The Ramblings of Guise Dugal

I enjoy the PC game Civilization, it is one of the strategy games that I like the most and has perhaps remained one of the strongest of the genre after many years through its evolving technology in sequels.

One of my favourite aspects of the Civ series is that you don’t have to resort to violence to cripple an opponent, you can use your own spreading culture to have people turn to your way of thinking. Demonstrations of style and taste, combined with the wealth to support such luxury, can have people abandoning their own way of life to support yours.

Wars are fought, not by sword and catapult, but by elegance and refinement. It is a gentle battle of wits, played by superpowers, with domination in mind.

McDonalds and Burger King, two long-term rivals, have seemingly attempted to switch from wars of trade and value, to wars of culture and influence. Both seem to have missed a point along the way.

McDonald’s savours designer look

Restaurant giant McDonald’s is providing its UK workers with new designer uniforms, in a “mark of respect” for its staff. The new outfits, designed by Bruce Oldfield, include a polo shirt and baseball cap, both in black and mocha.

McDonald’s said its staff did a “challenging job” serving two million people daily. The new outfits would help them “feel good” in their role.

Bruce Oldfield’s clients include Jemima Khan and Catherine Zeta Jones.

Mr Oldfield said it had been great fun to design the “contemporary look” for employees at the fast-food firm.

The outfit also includes black trousers and a black belt.

For managers, the outfit involves black suits combined with shirts in white or biscuit and a selection of three ties.

McDonald’s has been trying to improve the image of working at the fast-food chain. It has been campaigning to change the dictionary definition of “McJob”, which has been used as slang to denote low-paying, low-prestige employment.

Designers working with companies to design workwear have a long history.

Sir Hardy Amies, one of the Queen’s favourite dressmakers, worked with British Airways in the 1970s to design uniforms for its air crew. Since then, Roland Klein, Paul Costelloe and Julien MacDonald have all added their creative flair to BA’s uniforms.

Bruce Oldfield himself has worked on other corporate wear. Most recently, he was responsible for the outfits worn by the hospitality hosts and hostesses at the new Wembley Stadium. And in the 1990s, he revamped a number of strips for Norwich City football club.

Designing clothes that people must wear for several hours a day is not without its problems. Bruce Oldfield told the BBC that one of his earlier designs for the McDonald’s uniform had to be withdrawn after trials.

“We found that there was one design of shirt that chafed. We had to get rid of it because we didn’t want our boys’ or girls’ nipples chafed,” he said.

As for colour, brand expert Graham Hales warned that designers should choose carefully. “Colours like red can be difficult to wear with some skin types, so you have to design against that,” he said.

(Source: McDonald’s savours designer look, BBC, 23 April 2008)

The new look, tied in to the revamp of the stores, tends to be giving the look of a coffee shop in establishment and employees, and in the case of the managers and supervisors, an old fashioned bank. The brown scarf and dark blouse approach seems more akin to flight attendants.

McDonalds are obviously trying to slip away from the family theme, and more importantly the child-orientated past, and this could well be because of the problems and criticisms it has faced because of the rising statistics of childhood obesity and the appeal of it’s food as a quick solution for meals.

Unfortunately, the outfits seem ridiculous and impractical. The current red-and-gold polo shirts are at least fitting for the social and recreational image of modern McDonalds, and the ‘value range’ of simple and inexpensive. They are trying to get out of the views of McJob’s by changing uniform, which is the same as changing the paintwork of a car to enhance performance and handling.

If anything, McDonalds needs to retrace it’s family feel, but educate families better. It is much better to be looked on as simple and smiley, than prententious and idiotic.

At least Burger King aren’t being pretentious…

Cheeseburger to cost beefy £85

FAST food chain Burger King are to serve up the world’s most expensive takeaway – costing a whopping £85.

There’s no common old meat in this burger. It will contain top-quality Kobe beef from Japan. And instead of ketchup and cheddar, it will be garnished with foie gras – a goose delicacy – and rare blue cheese. But BK customers will still be able to buy regular fries and a fizzy drink to help it down.

It will be launched in selected branches next month, with London’s upmarket Kensington and Chelsea tipped to get the posh burger first.

At £85, it is in marked contrast to deadly rival McDonald’s who offer a budget burger for just 99p.

Launching the most expensive takeaway in town may seem odd during the credit crunch. But Lucy Barrett, of Marketing Magazine, said: “The idea of a burger that no one buys is not as ludicrous as it seems. Burger King will use it to promote a gap in perception between it and McDonald’s. It could lead consumers to reassess the quality of the brand.”

(Source: Cheeseburger to cost beefy £85, The Sun, 23 April 2008)

Doh.

Now, I think Burger King may be a little overwhelmed with the success of the Angus burger and recent Whopper crazes (I still want the Spiderman 3 Dark Whopper back), they’ve even managed to ignore the outrage that spreads the UK from time to time whenever foie gras is mentioned.

Now, the battle is hard, but really when you can’t fight any longer by arguing about taste or value, is it really the best option to go to the extremes of who can waste the most money?

Here’s a hint, both BK and McDonalds used to have the best toys in Happy Meals, used to offer the best parties, did the best student discounts and didn’t care about a McJob label as long as the employees were content.

The abuse of the general public changed it, and there is a question about how much you can hold a company responsible for that if they make pertinent information available. Sometimes, the public have to recognize themselves what is a ’sometimes food’ and a bad habit, and not blame a faceless entity for their mistakes.

Take what worked in the past, use it as your foundation. McDonalds, bring back Ronald, Grimace, Hamburglar and friends; BK just try to keep perspective, and get shot of that latex mask.