Custom essays on Joe Kincheloe and the book The Sign of the Burger: McDonald’s and the Culture of power
Critical analysis
Traditionally, McDonald’s was viewed from the cultural or economic perspective alone. Today, the company operates worldwide and is one of the leaders in the world fast food industry. McDonald’s has definitely reached a tremendous success and its strife for the domination in the global market is quite natural because the company needs to take the lead to improve its marketing and competitive position. On the other hand, the author is apparently right in his skeptical view on McDonald’s because its strife for the leadership is not driven by the advertised care of consumer’s needs and interests but it is a mere pursuit of high profits, which are the ultimate goal of McDonald’s. In this regard, the company uses tools, which are far from perfect and often are unethical. For instance, as the author points out in the first chapter of his book, McDonald’s promoted the idea of equality and democracy through the elimination of barriers in terms of employment and in relation to its customers. In this regard, McDonald’s employed females but, as the author argued, the company did it not of the desire to provide women with equal opportunities compared to men but the company attempted to save costs. Today, the company continues its hypocritical marketing strategy. For instance, the company attempts to expand its market in China, which is undemocratic, Communist state. Obviously, if McDonald’s did respect democratic values and principles, it would not operate in the country, where the violation of human rights is a norm. This is just another example of marketing strategies of McDonald’s which use all means to reach desirable ends. Therefore, the author of the book is reasonable in his criticism of McDonald’s marketing strategies, which are hypocritical in their essence. Obviously, McDonald’s uses the principle that ends justify means, while the only desirable end for the company is not the well-being of its consumers or society, but its own profits and the higher profits are the better.
The book reveals diverse perspectives on McDonald’s. The author goes far beyond the conventional cultural or economic analysis of McDonald’s and its impact on the contemporary society. In fact, the book opens a new perspective on McDonald’s as the company that promotes the ideology of the worldwide corporation but, more important, the book reveals the fact that the ideology of McDonald’s is the ideology of the ruling elite. McDonald’s is the behemoth of the capitalist world and naturally the company promotes values which are important for the company above all. The company attempts to educate its consumers that will deprive them of the possibility to evaluate critically policies conducted by the company. The hypocrisy of McDonald’s is disguised thoroughly but the book helps to uncover the truth about McDonald’s.
The author attempts to look beyond the marketing strategy of the company and analyzes it in the socio-cultural and economic context, extrapolating marketing strategies of the company on the ideology of the contemporary society. In fact, McDonald’s is a flagman of the globalization process. Being one of the first truly worldwide companies, McDonald’s develops and maintains the idea of the positive effect of the process of globalization on the life of people. In this regard, the book helps to understand tools used by McDonald’s to implement and to promote its ideology among consumers.
At the same time, the author helps to understand the true impact of McDonald’s on the society. The book is very helpful for those, who fail to evaluate critically the real impact of McDonald’s. Remarkably, the author does not stand on anti-McDonald’s ground as many public organizations opposing McDonald’s do. Instead the author just evaluates critically the development of McDonald’s and analyzes its impact on the society. What Kincheloe actually suggests the audience is just to start thinking of actual policies and strategies of McDonald’s and the true motivation of the company.
The book reveals the fact that McDonald’s attempted to present its operations in a positive light. Today, it is still positive to trace this trend in the policy of the company. For instance, the company focuses on the promotion of its products as safe or even healthy for consumers, although many researches (Schlosser, 2001) prove that McDonald’s fast food may have a negative impact on the consumer health, provoking diabetes, heart diseases and other serious health problems.
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