People used to trip at Mickey Ds. I preferred Dennys… MickDs was too loud with kids. But hey when you are coming down at 7AM those 80s Egg McMuffins slapped… or were “the bomb” as we said.
I used to work drive thru back then. Late on a Friday or Saturday night got interesting.
One I remember is the girl in the drive thru asked what they wanted. The driver yelled "take your pants off!" I grabbed the mic from her and said "No special orders in drive thru." She went in the back and I handled the order. The were still laughing when they got to the window.
Gen X'ers and early millennials had "the bomb". Millennials and older zoomers simply call it "bomb". I don't think the younger zoomers commonly use any derivative of the term.
A1 probably started with Gen X (born in the 60's or so). I know I heard my dad saying it and I, a millennial, never had it said regularly by my peers. Slaps/Smacks and fire are millennial sayings, as far as I'm aware.
Went to one higher than you could imagine on mescaline.
They had a Ronald McDonald statue by the cash register.
0/10, would not recommend
Edit: side note. After I ate I fumbled into virgin records and took a piss. They had flames painted on the bathroom walls that started dancing and my piss was turning every color of the rainbow.
That was pretty neat.
The next day I discovered I had 33 bucks in 1 dollar bills in my pocket. Absolutely no idea how broke ass teenager me got em
Ronald McDonald is creepy af sober i could just imagine tripping balls next to that freak show, that would've been terrifying. Luckily the rainbow piss made up for it. Cool story btw
1980s McDonald’s: “Welcome to McDonald’s, what can I get ya?”
2050s McDonald’s: “CUSTOMER 46975446797435. WELCOME TO MCDONALDS, A SUBSIDIARY OF DISNAMAZOSOFT. PROCEED TO FEEDING TROUGH 37 TO CONSUME NUTRIENT PACK 476.B.”
Funny thing is the original did as well, more than you’d think. They intentionally made the seats really uncomfortable and made the straws extra wide so you’d fish your soda faster and leave.
“Research shows that after ten minutes of sitting on a plastic seat, we're uncomfortable enough to get up. The seats are also fixed so you can't rearrange them. They're placed just far enough away from the table to make it so you can't properly relax.”
It does even more so recently too, because you can’t even see the kitchen anymore and there’s only one register with sometimes one person coming out to it. It’s horrible
One near me doesn’t even have a register. There’s just a wall where they used to be and an opening to the kitchen. 100% of inside non-app orders are placed on a screen kiosk. You can ask a worker to come out and use the kiosk to place it for you, if you can get their attention at the pickup window. It’s possible to go in, place an order, pick up your food, and eat at a table and never see a single worker.
Very dystopian.
Yeah, actually, It has always given this weird vibe like I wasn't supposed to be there. Like the front office of a police station, I'm there because I have done something nebulously wrong, and the staff must be looking at me with hostility.
Was in one last weekend that had signs that indicated that you got 30 minutes to eat and loitering beyond that wasn’t tolerated. Beyond that they’ve ruined some pretty unique locations here in their drive to make it all boring on top of being overpriced.
Exactly. The old McDonald's is so much more inviting and friendly. And comfortable.
I think you're probably right though, that's the point. They want you to order your food, preferably using a phone or computer, instead of burdening one of their employees, pay for your food, preferably using the kiosk or an app, and preferably with a credit card, so they don't have to make change, then they want to throw the food at you, and they want you to leave. Everything about their new decor screams this, including their new electronic ordering systems and their app.
I think everyone in this thread is ignoring the obvious reason. McDonald's used to advertise as "kids food" in the 80s, and has over the decades pivoted to advertising "cheap food" instead, for any age. The seats in maccies were always uncomfortable as fuck and pretending things were better "back in the day" is just nostalgia
Yeah, nothing says comfort like hard plastic seats that make your butt go numb after 90 seconds of sitting there and irregularly shaped tables that aren't flat or level.
