- McWorld
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- Not to be confused with Macworld, the periodical dedicated to Apple Macintosh products
McWorld is a term used to describe the spreading of McDonald's restaurants throughout the world as the result of globalization, and more generally to describe the effects of international McDonaldization of services and commercialization of goods as an element of globalization as a whole. The name also refers to an interactive "virtual world" for kids launched by McDonald's Corporation in 2008.
Contents
Use as a pejorative
Critics claim that fast food chain restaurants such as McDonald's are destructive towards many aspects of the indigenous cultures in countries where they have been introduced. In March 1992 an article first published in The Atlantic Monthly by Rutgers political science professor Benjamin Barber was titled "Jihad vs. McWorld", which described international commercialization as one of two great clashing forces of the 21st century, the other being tribalistic fundamentalism.[1] It was expanded and published in 1995, and became a bestselling book.[2] A 1999 book entitled Mustard Seed Versus McWorld by evangelical minister Tom Sine implores Christians to reject the diminution of religious values that he contends results from excessive commercialization.[3]
Virtual world
McWorld is also the name of an interactive "virtual world" for kids launched by McDonald's in 2008 on happymeal.com. In McWorld, kids can play games, go on quests, earn points and buy accessories for their treehouses and avatars (called mPals).
Origins
The name McWorld was originally the name of a TV campaign for the restaurant by Leo Burnett that ran many of its ads during Saturday morning cartoons of the early 1990s, featuring the exciting McDonald's-related happenings that would purportedly occur if kids ran the world.[4] These included fantasies such as having gym class every period in school and eating McDonald's at every meal. In addition to planet Earth, McWorld ads featured kids ruling school, space, and other arenas typically dominated by an adult hegemony; adults were portrayed as inferior and ineffective. Memorably, each spot concluded with the phrase, "MCWORLD! Hey, it could happen!", as a rockin' guitar chord played in the background. One such spot won a Golden Marble Award in 1998.[5] While the current McWorld website bears some similarities to the ideas in the original McWorld campaign, (i.e., kids in charge) it is a completely different concept, created independently for a younger age group. In fact, McWorld was named by a vote of kids on happymeal.com.[6]
See also
- List of countries with McDonald's franchises
- Big Mac Index
- McDonaldization
- Golden Arches Theory of Conflict Prevention
- Jihad vs. McWorld
- MaDonal
References
- ^ "Jihad vs. McWorld". The Atlantic Monthly. March 1992. http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/199203/barber. Retrieved 2007-01-29.
- ^ Barber, Benjamin R. Jihad vs. McWorld: How Globalism and Tribalism Are Reshaping the World. Hardcover: Crown, 1995, ISBN 0812923502; Paperback: Ballantine Books, 1996, ISBN 0345383044
- ^ Sine, Tom. Mustard Seed Versus McWorld. 1999. ISBN 0-8010-9088-1
- ^ Hood, Duncan. "Revenge of the tweens". KidScreen Magazine, March 1, 1999.
- ^ "'Raccoon' takes home awards for Hostess, Mithun Esty". bill 'Selling to Kids', September 16, 1998.
- ^ McWorld: It's a kid's world where kids rule. McDonald's Corporation, 2008.
External links
Categories:- Political neologisms
- McWords
- Words coined in the 1990s
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