Mcdonalds - Tnc

McDonalds – the 90th largest economy in the world – feeds about 1 percent of the world’s population a day. That’s 68 million people! It hires more than 1 million workers in the US per year and is the world’s largest toy distributer. McDonalds also created the Ronald McDonald House charity, which houses more than 6000 families a year in Australia alone. However, this Illinois-based company is undeniably threatening the ‘global village’. It is doing so in a lot of ways, including the damage it inflicts to the environment, its exploitation of foreign and domestic labour and its negative impacts on traditional cultures.

In this seminar, I will be analysing different pictures that support my argument that McDonalds is directly destroying the global village. I think that through the impacts it has upon the environment in which we live, McDonalds is directly destroying the global village. As a large company, McDonalds needs a lot of resources to fuel its growth. For example, Americans alone consume over 1 billion pounds of beef at McDonalds every year.

A cow produces 250 ml of methane per day on average. Think of how much methane is created by the cows needed to produce 1 billion pounds of beef!McDonalds has also been accused by Greenpeace of feeding its chickens with soybeans grown on farms in the Amazon rainforest. These soybean farms are cleared illegally, leading to mass deforestation in the Amazon. By doing this, McDonalds not only encourages illegal traders in the Amazon, but also sends a worldwide message that deforestation is a viable option that can lead to contracts selling produce to McDonalds.

