Alison Taylor, managing director of Conscious Communications, a public relations and marketing organisation with its headquarters at the St. John’s Innovation Centre, discovers something shocking about McDonald’s, and it prompts her to engage in some introspection.
In addition to a lasting recollection of joy, the thing that especially stood out in my mind was the answer to one of the questions, which we got wrong. The question was “which company is the largest distributor of toys in the world?”
It had to be Amazon, of course; otherwise, it could have been Argos or Target; however, after some discussion, we decided to go with Amazon. But the answer turned out to be shocking. Check out what did she find.
Who is the Largest Toy Distributor in the World?
The world’s largest toy distributor is none other than McDonald’s. McDonald’s distributes a toy with every Happy Meal it sells, accounting for 20% of the chain’s revenue.
McDonald’s introduced the Happy Meal in June 1979 as a special kids’ meal. The food and the toy are packaged in the same familiar red box bearing the yellow McLaughing Face and the McDonald’s name. Toys and their packaging are often marketed together as part of a wider campaign centred around an established media property like a movie or TV show.
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As of July 2011, Happy Meals at McDonald’s included an apple. While apples will still be included, they will be served alongside a lesser serving of fries (1.1 ounces). Fish McBites, made with the same Alaskan pollock as Filet-O-Fish, were introduced as a limited-time meal on February 4th, 2013, with a March end date to coincide with Lent.
McDonald’s used to provide toys with Happy Meals, but as of November 1, 2013, they switched to books. McDonald’s has made many efforts like this one to improve the public’s perception of the Happy Meal, which has been criticised for contributing to the childhood obesity epidemic. On November 14th, McDonald’s shifted back to giving out toys instead of books, effectively ending the books’ popularity with kids.
Surprise Happy Meal
This week, in honour of the Happy Meal’s 40th anniversary, McDonald’s will bring out 15 toys from its toy vault as part of the celebration.
In ninety different countries, McDonald’s will sell a “Surprise Happy Meal” beginning on November 7 and continuing through November 11 that will feature one of the vintage toys. The Hamburglar, Grimace, a Furby, Hello Kitty, a Tamagotchi, and one of the Beanie Babies are just a few of the characters that may be found among these toys.
Fascinating Information Regarding Mcdonald’s
It’s safe to assume that your chat about McDonald’s will elicit a wide range of responses. Nevertheless, these things about the Golden Arches may surprise you regardless of your opinion of them.
1. McDonald’s is not the largest restaurant chain in the world:
Subway, with 40,695 stores in 102 countries as of the end of 2012, is by far the largest restaurant chain in the world, surpassing McDonald’s, which had 34,480 outlets in 119 countries. Subway, a privately held company, surpassed McDonald’s in the spring of 2011 to become the restaurant chain with the most locations.
Yet, in terms of money, McDonald’s is still number one. Subway’s $18.1 billion in 2012 sales were significantly lower than McDonald’s $27.56 billion.
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2. More than 75 hamburgers are sold by McDonald’s every single second:
The McDonald’s hamburger, which sold for 15 cents in 1948, was the inspiration for the company’s founding by brothers Dick and Mac McDonald. McDonald’s is still in business after 65 years and billions of customers, yet the price of a hamburger has increased by 65 times. The business sells almost 75 hamburgers per second. About 4,500 burgers each minute, 270,000 per hour, 6.48 million per day, and 2.36 billion burgers per year.
3. Only 2-3% of revenue comes from salads:
Do you ever go to McDonald’s with the purpose of ordering a salad? To the extent that you have, my best wishes for continued good health. Most of us can’t imagine ordering a salad from McDonald’s.
These assumptions were validated in May when CEO Don Thompson said that salads make up only 2%-3% of revenue at the company’s U.S. restaurants, corroborating what had been previously reported. McDonald’s has been trying to change its image as an unhealthy fast food chain by heavily promoting its salads in recent years.
However, as the 2-3% data demonstrates, these initiatives have not resulted in swarms of customers buying salads at McDonald’s. McDonald’s, sixty-five years after its creation, is still fundamentally a burger and fries joint.
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Mass Market Toy Industry
Bernstein modified the idea by including a surprise gift. He requested that his artistic group produce a prototype of paperboard containers designed to look like McDonald’s Golden Arches-adorned lunch pails.
Worldwide, McDonald’s gives away 1.5 billion toys annually. That is greater than the combined total of Hasbro and Mattel.
When it first debuted, it was called “The Circus Wagon Happy Meal,” and it came with simple toys like a stencil, a wallet, and a spinning top. Toys included in later Happy Meals promoted family films like 1989’s The Little Mermaid with a similar premise.
Thanks to the introduction of the Happy Meal, McDonald’s has surpassed every other company in the world as the primary provider of toys. McDonald’s gives away 1.5 billion toys annually. Which is a lot more than the likes of Hasbro and Mattel combined. In fact, toys are included in about 20% of transactions at these eateries.
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