Capitalism in a nutshell. Profits gotta go up, and that means scrapping shit that don't make money
this post was submitted on 13 Jun 2025
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Correction: Scrapping shit that doesn't make the maximum possible amount of money.
They stopped calling it a depression because it became the default
Explaining society and economics to an American: "Burger is bad. Burger represents everything. Everything is bad."
But did you know America's first fast food I've heard was the hot dog.
Is it bad that I like the design on the right more ._.
Because it better captures your ongoing despair?
I like clean, functional design and I think the new design aligns more with what I like.
Not really bad. It's functional and pragmatic design, but visual design is also a statement of sorts. Kinda like the empire in Star Wars, all business, 100% order, no fun
Pretty bad yeah
At least the modern design doesn't prey on children.
Same -- at least in some contexts. Bauhaus, Commie blocks, all those were never meant to be perfect, they were meant to house as many people with basic comfort as possible. Many of the palaces of the past were made using resources that could have housed the poor.
On the other hand, fuck McD and fuck corporate soul-less-ness.
No. In some ways, I do. Like the design on the right. I think it's more about the context, like McDonald's pandered to children by actually creating a fun environment. Now, their environment is set up like an industrial prison, where nothing means anything, but just the corporate projection. It's like the lowest common denominator. Like it was always going to end up like this. It's just about overpowering and consolidating and destroying small business so the only thing that's left is the brick building where you get your gruel.
No, they just forgot their place in the fast food chain. They were the cheap go to place for food. It was cheap and quick and you could feed a family for around 20 bucks when you didn't feel like making dinner.
No, McDonalds tried to postition themselves as a more adult upscale fast food place, which could have worked is they had bothered to upgrade the actual food they were making. Instead they just increased prices to reflect the new paradigm.
And we all know how that worked out.
Ironically, the building on the right is not from forgetting their place in the fast food chain. Rather, it's from remembering and embracing their real place in the chain. McDonalds isn't a fast food company; it's a real estate company. That's where their real money is made. They build restaurants in high traffic areas with growing economies. They make some money from food sales, but the real long-term profits are from value of the land and the market value of the building.
The reason that all restaurants have become so bland and boring is that in the drive to pursue efficiency above all else, fast food companies have started optimizing their buildings for resale value. A building with really distinctive architecture - like an old Pizza Hut - doesn't have good resale value. You either keep using it as a Pizza Hut, or you rent it out for a greatly reduced rent.
A McDonalds that is just a big bland box has more book value than a McDonalds that has a play place. Very few potential renters want a play place or the architecture to accommodate one. If McDonalds needs to close one of their restaurants and rent out or sell the old building, one without a play place will hold its value better.
McDonalds is a real estate company, not a burger company. That's finally shown up in their actual architectural design.
It's way better
Keep in mind that the super colorful one was the location for the Dallas zoo, so all the animals were actually thematic.
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CONSUME!
It helps that the picture on it on the left was taken on a sunny summer's day while the one on the right is on a cloudy day in winter.
lowest common denominator.
Excuse me, how exactly did babies ruin the USA?