McDonalds- The Best Segmenter EVER

The marketers at McDonalds-- best ever. Who can disagree? They are quick, cheap, and EVERYWHERE. Most likely more accessible than any Vons or Albertsons where at least some of their products contain at least some things that may not have been force fed corn (like an apple or banana). They literally have been the forefront of all fast food chains since their inception. They started the happy meals because apparently people didn't want to order more than one thing because for fear of being seen as gluttonous (Crister, author of "Fat Land") (and seriously, how ironic), then they came up with the value menus because they realized that people wanted the most food for the least money without having to buy 4 separate things, and then they came up with SUPER SIZE-ing, and they have the most iconic arches in America. What great marketing. Let's make every McDonalds have GIANT BRIGHT YELLOW ARCHES THAT CAN BE SEEN FOR MILES (duh that's a great idea).

They have something for everyone- happy meals for kids, value for adults, the dollar menu for the quick and cheap meal, and now they even have coffee and smoothies. You can now cut out Starbucks and Jamba Juice from your morning route, and get a breakfast sandwich too (made of most petroleum, probably)! I'm not sure if they still have those toys for kids, but that campaign definitely targeted kids, and kids that want their toys are kids that drag their parents and the rest of their families into the nearest McDs. Why focus on what adults want? Because more kids almost automatically come with two adults! Maybe even another kid! Adults can come as singles...and that's not maximizing the audience.

Some of their newer commercials present the ingredients to make a McDonalds hamburger- genetically perfect tomatoes, onions, and lettuce being freshly chopped, wet with the dew of the new morn [ethylene gas], then cue to the 'best quality beef.' Strange, because I didn't know a tomato vine could be grafted to a salt flat. Obviously, the new trend is that people are realizing that Americans are fat and unhealthy (WHAT?? The FDA would never let us eat something that wasn't good for us!!). Then that "Super Size Me" horror story came out. Awkward. So, McDonalds changed their strategy a little bit, to cater to what was popular, pulled out some new items (coffee, smoothies), and are doing well. Turns out, people still love them some McDonalds. I think the moral of the story is, public health should try to be a little more like McDonalds.