The McDownload

After the popularisation of televisions, people watch TV instead of chatting with their friends and family in the dinning table. Similar situation for the computer and Internet users, it becomes more and more usual to eat in front of the screen. This triggers the McDonald’s an innovative idea to further commercialise their junk foods:

The McDownload
Author: Barry Fox
Movie, music or game with your Big Mac, sir? That’s what The Walt Disney Company in Hollywood has in mind. Patents filed by Disney reveal plans to drip-feed entertainment into a portable player while the owner eats in a restaurant.
You only get the full programme by coming back to the restaurant a number of times to collect all the installments. McDonalds could use the system instead of giving out toys with Happy Meals, suggests Disney’s patent.
Portable players and modern cell phones store entertainment files in memory cards. They often have built-in Bluetooth or WiFi, too, for wireless downloading. Big files, such as a movie, take a long time to capture, so Disney will break the file into several segments that can be downloaded separately and spliced together by the player.
When the owner buys a meal they get an electronic code that authorises a partial download. If the file is in five parts there is a strong incentive to come back for four more meals.
In the future, a dedicated player sold or even given away by the restaurant could help the scheme to run more smoothly – and create a new market opportunity for electronics companies.
Source: New Scientist (Dec 05)

To be honest, I really appreciate this weird but intriguing idea. In term of business patent application, it is an exciting strategy and I’d like to see how it works and the impact on McDonald’s business. However, the business practices and ethics of McDonald’s are always controversial or even unethical in the environmental and social aspects. Being one of the biggest worldwide operations, I strongly feel that they need to show their commitment and responsibility to integrate social and environmental priorities of being a good neighbor in the community, not just having fancy ideas to prompt their revenues. Although McDonald’s starts showing their responses by publishing biannual Corporate Responsibility Report and working high-profile on charities, their actions seem like greenwash rather than fulfilling corporate responsibility. A little bit worry about our future generation if they cannot think about the McDonald’s practices more critically but being attracts or addict to the “McFantasy” and ignore their negative impacts on health, social and environment.

Link:McDonald's Worldwide Corporate Responsibility Report 2004