdonaldland so they went to the crofts with the proposal of hey uh would would you like to do the puff and stuff thing again but like this time everything is themed around hamburgers and well yes some progress was made the crofts eventually got a call that the agency was gonna go in a completely different direction which was a complete lie because the mcdonald land campaign hit tv just a few months later and um things looked a bit similar to puffins stuff not with this magic potion i'm brewing it's guaranteed to protect you from the witch's spells and it's just about ready oh my psychedelic electric hamburger machine will make the best hamburger in the world possible reason for the similarities mcdonald's ad agency straight up hired many of the same voice actors and production crew who'd worked on puff and stuff to perform more or less the same function stand right side up i am right side up you're upside down they're upside down now grimace you are the most egregious was mayor mccheese he looked like puff and stuff had the same job and uniform as puff and stuff even his voice actor was doing the same voice as dr blinky the owl from puff and stuff you ought to know by now that all ow they oh what'll we do oh my oh my this is awful dad insult injury mcdonaldland even got a lucrative licensing deal with the ice capades which if you're not familiar was a touring show where kids could see their favorite characters doing what they do best triple axels on ice skates this was a big deal because up until that point the crafts had always gotten the ice capades deal for themselves this was too much for even a couple of mild-mannered puppeteers to take and the crofts did what had to be done they sued mcdonald's ad agency [Music] what do you have to say for yourself a likely story he's guilty yep in 1971 stuff dragged ronald and the gang straight into a federal copyright lawsuit which as these things are want to do dragged on for years behind the scenes of what was otherwise one of the most successful ad campaigns in history an ad campaign that for a time was the template by which all other fast food marketing was judged ronald and his kid friends were skipping through the hamburger patches doing g-rated battle with silly pirates literally at the same moment they were also fighting for their very survival in appellate court and guess what they lost the court granted mcdonald's a grace period to transform mcdonald land into something less infringing and so big mac mayor mccheese and the professor all got the boot while the human-ish characters like hamburglar and captain got softened up and made more mascot-like it also meant that the concept of mcdonald land itself a magical place that pretty closely resembles the world of hr puff and stuff had to go too which is why ronald started kicking around in real world locations surrounded by new non-copyright infringing friends stuff that is probably a lot more familiar to all us 90s kids in the end the courts forced the company to pay fees totaling get this one million dollars [Music] all right it was one million forty four thousand dollars to be precise adjusted for inflation those one million forty four thousand nineteen seventy seven dollars would be worth four and a half million today dollars which again isn't even close to the company's happy meal sales on a given day so yeah it seems the hr puff and stuff lawsuit taught mcdonald's a valuable lesson and the lesson was crime definitely pays for an entire generation of americans mcdonaldland is inextricably linked to the mcdonald's brand a brand that today is valued over 88 billion dollars ronald mcdonald who himself was kind of a sketchy copy may have lost some of his explicit rip-off friends as a result of the court's decision but who needs friends when you're mick rich he's been laughing all the way to the mcbank ever since but hey that's just the perfect opportunity for me to congratulate the sponsor of today's episode fetch on their savvy approach to advertising food theory and cards fetch rewards is a free easy to use app where you earn rewards on literally anything you buy all you have to do is scan any receipt or e-receipt and fetch gives you points that can be redeemed for hundreds of rewards including amazon and visa gift cards i'm gonna show you how it works here's a target receipt for a kitchen scale that we bought for an upcoming food theory experiment episode with fetch all we do is snap a picture of the receipt and bam seconds later we've got points which if i'm being honest we'll probably put back to a target gift card i go there a lot plus i feel like i kind of owe it to them because i desecrated the store earlier this year with that bread glove fashion shoot and fetch works with all sorts of receipts from all sorts of places we're talking restaurants online purchases they don't even have to be from massive companies like target or amazon fetch works with your favorite mom and pop places even the theory wear merch store where we recently launched a whole slew of food theory merch yeah all those receipts from purchasing amazing aprons and pizza plushies can go directly to your fetch account and get you that much closer to getting the gift cards that you are most interested in receiving so this is a limited time offer for all your theorists out there download the app now and use the code food theory to get 3 000 points when you scan your first receipt there's a link down in the description below be sure to check it out and thank you again to fetch we appreciate their sponsorship we appreciate them helping you get money back on all the purchases that you're already making and most importantly of all we appreciate you for watching and always remembering that it's just a theory a food theory bon appetit

Channel: The Food Theorists

Views: 3,792,681

Keywords: mcdonalds, mcdonaldland, mcdonalds theme park, ronald mcdonald, mcdonalds commercial, hamburglar, grimace, mcdonalds history, theme park, mcdonalds lawsuit, mcdonalds recipe, food theory, food theorists, matpat, game theory, film theory, eat the menu, binging with babish, fast food, mcdonalds drive thru, mcdonalds secret menu, mcdonalds challenge, mcdonalds mukbang, mcdonalds bts

Id: oTS6MPpzD9Y

Length: 15min 5sec (905 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 10 2021

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[u/NeoMegaRyuMKII]

This feels less like Food Theory and more like Food History

[u/Life-Acadia2919]

How about the other half to the Monopoly video?

[u/EARTHISLIFENOMARS]

Can you please provide the sources of the information present in this video

[u/MochaMochi67]

This video is very similar to Yesterworld:The History and Downfall of a McDonaldland and The Disney-McDonald’s happy meal video. It uses the same footage and everything.

[u/JimRoad-Arson]

This is harmless compared to their real dark history: they help people get heart disease, diabetes and cancer, promote destroying the planet and are responsible for killing millions of innocent animals every year:

Jan Borén, M John Chapman, Ronald M Krauss, Chris J Packard, Jacob F Bentzon, Christoph J Binder, Mat J Daemen, Linda L Demer, Robert A Hegele, Stephen J Nicholls, Børge G Nordestgaard, Gerald F Watts, Eric Bruckert, Sergio Fazio, Brian A Ference, Ian Graham, Jay D Horton, Ulf Landmesser, Ulrich Laufs, Luis Masana, Gerard Pasterkamp, Frederick J Raal, Kausik K Ray, Heribert Schunkert, Marja-Riitta Taskinen, Bart van de Sluis, Olov Wiklund, Lale Tokgozoglu, Alberico L Catapano, Henry N Ginsberg, Low-density lipoproteins cause atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease: pathophysiological, genetic, and therapeutic insights: a consensus statement from the European Atherosclerosis Society Consensus Panel, European Heart Journal, Volume 41, Issue 24, 21 June 2020, Pages 2313–2330, https://doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehz962

Bahadoran, Z., Mirmiran, P., & Azizi, F. (2016). Fast Food Pattern and Cardiometabolic Disorders: A Review of Current Studies. Health promotion perspectives, 5(4), 231–240. https://doi.org/10.15171/hpp.2015.028

Daniel Demeyer, Birgit Mertens, Stefaan De Smet & Michèle Ulens (2016) Mechanisms Linking Colorectal Cancer to the Consumption of (Processed) Red Meat: A Review, Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, 56:16, 2747-2766, https://doi.org/10.1080/10408398.2013.873886

Nogueira, L.M., Yabroff, K.R. and Bernstein, A. (2020), Climate change and cancer. CA A Cancer J Clin, 70: 239-244. https://doi.org/10.3322/caac.21610