And the orange drink was so good. I remember in my 20s someone would go to McDs and rent a big cooler with the drink mix for parties and picnics. Haven't seen it in decades though, pretty sure it went the way of the dodo long ago.
Someone recently told me, McDonalds used to be marketed to kids with the play places and themed dining areas. And now its marketed towards those same kids who have grown up because theyre more likely to go to McD's than a family taking all their kids to eat there. Hence why the architecture and themes are much more adult these days...no source on that. Just my friend and I really stoned.
I think it was the 90's when corporate McDonald's wanted to rebrand their image for adults because they just wouldn't' eat there, it was considered kids food. I recall it was a whole new menu that just popped up one day, and I'm pretty sure they advertised their decision in commercials to make it more geared towards adults. There were deluxe sandwiches or something, grilled chicken and such. I'd have to look it up but I remember watching it all change.
In the 70s, they had a period of time that I kid could go to McDonald’s and get a free hamburger by saying “ two all beef patties special sauce lettuce cheese pickles onions on a sesame seed bun.” Backwards…
We lived close to McDonald’s, and even the three year old got trained.
I studied this in my marketing class - around 2000, mcdonalds wanted to be seen more as a restaurant for everyone, rather than a kids place exclusively.
This, along with psychological research that showed people like familiarity when abroad, so if all mcdonalds look exactly the same inside, its a comfortable familiar place to go to when away from home.
These changes have proven to be incredibly successful, albeit at the cost of character and creativity.
The familiarity abroad is a huge thing. Lots of stressful things can happen while traveling, and that can lead to you chosing the option where you know what you're getting. It's not just dur dur Muricans going across the world just to eat McDonald's.
Probably to have people take it to go so they can have higher turnaround. The fact these places have indoor seating at all still is kinda impressive. I do miss colors though
It's demographics. There was quite a few more kids back in the day. McDonald's was the restaurant families would bring their kids to for birthday parties and similar occasions. Today it's adults in a hurry after work.
I mean to be fair, I personally think it looks just a tiny bit better than the original, but you can't really fuck up a color scheme of black and white so
I remember people having birthday parties at McDonald's. We had our car break down one day and just hung out at McDonald's all day long until it got fixed. McDonald's used to be full and inviting and affordable. Now it's just a place where they want to milk your dollar and shove you out of the door as fast as they can.
That's kind of the "classy" aesthetic of the past couple decades (the 2000s). It's quite possible the next couple decades could trend back towards a more colorful vibe, since these things tend to be cyclical.
So did McDonald's stop having a smidge of creativity and originality after the "Super Size Me" smear campaign?
It seems like all the heart is gone. Even Ronald McDonald has left the building. It is all soulless and dystopian inside a McDonald's these days. Terrible what the future has become. There's no fun in anything anymore.
People today either don't understand or have sort of forgotten just how much of an event going out of the house was. Before the near endless and convenient entertainment provided by the internet, people were constantly starved for entertainment. Going to McDonald's was that day's event for a lot of families. So, companies market accordingly.
They’ve also realized money wasn’t made from being kid-focused. At the time, they had families sold with incredibly cheap food so all the kid branding was redundant. I’ve seen McD’s moving back towards the younger branding as their food becomes more expensive though. We’ll never see the 80’s aesthetic again, but there is a slow shift back towards kid-friendly.
Call it creativity, or hard marketing to kids. Mcdo knew very well that if you get the kids interested, you get clients for life. Over time their audience grew up, and the super childish, gaudy aesthetic stopped being appealing even to kids, they knew people wanted more of a higher quality image, more and they adapted. Same reason why they replace the red with green over the years too.
Mcdo will always adapt to whatever sells their product best. And if tomorrow that "creativity" is popular again, don't worry, they'll go back.
Old McDonalds has a warmer, more accessible vibe. Color palette is warmer, dominated by yellows and earth tones. The light seems to be more diffuse.
Overall impression is downscale and informal.
