Month: May 2003

Dear McDonald’s,

Who am I to criticize you? You seem to have built a fairly successful business over the years, and I think that’s swell. But someone in the marketing department deserves a boot to the head for a recently-created poster added to the drive through menu.

[Editor’s note: For those of you who have somehow avoided the McDonald’s drive-thru, they have a big sign with all the menu items, in case you forgot that they sell, well, hamburgers, fries and Coke. The sign also displays the current promotional tie in for the Happy Meals (Finding Nemo toys as of the 30th), any special “for a limited time” foods they are pushing, etc.]

Yesterday the middle of the sign had a picture of a huge plate of chicken McNuggets, one of them lovingly cut in half to show America that they are filled with actual meat of some kind. Is it chicken? I hope so…I’d like to think that chicken McNuggets include some chicken. After all, I’m choosing to feed this to my child. Wait, there’s text on the image:

“Made from a whole chicken breast including skin”

Gah. I was fine until the last two words. So you are trying to sell me on the fact that these are white meat products (which is actually obvious in the tenders at BK or Wendies) and you decide to tell me that chicken nuggets are made with chicken skin? Are you INSANE?

So now I’m stuck at the drive-thru thinking I should not buy these things for Junior after all, but now that I’ve told him he was going to get a Happy Meal I cannot just say I’ve changed my mind. But you can bet I’m going to think long and hard before I go back there again. So McDonalds, um, thanks for doing me the favor of helping me make healthier choices for my son. Sure, I know we should never eat fast food, but hey, I’m only human.

Anyway, I don’t know who thought that would be a selling point to mention chicken skin, but that person is wrong.

We had this exchange the other morning.

Jr: After breakfast, Julia and I have to have a talk.

Me: Oh?

Jr: Ya. She’s gonna be moving out.

Me: I hope it isn’t because of something I said.

Jr: No, it’s just time.

(Okay, so I feel like a total slimeball now. Cause I think my teasing about not liking her because she didn’t invite me to the wedding has made him decide to toss aside his wedding vows. I also have a serious twinge in the “what kind of example are his father and I teaching him” department.)

Sorry, sun came out. It won’t be out again until Saturday. I need to go absorb some rays to process my vitamin D, or however that works.

“C’mon honey, let’s go frolick with the other unemployed people”

– Timmy’s Dad on The Fairly Oddparents

I was pretty sad to see the demise of the Brunching Shuttlecocks websites, which I’ve read for a couple of years now. I know Lore et. al hadn’t been updating very regularly the past, oh, nine months or so. Luckily, they have two other sites that we can visit. I can’t vouch for how often Lore will update the new site, but he’s created a site for my favorite part of his site, The Book of Ratings.