Talk:McDonald's urban legends

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This article was nominated for deletion on 2006-01-10. The result of the discussion was no consensus. An archived record of this discussion can be found here.

This article was nominated for deletion on 3 January 2008. The result of the discussion was keep.

[edit] Finance section

I removed this section, as it was vague and provided no specific or documentable details. A search for "finance" and "McDonald's" on Snopes — a site where the content of this article really belongs, rather than on WP — turned up nothing. If it's not there, it's probably not noteworthy. Speaking of noteworthiness, anybody up for an AfD vote? Deadsalmon 11:57, 10 January 2006 (UTC)

It is about time to take this to AfD, completely unnotable, if worth mentioning do it in McDonald's article. Spigot Map 01:45, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Rat meat

And what about that rumour?

[edit] Kangaroos

Kangaroo meat - There is another rumor that McDonald's hamburgers are made of kangaroo meat. Origins and details are similar to the above rumor about worm meat. Kangaroos are regularly killed en-masse in Australia, as they are considered a pest, and their carcasses are essentially useless. [2]

The article cited makes no reference to McDonalds whatsoever. Kangaroos are not "regularly killed en-masse", they are occaisionally culled, typically when drought conditions drive them into cultivated areas. Far from being "essentially useless" kangaroo meat is well regarded in Australia as being both tastier & healthier (having less fat) than beef.

In summary, this paragraph is wrong in fact and unsubstantiated by the reference provided.

[edit] IRA

There was a myth in Britain that McDonalds was supporting the IRA. Supposdly due to confusion with the term IRA (Independant Retirement Account/Irish Republican Army). Is it possible someone could include this information in the article. Ydam 14:21, 15 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] "Time" magazine worm meat quote - a myth in itself?

I've deleted the following passage from the 'worm meat' section:

In an April 30, 1992 issue of Time, Ray Kroc commented that "We couldn't afford to grind worms into our meat. Hamburger costs a dollar and a half a pound, and night crawlers six dollars."

As someone has already pointed out, Ray Kroc died in 1984. However, another problem with this supposed "quote" is that there is no issue of Time dated April 30, 1992 - the closest dates I can find are April 27, 1992 and May 4, 1992, and neither of these issues contain any mention of Kroc as far as I can see.

The quote may not be completely bogus - it could simply have been mis-sourced or mis-dated - but I think it's questionable enough to leave out of the article. 220.157.85.81 10:16, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

It's mis-sourced, but it's not untrue. It's mentioned in John Love's _Behind the Arches_ and in Kroc's autobiography. --Jkonrath 00:07, 28 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] issue with intro

The intro currently reads:

There are many urban legends about McDonald's, the global United States-based fast food chain. McDonald's has a very high profile in much of the world, and, especially within the anti-globalization movement, is sometimes held as a symbol of the negative impacts of globalization.

The mentioning of anti-globalization doesn't really tie very well to the rest of the article. Anti-globalization objections to McDonald's is far more than a matter of concerns about dodgy filler ingredients, which is currently the only thing this article really covers. Nor does the article shows that the rumors it mentions are promulgated by anti-globalization activists for example. I'm tempted to drop the second sentence; no doubt the anti-globalization aspects are already addressed in better details in other McDonald's articles in WP. 131.107.0.81 19:45, 17 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] "100% Real Beef"

I live in Ontario, Canada, and I've often heard this urban legend that McDonald's buys its beef mixed with filler of some sort from a company called "100% Real Beef". So they can print the words "100% Real Beef" without having to actually contain 100% real beef.

The filler in question is usually one of the other myths about their hamburgers. That it's soy, worms, or some other thing, usually something disagreeable.

Now, this is obviously a myth, and I've heard it repeated numerous times from people locally, but I can't find any references to this online.

[edit] I nominate this for deletion.

Or at least detach this from the "Hamburger" page, as urban legends do not have anything to do with hamburgers. It misleads the Wiki-reading public into thinking this hogwash is true about one of the world's favorite fast-food restaurants. I'd get in trouble if I just cleared the whole article. It'd probably be locked for vandalism, but it should be done, legally of course.

What diffrence does it make whether it's on the page or not? Either way it's bound to end up in someone's e-mail inbox --ShortShadow 01:31, 24 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Doesn't this look too absurd?

I'm not fond of McDonalds and I'm pretty sure it doesn't use either 100% beef on its hamburgers or even beef, but well, that's not what I want to argue.