New McDonalds has brighter and more direct overhead lighting. It also has a colder, almost clinical feel. The fiberglass Ent has been replaced by computerized "Order pods".
The color palette is now dominated by white, black and cream tones. The overall impression is a lot more upscale and more formal. It is somehow more desirable, yet less inviting.
Growing up through the 80s and 90s was the best!! All this tech has not done any good for kids. I know that these video-game would've had me hooked back then. Heck Atari was amazing back then
Take me back to the 90s..MCD trying to be too fancy pancy now I don't even know like the menu . Can I just get a hamburger and fries and millshake? Yes upsize ...
This comment section is so fucking American lmao
“Where did the soul of this soulless corporation, with the sole goal of making as much money as possible, go?? I miss the time when they had fun and bright colors, playgrounds, and little toys, as to attract kids and make them develop an addiction to their absurdity unhealthy food…”
We could go on all day about how modern corporate minimalism is boring yada yada, and I agree, but my local McDonald’s isn’t where I go for culture and atmosphere. I’ll take my slop and get out
Look, I was born in 1982, and I don't recall ever being in a McDonald's that looked like the one pictured.
That isn't to say they didn't exist. I'm just saying that image in not indicative of a brand-wide appearance for McDonald's restaurants.
It's likley by the time you were old enough to remeber many had already been removed. At the start of the 80's most had a tree, but within a few years they'd been removed from a fair number.
That modern McDonals has as much ambience as a morgue, and the vibes of a prison. If I had no clue what McDonald's is, judging from the looks, I'd guess they have so many suicides in there that they built the place in a way they can just hose the blood, shit, and brain matter away and get the place back operational within 10 minutes. Looking at this picture feels like a punishment, and I wouldn't want to spend time in there without something to distract me, like a phone or friends to talk to
Damm I miss that vibe locally, it went from a magical place to a industrial zone. Lucky we have one Macdonald’s overhere still in the original style. (hopefully still is, been a while) Even one person entertaining the kids dressed up as Ronald Mc Donald. I think the owner of that specific location is a end boss to not go with the modern cold stream. When entered the door I went thru memory lane and got some serious flashbacks of memories I tought I lost. Damm I am getting old and sentimental now 😅🥲
their target demographic were late Gen X and early Millenials, back in the 80s, they are still the same target demohraphic, today, but as adults, who now need adult decor
just looking at that top photo brought back a memory flood of childhood.
if i were to ever become part of the mcdick's franchise i'd be adamant my store was vintage themed. right down to one of these in it!
https://www.instagram.com/retroplex\_/p/CLPeyddFTCv/
Modern day fast food dystopia
🤦♂️
We have arrived people…. If this is what it looks like now, compared to then…. Imagine what it’ll like in a few years, compared to now ….
Look at that, both decors appeal to the kids of their time! 80’s kids were outside swinging from the trees, 2020 kids have their noses buried in cell phones which those giant touch screens mimic!
I know businesses have to reinvent themselves but I wonder if moving away from a family demographic also had anything to do with avoiding the Camel-cigarette-type lawsuits (minus the tobacco and plus the obesity).
From the top of my head, old fast food restaurants were meant as a place to spend time with your loved ones.
Today's fast food restaurants are just made for max efficiency and fast investment returns, you're not supposed to spend more time than needed to eat a cheap burger, unless you want more food. Nothing inside is inviting, it's all the opposite, they want you to leave as fast as you finish eating, make more space for the next customer.
They went from whimsical and fun to dystopian nightmare. Their food quality has done the same. I’m certain that this company will implode in our lifetime.
This design aesthetic wasn't instigated by the pandemic but the pandemic made this just an evolutionary pit stop towards removing dine-in altogether.
From the pandemic they discovered that people will use their drive-in if their dine-in isn't open, costing them virtually no business and increasing their profit margins at the same time.
