Thanks to McDonald’s, ‘Keep Austin Weird’ has finally jumped the shark.
Thanks to McDonald’s I shall never again utter the phrase “Keep Austin Weird.” Check out this photo taken by Jude Galligan over at Downtown Austin Blog of the Austin-centric McDonald’s ad found on 7th and Brazos:
Here’s another view from Steve Portigal’s Flickr feed:
First off, it looks like they ripped the font and creature style from Daniel Johnston‘s “Hi, How Are You?” mural. Plus, is it smart to point out how weird your fries are when there are photos floating around that show a McDonald’s Happy Meal UNCHANGED after sitting out for 6 months?
Yeah, keep those fries, buns and burgers weird.
Plus, I know the ketchup monsters are supposed to be playful, but they kinda remind me of those scary virus cartoons. And since there’s tons of high fructose corn syrup in McD’s ketchup, the monsters actually illustrate what that ish is doing to my body.
Thankfully we’ve got several options in Austin to get good burgers. Remember: The original “Keep Austin Weird” was meant to promote local business. Don’t go big box. Keep it local at these Austin burger joints:
- P. Terry’s
- Sandy’s
- Hut’s
- Your Mom’s Burger Bar
- Fran’s
- Dirty Martin’s
- and many more…
Is this ad cute or gross?
Is McDonald’s trying to connect with Austinites or co-opt our culture?
Where do you go to get burgers in Austin?
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i hope they at least paid an austin artist to do this…
Looks like the artist is from Dallas…http://www.flickr.com/photos/25395073@N00/
as my partner in crime just pointed out when I told her about this story, “in a way, that give’s me some pride, to know that no one in Austin would sell out by painting that billboard”
ha! face it MCDeeznuts. you CANT win. give up. you’re on the wrong side of history
Hahaha. Totally makes me smile that it came from Dallas and not Austin. Hoping we can get enough people hating this that it comes down FAST!
I thought the whole point of “Keep Austin Weird” was to promote Austin’s local uniqueness… McDonalds is probably the number 1 business that is completely opposite of this idea.
Exactly. McDonald’s is totally co-opting a local movement. Meh.
Is this satirical? Doesn’t really make me want to eat McDonald’s french fries. I’ll keep my diet non-weird, thank you.
Isn’t there something unlawful about wrapping a building in the middle of downtown with advertising?
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RT @DBLDRAGON: nothing like a lil negative PR for ur work – [link to post] …
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Keep Austin Weird jumped the shark at least 10 years ago. I hate being one of those people that’s lived here so long that I complain about shit that new people do, but the only folks who can legitimately still wear Keep Austin Weird shirts are ex-mayors and people who just moved here from some other metropolis who are SUPER EXCITED to be living in a city that actually gives a shit.
The rest of us realize that while there’s a ton of sprawl, there’s actually a great amount of weird local businesses in Houston, too. I’m all for Keep Austin Not Full Of Too Many Highways or whatever, but this slogan died back when people still danced at the Whiskey Bar and the letters to the editor in the Chronicle were bitching about white people moving to the East Side for the first time in 60 years.
It had its time as a legitimate part of our city’s culture. Now it totally fits as a co-opted slogan by a multi-national because the real meaning is dead anyway. Thinking otherwise is like a diehard fan of chocolatey bottled drinks still complaining about that time when uber-Christians stole their favorite logo with the “it’s YOU-WHO he died for” t-shirts.
I do like Keep Austin Giving A Shit as a new slogan, though. It fits for all these stupid arguments that pop up on comment threads. And as snarky as that sounds, I really do like that the conversation stays active.
Can you please stop posting the McDonalds sitting around for 6 months thing. It makes you look ridiculously ignorant of food science.
The reason it stays around is because of salt and fat, natural preservatives. Totally natural. There are many things to not like about McDonalds, but the fact that their hamburgers obey the laws of science is not one of them.
I would like to encourage P. Terry’s, Sandy’s, Dirty Martins, et al. to add fruit and milk options to their meals so that going to McDonalds wouldn’t be the healthy fast food choice for my family.
Hey Tim:
Point me to the place on my site where I say I’m a food scientist, and I’ll gladly apologize. Until then, I’m gonna raise awareness of the weirdness, link to relevant articles and let other people decide whether they think McDonald’s food is weird or not.
Thanks!
Chris
Hey Chris,
Here’s the details:
http://www.salon.com/food/food_technology/index.html?story=/food/feature/2010/09/01/burger_that_wont_rot
Did you actually read the Salon article?
They write that “The ingredients are similar to anything you’d see in processed fast food,” he says. For better or for worse, McDonald’s is no more a chemical laboratory of secret compounds designed to embalm us from the inside than any other processed food maker.” We’re comparing processed foods to non-processed foods. McDonald’s catches the wrath because it is the biggest and most ‘in-your-face’ of the chains. Not local. Not weird. Just crap.
So if you’re into wonderbred and other processed foods then sure…
ps. They called up a few food scientists, which is hardly suggestive of a rigorous study.
McDonalds uses 78 food additives in 578 separate instances on their menu, a majority of which have been demonstrably proven as harmful to the digestive process.
I’m not a food scientist, I just use Google.
PS – I also eat at McDonald’s, because I’m gross and hate myself.
PPS – Salt as a natural preservative = So What? There is also a reason that we don’t brush our teeth or get a kick-start in the morning with cocaine even though it comes from coca.
Aw, man! That sucks.
Love that list of Austin burger joints… reminds me of when I used to go to Mad Dog & Beans off the drag on 24th or so when I was a wee college student at UT a hundred years ago. Mmmmm. The mushroom swiss at Mad Dog & Beans. Wish I could find something like that today!
Have you been to Black Sheep Lodge on South Lamar? THey’ve got several fancy burgers like that. I think they were voted in the top 25 in the state?
While I understand the disgust leading to never wanting to say “Keep Austin weird”, doing so lets McDonald’s win.
Let’s keep Austin weird by boycotting the source, not the slogan!
Casino El Camino’s burgers!
Cesar, I’ll have to give them a try. I’ve never had them before!!
Twitter Comment
RT @JustinSchaffer: McDonalds launching Austin-centric ad campaign? I hope not. [link to post]
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Twitter Comment
McDonalds launching Austin-centric ad campaign? I hope not. [link to post]
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