Vive McDO!

With some of the highest culinary standards in the world, it seems like the French would snub the likes of fast food (gastronomical blasphemy I tell you!), but many of the french have come to embrace McDO, as they’ve so lovingly named it. I am also an avid lover (of McDonalds and all things fast food for that matter), so I was more than happy to have an excuse to go this week. They have locations all over Paris, but I chose the one on the Champs Elysees. 

The Arche de Triomphe and the golden arches living side by side in harmony.

The first thing you should know about McDonalds in France is that it would never by any means meet the American standards for “fast” food. I wish I had a picture to demonstrate what a catastrophe the enormous queue was, but the big man in the black suit wouldn’t let me take one...he was probably ashamed of how crazy it was in there. The French are typically a civil group on the whole, but when it comes to lines at McDonalds and department stores during the soldes, it's a whole nother story.

Another thing you should know is that the menu is notably smaller in France and so are the serving sizes (yet unfortunately not the prices). Rest assured they still have the McMuffin and le Big Mac, but that’s pretty much it in terms of specialty sandwiches. When I visited the french webpage, I actually laughed out loud because the first thing that popped up on the screen was a big block of cheese on a wooden cutting board. It is an advertisement for their new “Premio au Parmesan” burger, a limited-time-offer in France right now, which is basically just a hamburger on fresh bread with parmesan cheese sauce. I got the “menu” which included FRENCH fries (pommes frites) and a large coke. Yummm.

They also add a few other touches of French flair to the menu such as the Croque McDO, chocolate flan, and even macaroons.

Leave it to France to turn a McDonalds into an art museum, huh?

To make things even more interesting, i went to do my investigating with one of my au pair friends from Austria...and she wanted to make sure I added a little tidbit about her country as well. She says that in Vienna, McDonalds are like the cool hangout spots where people go to chat with their friends over a coffee or just chill out and take advantage of the free wifi...kind of how we think of Starbucks back in the states. She also said that most of the ingredients are organic and they use the color green instead of red to reinforce that in their logo.

Now for The Rhetorical Analysis of the French McDonalds Website

Kairos (context): I guess this one is pretty obvious...the French McDonald’s website is intended for a French audience because it’s in the French language and only pertains to French customers. Should I say French again? French.

Logos (logic): The design of the website is very simple and sleek with pictures/adverts on rotation for you to scan as you please. It looks like it’s trying to be more sophisticated (at least more so than the US site) which makes sense because, in France, food is nothing to mess around with. I noticed that the sections for children are aimed less at “kids” and targeted more towards “family.”

Pathos (feeling): If you look down at the bottom of the screen, on one of the tabs is the phrase “venez comme vous êtes” which means come as you are. Since most people in France tend to dress up for meals...well, actually they tend to dress up all the time...I think this can be interpreted as a friendly gesture by McDonalds saying, “Don’t worry. We won’t judge you if you’re not wearing Chanel or Dior.” Just kidding. But seriously this is one of the only places I don’t get shocked and disturbed glares when I’m wearing my Mountain Hardware fleece.

Ethos (ethics): In many ways, McDonalds represents American capitalism so this might not be seen in a favorable light in France. In fact, people were really upset when the first chain opened here (back in 1972). In order to counter this negative reaction, the McDonalds in France make a big deal about their produce coming from French cows and French farmers. There is also a big ethical appeal through the environmental and hygiene information available on the site. For those of you who didn’t know, France is a VERY environmentally conscious country, which is great. I took a look at the site map and “environnement” was the second largest (of eight) sections! There is also an entire section devoted to explaining the hygiene regulations that keep McDO a sanitary establishment. From the looks of it, they are going to great lengths to overcome their dirty stereotype here.