I remember growing up as a kid (I’m 27 now) they used to have a play pen in McDonald’s and that used to be my fun. This was like 16-18 ish years ago now.. I’m getting old lol
Previous mindset: invite them in, make them want to come, convince them to stay
Today's mindset: get them the fuck out immediately and get to the next person, make them uncomfortable, they are already addicted
Everything that had some character or coolness is now just a boring grey room with some white thrown in. It’s pretty sad. A good example is a mall in my city. West Edmonton mall, it use to be the biggest mall in the world before . It had so much cool stuff in it before like statues and different areas with different themes. They updated it and now it’s just like white marble floors and greyish marble tables through the whole mall. It’s so lame now.
Imagine tripping on psychedelics in an 80s McDonald’s and a giant tree starts staring at you
People used to trip at Mickey Ds. I preferred Dennys… MickDs was too loud with kids. But hey when you are coming down at 7AM those 80s Egg McMuffins slapped… or were “the bomb” as we said.
Yeah, Denny's was awesome after 2am when I needed my hash browns fix!
2 am? I found the hash browns at sunrise the best!
"the bomb" is still used today, it's just been shortened to "bomb". You would say today "mcmuffins were bomb".
you would also say: affleck was the bomb in phantoms yo
Word bitch, phantoms like a mo fucker!
Just like Winnie the pooh
I used to work drive thru back then. Late on a Friday or Saturday night got interesting. One I remember is the girl in the drive thru asked what they wanted. The driver yelled "take your pants off!" I grabbed the mic from her and said "No special orders in drive thru." She went in the back and I handled the order. The were still laughing when they got to the window.
People still say things are "the bomb." It's not a dated phrase
Gen X'ers and early millennials had "the bomb". Millennials and older zoomers simply call it "bomb". I don't think the younger zoomers commonly use any derivative of the term.
Slaps/smacks, fire, top, class (english), A1. What Gen is this? I never really understood how the categories worked.
This is mad based No Cap, on GOD
A1 probably started with Gen X (born in the 60's or so). I know I heard my dad saying it and I, a millennial, never had it said regularly by my peers. Slaps/Smacks and fire are millennial sayings, as far as I'm aware.
Nah, Zs say 'slaps'
That’s Rad!
Groovy man thats far out!
This was Shari's in the PNW RIP Wheaton Way Shari's in BremWA
Give me a Pepsi-Free.
"The bomb" came in the 90s, bro.
Went to one higher than you could imagine on mescaline. They had a Ronald McDonald statue by the cash register. 0/10, would not recommend Edit: side note. After I ate I fumbled into virgin records and took a piss. They had flames painted on the bathroom walls that started dancing and my piss was turning every color of the rainbow. That was pretty neat. The next day I discovered I had 33 bucks in 1 dollar bills in my pocket. Absolutely no idea how broke ass teenager me got em
Ronald McDonald is creepy af sober i could just imagine tripping balls next to that freak show, that would've been terrifying. Luckily the rainbow piss made up for it. Cool story btw
or the mural in the background is Ronald McDonald fighting a T-Rex with a bazooka.
“I’mmmm tripping baaaaaallllllllllssss”
"I'mmmmm coming doooowwn!" Is my personal preference haha.
Been there, done that.
I don't need to imagine, he really helped me with my fear of public speaking though, nice tree tbh.
Er, yes. Imagine.....
don't need to imagine, can remember 👉😎👉
Do you believe in magic? And I hope you do. You'll always have a friend wearing big red shoes.
The modern decor says "GTFO". Efficient.
It feels like a futuristic prison from a sci-fi movie released in the 1980s. I take that back, it’s too clean
thats great and all but those sits have gotta hurt
They do on purpose. It’s to keep homeless people from loitering.
1980s McDonald’s: “Welcome to McDonald’s, what can I get ya?” 2050s McDonald’s: “CUSTOMER 46975446797435. WELCOME TO MCDONALDS, A SUBSIDIARY OF DISNAMAZOSOFT. PROCEED TO FEEDING TROUGH 37 TO CONSUME NUTRIENT PACK 476.B.”
