"And do you want fries
with your order? Would you like
to supersize that?"
Posted on 07/06/2005 7:22:42 AM PDT by Mike Bates
Would you like fashion with your fries?
Ramping up its bid for a hipper, more youthful image, McDonald's plans to hire top designers to remake its uniforms. The Oak Brook-based hamburger giant recently hired a marketing whiz with ties to the hip-hop community and is contemplating deals with fashion figures ranging from Sean "P. Diddy" Combs to Tommy Hilfiger.
"It would be pretty cool if our employees liked their uniforms so much that they would also want to wear them while they were not working," said McDonald's spokesman Bill Whitman.
McDonald's successful "I'm lovin' it" ad campaign, launched in 2003, used hip-hop music and images of with-it youngsters to broaden the Golden Arches' popularity. Justin Timberlake and Destiny's Child both recorded the "I'm lovin' it" jingle.
SNIP
McDonald's has hired Steve Stoute to guide its fashion quest. Stoute, who started his own entertainment marketing firm, has brokered several partnerships between pop stars and corporations, pairing rapper Jay-Z with Reebok for a new line of shoes, and forging a deal between Hilfiger and Beyonce Knowles for a new perfume. Stoute also brought Timberlake and Destiny's Child aboard for the "I'm lovin' it" campaign.
In redesigning the uniforms, Stoute said he would solicit proposals from Russell Simmons' Phat Farm, Combs' Sean John label, Jay-Z's Rocawear, American Eagle Outfitters, Abercrombie & Fitch, Ralph Lauren's Polo and Giorgio Armani. McDonald's will put one new design in use at a time, but change the look from time to time.
"We're going to work with more than one designer. We're going to keep it current and fresh," Stoute said.
The new uniforms could cost McDonald's as much as $80 million, according to AdAge.com. Whitman said the project was in the early stages and the company had not started negotiations with any designers.
(Excerpt) Read more at suntimes.com ...
Fo' shizzle, my nizzle! Can I still get a Quarter Pounder and a milkshake on time from the fashion plate working the red carpet?
Will the pants ride half way down the rear?
that's all we need is some pimply guy with his pants pulled down to his knees serving big macs and shakes
I don't understand what a hip hop uniform would look like? Does that mean boys with pants sagging around the bottom of their cheeks with undies with a big mac or something on them? And girls with their thongs peeking out from hip huggers??
I'm glad I don't eat at Micky Ds....I think I just lost my appetite..
susie
Didn't we get this with "Don't Tell Mom, the Babysitters Dead"?
Don't be so certain. When I was a teen I worked at McDonalds for less than a month. During that time they had me wearing a styrofoam "rice paddy" hat for some promotion.
I don't know what dumbass dreamt up that particular idea but it was bizarre enough that I just stopped showing up for work. I would have found the bling-bling outfit far less humiliating than the rice paddy hat.
If I recall correctly, the hat I stole became quite the party cap.
"$80 million? I don't think Ray Kroc would have wasted 50 Cent on the idea."
Love the pun!
I saw video of employees wearing the prototypes yesterday. Giant black jerseys and baggy pants, with black caps (straight-brimmed, cocked to the side). It looks stupid. And we all know who McDonalds is targeting, and if that isn't playing ethnic economics, I don't know what is.
I think McDonalds is trying to bring back the Coca-Cola trend of the 70s, when everyone wanted to wear a Coke uniform.
Word! :)
Can't say I remember the last time McDees has a white person in one of their commercials. I think they have prettty much given up on that market.
Maybe McD's will, in keeping with the theme, change the name from drive through to drive by.
You know what I like about McDonalds? Its stock ticker symbol is MCD: Mad Cow Disease.
Mooooooooooove ovah, suckah! Dat chile is off dah muscle!
Hip-Hop uniform? I don't know what that would look like, but it will most likely be dreadful.
Once more, the collective IQ on the nation staircases downward.
Are they going to pull their pants all the way up?
ba da ba ba baaaaa Black Donald's!
youz want fries wit dat?
Mickey D alumni of the paper hat and barber shirt days here...
Years ago I served a month on a Cook County grand jury. Some of the sleazers we indicted had beaten another kid to death with aluminum baseball bats on a Friday afternoon in front of dozens of public housing residents. The kid was killed because he had his hat turned to the wrong side. McD's better be careful about how the hats are worn.
Nuff respekt!
For lack of a better word: Odd.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.