The Golden Arches of McDonalds are a ubiquitous symbol in our culture, and has been since the mid-to-late 20th century. As with many corporate symbols found throughout our vast consumer culture in the last fifty years the McDonalds brand has come to signify something totally unrelated to the actual symbol. The Arches themselves, a physical, tangible symbol have become an abstraction of something else entirely. When one sees the mighty Arches from the highway the mind immediately thinks of what? The mind thinks of burgers, fries, and soft drinks. The mind is filled with thoughts of deep fat fryers and the smell of French fries. Even now, as I write this, I have suddenly become aware that I’m hungry and that McDonalds would not be a poor choice for lunch (financially at least).
In this way the symbol of the arches has become a complex sigh exchange by which, as I previously stated; the Arches represent hot, quickly made food en mass, instead of what the Arches actually represent, which is nothing.
The symbol itself has become engrained in our collective unconscious. When someone sees the arches an argument is made by the symbol to our logical consciousness in lieu of the truth, “you’re hungry, come eat cheap, hot food here.” And the consumer is drawn to the benefits of a cheaper-than-most meal if they are hungry or not. The negative health effects, however, are not part of the argument of the symbol, the symbol’s argument revolves around instant gratification and consumption: come, and consume; consumption will make you happy. In this way the truth is overshadowed by the unconscious decisions people make based on the symbols perceived meaning and hyper-prevalence in our culture; the truth being that the food is cheap, terrible for your health, will not make you happy and in fact will probably make you feel worse physically, and about yourself, as your veins swell with thick, yellow cholesterol.
The symbol works remarkably well, smashing through language boundaries anywhere in the world where the Arches transcend the collective conventions of language and in this way it works as a very dangerous tool for corporate greed and collective human stupidity.
The words "Mcdonalds" and "American" almost seem to go hand-in-hand in today's society, so this is a perfect topic for what we have been talking about in class. Along with the golden arches, I also think the movie Supersize Me should be brought up. It really started the whole anti-Mcdonalds movement. Before the movie, it seemed more like a harmless relation with the American society. After the movie, the relation is looked upon with disgust. It is almost natural how one popular culture figure can completely change how another one is viewed. In fact, it threatened the very core of Mcdonalds and they had to do a lot of damage control to stay at relatively the same position as they were.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, but I felt that if I included a discussion of 'Supersize Me' then I would be overdoing the stated terms of these blog posts, by which they should remain informal and short(er).
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine also pointed out that the Arches look, coincidentally or not, like breasts, albeit in a simplified design.
I found this analysis to be a bit Freudian for my taste, but perhaps valid in relation to another set of analyses.
When you speak of the McDonald's arches as a "ubiquitous symbol of our culture," who are you referring to? Yes, the symbol brings to mind images of cheap fast food, and the terms "American" and "McDonald's" are deeply connected. However, there's more on the table here than just grease and American consumerism.
ReplyDeleteA key characteristic of McDonald's and other multinational corporations, without which they would not be able to grow on a global level, is the ability to absorb local influences while still leaving an imprint on those localities. To appeal to regional tastes and lifestyles, a McDonald's restaurant in Minneapolis would have a different menu and atmosphere from one in Tokyo. If a Minnesotan were to travel to Japan and spot those golden arches, though, he or she would recognize the symbol as a taste of home. The tourist might even feel compelled to eat there because it is a familiar and thus safe choice. It is the variation across particular places as well as the sameness and ubiquity of the symbol which causes the corporation's global success. It's not just an aspect of American culture, but a reflection of world behavior.