I'm Lovin' It?

I'm Lovin' It !!

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WaitWhat??

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McDonald's is in the thick of their 2.4 billion dollar plan to change the way you think.
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Are we really that sheepish? Have they really been in charge of my thought process all along?
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I had an original thought back in March of '09 when I invented the McDonald's Enduro.
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It appears that McDonalds knows that I've grown up. My love was fickle and my heart now belongs to Starbucks and McDonalds is feeling a little cuckolded. They're thinking maybe it's a McDonalds Mid-Life Crisis. Like maybe... if they shape up.... start paying attention to their aging looks..... maybe I (and a couple billion others) will come back.
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First, said McDonalds-Europe's chief brand and strategy officer and COO Pierre Woreczek, "the giant clown and prefab furniture has to go." *
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Done.

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I so wish I had been around the conference table when he said that. Men and women in power suits around a large conference table towering over, maybe London or Paris, talking strategy that involves terms like "the giant clown."
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OK, but what else? The giant clown can't be our only downfall.....
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Manicured fingers tapping solid oak table.... tap, tap, tap.... think... think... ixnay on the ownclay. What the heck else can we do with a 2.4 billion dollar campaign? They did what everybody else did.... joined Twitter (Meet the Tweeps!!) and Facebook.
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Then one day, perhaps one of the McDonald's Chief Executive SomethingorOther 90-lb never-eaten-a-big-mac-in-her-life ladies in a power suit was walking through Grand Central Station and saw something like this:

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... Slapped her head and thought, "That's It! We have to change that image!" The Lifetime McDonalds customers, such as myself, who grew up Lovin' It are giving the place a bad image.
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And so, McDonalds invested 2.4 billion into changing their image. Now, much more appealing, they look like this:
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But guess what? I don't have 2.4 billion to invest in changing my image. I'm stuck with the long-term result of yesterday's "I'm Lovin' It" McDonalds. I've got the 50 extra pounds tarnishing my image. It's not their fault I gained weight, I know that. I believe in personal responsibility. But still. They can so easily change their image! I feel like I'm stuck in the FAT position and that stupid little clown is mocking me. He's still skinny! Some of you remember my excitement when I really thought I could lose weight and still go to McDonalds.

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McDonalds set out to change the way I think and they certainly have done that. I think they're right, it's about stinkin' time I quit eating fast food and get serious about my health. To do that? Woreczek's right:
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The giant clown has to go.

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* Big thanks to Fast Company's Oct. 10 issue on the Masters of Design. I read the Woreczek quote in Ben Paynter's excellent article about McDonald's Make-Over. It's a great read, I encourage you to check it out. (He was not snarky)