McDonaldsization

There are obviously many differences and similiarities between the McDonalds in the US and here in Spain. The first difference that I noticed right away was that the McDonalds here don't have play yards. For me, that's the best part of any McDonalds - the youth of Spain don't know what they're missing without a play yard! Also, the McDonalds here are more than one story - usually 3 or 4. The only multi-story McDonalds I know of is in Columbia, SC and to me it's a rare find. Also, the McDonalds here sell beer with the food - with some of the combos you can either get a soda or a beer as the drink of choice and most people here choose the beer. Another difference is that you won't find McDonalds while driving on the autovia - they are only located in the cities which is almost a complete contrast to the US. Although there are obviously McDonalds in cities, a lot can be found when driving down the interstate. The McDonalds here are not open for breakfast because a hearty breakfast is not very important here - toast does the job.

What about the quality of the food? Well I'm not the best person to assess this question because I only eat McFlurries from McDonalds, but I can tell you that the McFlurries are a little bit different. For instance the toppings are different - here they have something called conguitos that are like little white chocolate chips that seem to be a favorite and then the other flavor is oreo (I think). I only had a bite of a friend's McFlurry because I told myself I wasn't going to eat in any American chain restuarants while being abroad, and as far as I could tell it was the same execpt for the toppings.

I'm not going to lie about the main similiarity. Both McDonalds in the USA and here seem to be sticky. I don't know - I still had the gross feeling leaving the one in Sevilla that I do everytime I leave on in the US. I feel like they need a good scrubbing.

After having reviewed the website for McDonalds in the USA I can honestly say I did not realize they had so many products to choose from. I looked at the nutrition content of some of their menu items and had a hard time choosing what to choose (I hope that makes sense!) because there were so many options. Also I feel like they make all of their products look really fresh and healthy - granted I truly have not eaten a burger or sandwich from McDonalds in a super long time, but I seriously doubt it's as fresh as it looked on the website.

I feel like the websites for both countries are very comparable - both have nutritional information, a restaurant locator, employment information. The USA website has more of an emphasis on community activities and partnership which to me show what some of our priorities in the US are. If it wasn't important to the American public then I don't think McDonalds would have taken the time to post it on their website. There are a lot more graphics on the Spanish website which make it a little hard to navigate, in my opinion.

One thing that I find very interesting is that almost all children here have their birthday parties at McDonalds, which I find very strange especially since there isn't even a playground for them. I'm living with a family with 3 children and every party they have been invited to has been either at McDonalds or Burger King. The father said that they won't have their parties there because all of them are the same and boring - he says the parties are there because they are cheap. The children in the house don't eat McDonalds because they don't like it which makes it a lot easier on the mom because they aren't always wanting to eat there.

After this post all I want is an American hamburger!! :)