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Encouraging excessive methane production and deforestation are just a few of the ways in which McDonalds helps to destroy the environment.McDonalds also negatively affects the global village by exploiting members of the workforce. This is done through the misuse of domestic and foreign labour. McDonalds has always been the target of accusations that they exploit teenage labour, paying them wages that are too low to be readily lived upon. These reduced rates can be seen in this table. But most recently McDonalds has tried to tackle these accusations head on by releasing an example budget for someone who works for the company. From the start this budget was flawed, as you can see here, the employee would have to work two jobs to survive.This fact shows that an employee could not be sustained on a McDonalds wage. Secondly, McDonalds cited that health cover costs $20. This is not the case, for that amount you would be likely only to get say, ambulance cover. Thirdly, try spending only $25 a day on just food, let alone drinks, clothes and other necessities. This budget on its own, is certain evidence that you would not be able to live on a McDonald’s wage. In extreme cases some people have had to choose between paying bills and eating food. This exploitation of cheap labour is another reason why I think McDonalds is contributing to a diminished global village.McDonalds is also destroying the global village by abolishing various cultures from around the world. As seen in the picture here, McDonalds is intervening with traditional culture, replacing traditional pastimes, like food-preparation and consumption, with an internationalised product. Often in these traditional cultures, things like food can be tied up with rituals, so food is linked to their cultural heritage. By replacing traditional foods with an anonymous, generic product you’re robbing people of the chance to pass on their cultural stories through food.However some people in other parts of the world have realised that this tragic loss of culture is occurring. For example, the people of a small town east of Melbourne called Tecoma has recently protested against there being a McDonalds built in the town. 80 000 people thus far have signed a petition demanding that a McDonalds franchise not be installed in their town. The fact that the company destroys culture and that people are realising it is another reason that McDonalds is destroying the global village.In conclusion, I think that McDonalds is directly destroying the global village because of its environmental impacts, its exploitation of the workforce, and its negative impacts on human culture and health. I have used different images and evidence to support my argument. I will leave with a quote by Ken Robinson, an internationally recognized leader in the development of innovation and human resources, “We have sold ourselves into a fast food model of education, and it’s impoverishing our spirit and our energies as much as fast food is depleting our physical bodies. Page 5 * McDonalds Corporation global headquarters are run at Oak Brook, in Illinois USA * Each main country however, has its own headquarters that run its own business’ http://www. businessinsider. com. au/office-tour-mcdonalds-hq-2012-12? op=1#now-l ets-go-down-the-supply-chain-37 * McDonald’s main function is to serve fast food to people. * Australia’s Head office is at 21-29 Central Ave, Thornleigh, NSW Page 6 * They sell food that has many negative impacts on the body, therefore making people overweight and that can lead to health issues http://userwww. ervice. emory. edu/~eakharu/Negative%20Effects%20of%20McDonalds. htm * The exploitation of foreign and domestic labour, some are not payed for overtime and others have to work harder and faster with low pay because of the franchise being understaffed * The impacts that McDonalds has on the environment include, the methane that the cattle produce is destroying the environment, the chopping of rainforests to make more room for the cattle to graze on, and the mass amounts of pollution that it takes to make the burgers. ttp://ethicalfootprint. wordpress. com/2010/05/14/unethical-companies-mcdonald%E2%80%99s/ * The farmers that produce the food that we eat are also grossly underpaid considering the cost of running a farm that has to pay workers to be there http://www. businessinsider. com. au/19-facts-about-mcdonalds-that-will-blow-your-mind-2012-4? op=1#americans-alone-consume-one-billion-pounds-of-beef-at-mcdonalds-in-a-year–five-and-a-half-million-head-of-cattle-18 Page 8 The McDonaldization of Society is a book or theory on how cultures now possess characteristics of fast food restaurants, it is by George Ritzer in 1998 * The workers are affected economically and socially because of the low pay and high work hours * The environment is affected because of the pollution and the cutting down of rainforests and that causes ‘global warming’ * In Australia you can live on a McDonalds wage however it would be quite basic. However in the US, some people have to make a decision to either pay the bills or eat. http://www. lifehacker. om. au/2013/07/can-you-live-on-a-mcdonalds-wage-in-australia/ http://www. forbes. com/sites/clareoconnor/2013/07/22/i-have-to-choose-between- food-and-rent-meet-the-mcdonalds-workers-fighting-for-fair-wages/ * McDonalds has released a budget for people in the US yet it just confirms how low the wages are. * McDonalds also supports many local sporting clubs and has set up Ronald McDonald House, which houses sick children * McDonalds helps the economy as well, creating nearly 500,000 jobs in the US and has paid over $230 million in taxes http://userwww. ervice. emory. edu/~eakharu/Positive%20Effects%20of%20McDonalds. htm http://mctnc. blogspot. com. au/p/positives-and-negatives. html * About 250 families will sleep in a Ronald McDonald house each night, helping more than 6000 families each year. This is in Australia alone. http://www. rmhc. org. au/whatwedo/houses Page 9 Page 10 http://www. spotsdaily. com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/McDonalds_Permissibility_Tomato_ibelieveinadv-412×582. jpg a) This advertisement tries to sell the idea that McDonalds has the freshest products just like home Page 11 1. There are two tomato crates and one is asking “Can’t tell the difference between your tomatoes and ours? ” and the other one says “Don’t worry there isn’t one” * To sell the idea that McDonalds has the freshest and the best quality of products * Asking a question, using similarities of their products with the viewer’s same products * That McDonalds is as fresh as home 2. * The target audience is people who buy tomatoes and uses them to cook different things * It uses the writing down the bottom to persuade the viewer that all they do to these tomatoes is wash, slice and serve them.In doing so it’s trying to counteract the fear that by eating fast food you’re eating processed, artificial product. 3. * That they are very smart when trying to advertise their products to their customers * They also like to tackle the criticism that they get head on and use advertising to help prove they do not put preservatives and other additives in their products Page 12 http://asiapacific. anu. edu. au/newmandala/2006/07/19/on-the-front-line-of-globalisation/ a) This image demonstrates the social impact that McDonalds is having on cultures from around the globe Page 13 ) Originally the image would have been a woman carrying something on her head in a traditional manner, however it has been photo-shopped to make it look like she is carrying a McDonald’s burger on her head and a coke in her hand. c) This tells the viewer that ‘McDonaldization’ is really happening to cultures from around the world. d) Through the stereotypical picture of a woman with something on her head e) That McDonalds is taking over the world. f) It connects by using a very stereotypical image. This image has been doctored to show the effects of McDonalds on culture. ) That McDonalds is superseding traditional culture, replacing traditional pastimes (for example food) with internationalised product. Often in these traditional cultures things like food involve ceremony, so food is a gateway to cultural heritage. By replacing traditional foods with an anonymous, generic product you’re robbing people of the chance to transmit their cultural stories through food. Page 14 * One small town in Victoria, Tecoma, is protesting against their being a McDonalds built in their town * They have created a protest group called Burger Off! MP, James Merlino, is an enormous supporter of the cause * Over 80,000 people have signed the petition, just 60,000 more to go * This shows that even one small town of 2085 people can do a lot to these super companies http://www. burgeroff. org/ * PETA also opposes McDonalds, saying how cruel its suppliers slaughter their chickens http://b-i. forbesimg. com/laurashin/files/2013/07/Screen-Shot-2013-07-18-at-4. 57. 59-PM. png Graphs 1 http://www. admc. hct. ac. ae/hd1/english/graphs/bar_bigmac. htm 2 http://whatjapanthinks. com/2007/10/03/most-japanese-choose-mcdonalds-prefer-mos-burger/ This photo shows the effects of globalisation can have on one business in the world http://www. indexmundi. com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/macdonalds-worldwide. png 1940 Dick ;amp; Mac McDonald open McDonald’s Bar-B-Que. The restaurant holds it’s grand opening in San Bernardino, CA. McDonald’s Bar-B-Que was located at the intersection of 14th ;amp; East streets, where it still resides today. 1948 Dick and Mac shut down their restaurant for renovations, re-inventing it with a much-simplified menu that containing only nine items. The staple of the menu is the 15 cent hamburger.For 5 cents, you could get bottomless orange juice to go with it. 1949 McDonald’s introduces it’s famous french fries into the mix, adding them to the menu in 1949, along with the first triple-thick milkshakes. 1954 Ray Kroc visits McDonalds, and becomes the restaurant’s official franchising agent—a job that would make later him a famous millionaire. 1955 McDonald’s opens it’s second location in Des Plaines, Illinois. Ray Kroc was instrumental in getting them established. The restaurant’s second location made $366. 12 in sales on opening day.More than 700 additional franchise locations would open over the course of the decade that followed. 1963 In 1963, 23 years after opening their very first restaurant, the brothers opened McDonald’s 500th location in Toledo, Ohio. 1965 In 1965, McDonald’s officially became a publicly owned corporation, selling it’s first public stock shares at $22. 50 apiece. The initial stock offering took place on the restaurant’s 10th anniversary. 1967 With the opening of McDonald’s first locations in Canada and Puerto Rico, McDonalds became an international chain.This trend would continue throughout the restaurant’s future, eventually resulting in McDonald’s locations in 118 different countries. 1968 The famous Big Mac hamburger is introduced. 1975 McDonald’s decides to expand from lunch into breakfast, and begins the morning meal with the launch of it’s famous Egg McMuffin sandwiches. The Egg McMuffin was invented by a McDonald’s location owner by the name of Herb Peterson, from Santa Barbara, California. 1980 McDonald’s celebrates it’s 25th anniversary. 1987