McDonald’s Cultural Impact on Society, Nationally and Internationally
By: Kylie Plaxico
“Brands have become ubiquitous in global popular culture.” McDonald’s has embedded their brand throughout the world through creating and adapting to each spread, nationally and internationally. The McDonald's Golden Arches have become a brand symbol that triggers countless responses from society (Cayla 86). It has the ability to spark selective thinking and enthusiasm. The demonstration of globalization is quite clear as it integrated itself as a part of cultural and economic geography. The increasing need to push McDonald’s brand international involves adapting to change in “the global market conditions and contribute to public discourse on branding practices (Cayla 88).” This proposes a cultural approach by recognizing that national and international marketing is not just a technique but is made up of understanding relationships between individuals and society. Through the cultural approach, McDonald’s has indirectly formulated a well-known reputation.
When thinking of branding as specific ways of talking about the world, one can see how “the cultural form has evolved historically and differs across cultural contexts (Cayla 89).” It acknowledges the diverse ways of branding and thinking about brands throughout different parts of the world.
By adapting and changing as little as possible but enough to maintain a positive brand reputation, keeps the Golden Arches alive globally. Their symbol has been recognizable for many years by multiple countries. Culturally, the point is to develop workable structures while not totally changing the operation when moving to a new “cultural context (Chapman).” Although customizing structures is necessary due to location, it is unnecessary to create a completely new structure for each situation. Completely re-creating could potentially mean losing your brand identity all together. For instance, the milkshakes at McDonald’s taste the same in Atlanta and in Beijing. But, on the other hand, you won’t see burgers at Indian stores in the respect of Hindu convictions towards eating beef. In this circumstance, McDonald’s is reflecting its brand image as togetherness and respectfulness of it’s surrounding culture. When structures become flexible with services and product it allows the brand to flourish and form positive relationships with it’s customers. McDonalds had to change some elements of their franchise but only enough to satisfy it’s location (Chapman).
Even though McDonald’s is sensitive to it’s cultural surroundings, it is sometimes faced with difficult decisions. These decisions could effect the way people look at their brand on a global scale. The Golden Arches international image doesn’t always portray the message they want to send. For example, in some countries scrutiny is given for not following through with the underlying McDonald’s ‘American Equality’ undertone. Saudi Arabia has been criticized by Americans for practicing “gender apartheid,” where women eating out must sit in “family” sections, separated from single men. McDonald’s is now being criticized by allowing their franchises to practice segregated zones in their restaurants (Chapman).
Something that McDonald’s has to consider when plotting their infrastructure around the globe is the the concept of Power distance. This can give an insight to particular countries importance to brand names and loyalty. It explains the “equality of an individual and the degree to which the individual is defined solely by his or her position in an organization or society (Power Distance 237).” This is more than just “the power of an individual as ascribed by their status.” In a broader spectrum, national cultures with higher power distance connect more importance to brand names but have a higher probability to switch brands in order to suit the trends of their “power group,” less brand loyalty. In opposition, those that score lower in power distance usually are not easily influenced by high power groups, leaning more towards brands they like developing greater brand loyalty (Power Distance 237). Research has shown that in low power-distance cultures where people are “not focused on social roles and group affiliation, functional brands that de-emphasize the social, symbolic, sensory and experiential benefits of products are often preferred (Power Distance 237) .” A high power distance, such as China, social and/or sensory needs should be bold, these benefits are more effective in developing brands. As an example of this concept, “consider McDonald’s branding campaign in China. McDonald’s branding efforts have strived to attach the Chinese belief in the strength-inducing properties of beef to its Quarter Pounder burger. Print ads show a woman’s red shiny lips pursed over the picture of a Quarter Pounder making these TV commercials extremely steamy. In one spot, a man and a woman eat Quarter Pounders, and close-up shots of the woman’s neck and mouth are mixed with images of fireworks and spraying water. The actors go as far as to suck their fingers. The voiceover says: “You can feel it. Thicker. You can taste it. Juicier.” “Consistent with this high power distance culture, a strong combination of social and sensory needs are employed to build the brand image of McDonald’s Quarter Pounder burger (Power Distance 237).” Evidence that consumers understand brands in the context and measures of national culture leads us to comprehend McDonald’s branding. Bringing up the idea that McDonald’s might not have the possibility of creating a “global brand image” that is spread across all cultures with the same meaning as a result of different “national cultural context varies (Power Distance 237).” This also has shown a strong correlation between brands and culture. Using meaning as a platform to peoples emotional brand attachment can be sewn into a culture or preexisting image/belief system for years making brands such as McDonald successful and recognizable through generations and countries (Power Distance 237).
Eric Schlosser, in Fast Food Nation, has claimed that McDonald’s, “the nation’s largest franchise company, has ‘‘homogenized’’ not only its own restaurants but also many of its suppliers (Buder 432).” ‘‘What we find with franchises,’’ he says, ‘‘is that the original creator of the franchise had a new idea, was actually quite dynamic and risk taking.” But in order to expand the franchise he has to impose total conformity on the franchisees (Buder 432).’’ After McDonald’s spread from one restaurant in 1955 to seven hundred and ten in 10 years, they expanded to one-hundred and fifteen countries on six continents, making them one of the most famous and heavily integrated brand (Buder 433). With almost half of the company’s restaurants outside the United States, the Golden Arches are ubiquitous and universally recognized, even to the most remote locations across the world. The story of Japanese girl who arrived in Los Angeles, looked around, and said to her mother: ‘‘Look mom, they have McDonald’s here to,’’ can be heard all over. Her surprise that McDonald’s is an American company is understandable (Buder 433).