The McFlurry rumor section ends with this line: "However, this is an unsubstantiated urban legend; bird feathers are not an ingredient in its production." Don't you think that sounds too absurd? I mean... first of all it's like denying there could be a feather in the McFlurry just because it's not an ingredient in its production, so is like saying it's impossible a soup may have a hair in it because it's not an ingredient in its production. I'm not saying the McFlurry did have the feathers but it's ridiculous to deny it arguing feathers are not part of its ingredients...

PLEASE KEEP THAT LINE! It's just awesome you have such a line in this article, maybe too beautiful to be true... 189.141.55.54 15:46, 28 November 2006 (UTC)ZealotKommunizma

[edit] POV statements

It says: McLibel case - A case in which McDonald's fought the distribution of a pamphlet containing multiple rumors about the corporation; while many were proven false, others were proved to be true. This, and the negative publicity given to McDonald's methods of fighting the case, made it a Pyrrhic victory for them.

It shouldn't say rumours, because as the second sentence rightfully admits, they were no rumors, they were reasonable warnings, supported by evidence in the courtroom. Now the second sentence is not exactly precise, because the accused two campaigners, having to proof all the statements of their leaflets, actually did proof a lot of it. Therefore the second sentence is neither realistic nor a balanced resume of the court's ruling. --Ben ^T/_C 08:59, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Journalistic Tone

Since AfD is apparently plagued by a team of softies who vote NO to every nominated article they see, can we at least do something about the awful journalistic tone that this article is written in? Could someone also explain to me why the information on this article is worthy of being seperate from the main mcdonalds article? Considering that this article would be so much shorter once all the unverifiables and journalistic POV is removed, I don't see why it couldn't be simply merged with the McDonalds article. Suggestions?82.153.142.162 10:10, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

1) Yes, anyone (including you) can revise the language in this article. 2) The content is currently lengthy enough to warrant it being a separate article. 3) Most of the information here appears to be sourced. However, feel free to remove unsourced information and non-neutral POV, and see if the article is significantly shorter. However, I suspect it won't be. Mobilegamer 19:34, 5 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] ABout the beef in french fries...

WHy would damags be payed to muslims? They are allowed to eat beef... Armanalp 08:04, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

Muslims can only eat meat that is "halal." McDonalds is most certainly not halal.

[edit] Pun

One account of the story claims it was dug up by 60 Minutes.

Bad pun.

[edit] Bad Source

McDonald's Australia, however, specifically mentions that "No idea how this one got started, there is definitely no lard and pig fat in the McDonald's Soft Serve."[13] and that "One of the best known myths about McDonald's is that we put pig fat (or lard) into the soft serve ice-cream and thick shakes. This is absolutely 100% not true!"[14]

The Australian McDonalds website does not say this. The website sourced is not the McDonalds Australia website.

[edit] DNA

You know, it would theoretically be easy to do a DNA test to see if McDonald's meat is adulterated. With all the technology out there, there's no reason this rumor should still be running around unsolved. -71.51.51.120 09:17, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] SIDA vs AIDS

In brazilian portuguese both SIDA and AIDS are correct as SIDA stands for "Síndrome da Imuno Deficiência Adquirida" on both "portugueses". Though AIDS is more common to be found in Brazil. --meiao 19:48 2007/07/02

[edit] Ball Pit Hoax

I think this should be added. It is the story of a boy whose mom took him to Mc Donalds for his 3rd birthday. After playing in the ball pit he said he had been hurt but the mom couldn't see anything wrong with him till he was home when she noticed a mark on his bum. The boy started vomiting and had a seizure. He was then taken into an emergancy room where he died. Turned out there was a hypodermic syringe in the ball pit and it had heroin in it. The needle broke off in the kids ass and he died from an overdoes. 100% grade A BS!!! It caused quite a stir when it first came out though. 82.36.177.31 01:27, 15 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Horrible sentence

Some versions of the tale have it being revealed in a talk show chat with company CEOs, though it is unlikely that business people would even be interesting enough to be booked and appear on a talk show....WHAT?!--72.208.195.224 (talk) 04:46, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Who wrote this?

Looking at the style of writing here I am forced to ask if much of this was written by some McPR people or not. JayKeaton (talk) 11:33, 7 February 2008 (UTC)

Unlikely. This article raises more concerns than it removes. To me, it appears to be an article designed to negatively impact perceptions of McDonalds disguised as an article designed to refute or illuminate. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.127.60.255 (talk) 21:23, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Worm meat

The section headed "worm meat" makes no sense as it stands; I guess somebody deleted the first sentence or sentences. Can anybody who knows about this rewrite it? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.172.19.20 (talk) 14:41, 20 May 2008 (UTC)