Has Burger’s Popularity Doomed McDonald’s?

McDonald’s, where a family of four can eat breakfast, lunch or dinner for less than it costs to prepare a meal at home, is blaming weak consumer spending for an unprecedented stretch of punk earnings . Someone should level with them: ‘It’s the hamburgers, stupid!’ Q3 profits were down by 30%, generating a lot of hissing and clucking on Wall Street. Portfolio managers must be scratching their heads trying to figure out how the fortunes of an American icon could have fallen so swiftly. Doubtless, Mickey D’s oh-so-clever ad-men are hard at work on a rescue effort, crafting a powerful new ‘message’ for the Super Bowl audience. What they really need to craft is a hamburger that tastes more like one. Face it, we’ve been eating mystery-meat patties under the Golden Arches by the tens of billions for three generations, and what little savor they provide has come solely from the ketchup, pickles, mustard and onion on top.

This post was published at Rick Ackerman BY RICK ACKERMAN ON OCTOBER 27, 2014.