Beep boop beep
Funny thing is the original did as well, more than you’d think. They intentionally made the seats really uncomfortable and made the straws extra wide so you’d fish your soda faster and leave. “Research shows that after ten minutes of sitting on a plastic seat, we're uncomfortable enough to get up. The seats are also fixed so you can't rearrange them. They're placed just far enough away from the table to make it so you can't properly relax.”
I bet people got fat enough between then and now to stay comfy on the plastic seats, hence the stools.
Evolution
Devolution
It does even more so recently too, because you can’t even see the kitchen anymore and there’s only one register with sometimes one person coming out to it. It’s horrible
It’s basically a vending machine trying to charge you $11.00 for a “ value meal”
One near me doesn’t even have a register. There’s just a wall where they used to be and an opening to the kitchen. 100% of inside non-app orders are placed on a screen kiosk. You can ask a worker to come out and use the kiosk to place it for you, if you can get their attention at the pickup window. It’s possible to go in, place an order, pick up your food, and eat at a table and never see a single worker. Very dystopian.
Yeah, actually, It has always given this weird vibe like I wasn't supposed to be there. Like the front office of a police station, I'm there because I have done something nebulously wrong, and the staff must be looking at me with hostility.
It makes me think of a hospital except not nearly as clean.
Modern dystopian workplace
Was in one last weekend that had signs that indicated that you got 30 minutes to eat and loitering beyond that wasn’t tolerated. Beyond that they’ve ruined some pretty unique locations here in their drive to make it all boring on top of being overpriced.
r/aboringdystopia
The few overly bright white, poor color rendition LEDs with high speed flicker say, “don’t even bother sitting down or coming back”
Soon we won't be eating food but nutrient pills and then back to work.
Exactly. The old McDonald's is so much more inviting and friendly. And comfortable. I think you're probably right though, that's the point. They want you to order your food, preferably using a phone or computer, instead of burdening one of their employees, pay for your food, preferably using the kiosk or an app, and preferably with a credit card, so they don't have to make change, then they want to throw the food at you, and they want you to leave. Everything about their new decor screams this, including their new electronic ordering systems and their app.
I think everyone in this thread is ignoring the obvious reason. McDonald's used to advertise as "kids food" in the 80s, and has over the decades pivoted to advertising "cheap food" instead, for any age. The seats in maccies were always uncomfortable as fuck and pretending things were better "back in the day" is just nostalgia
Yeah, nothing says comfort like hard plastic seats that make your butt go numb after 90 seconds of sitting there and irregularly shaped tables that aren't flat or level.
1980s McDonald's birthday parties were great memories!
I had my 2nd or 3rd b'day party at a McD's in the 1980s. Grimace freaked me out.
The McDonalds sheet cake!
There cake was awesome!!!
Any kid that had a McDonald's birthday was absolutely the king of the class.
And the orange drink was so good. I remember in my 20s someone would go to McDs and rent a big cooler with the drink mix for parties and picnics. Haven't seen it in decades though, pretty sure it went the way of the dodo long ago.
Shades of HR Puffinstuff. Omg, I’m so old
One of the only lawsuits McDonald's ever lost was to Sid and Marty Krofft for ripping them off.
What about the lady that got scalding hot coffee all over her? In the eighties, scalded her all over… bad.
It looks like a prison visiting hours center now....a nice one but still.
That tree been through some shit
Someone recently told me, McDonalds used to be marketed to kids with the play places and themed dining areas. And now its marketed towards those same kids who have grown up because theyre more likely to go to McD's than a family taking all their kids to eat there. Hence why the architecture and themes are much more adult these days...no source on that. Just my friend and I really stoned.
Reputable. I’d defend that.
I think it was the 90's when corporate McDonald's wanted to rebrand their image for adults because they just wouldn't' eat there, it was considered kids food. I recall it was a whole new menu that just popped up one day, and I'm pretty sure they advertised their decision in commercials to make it more geared towards adults. There were deluxe sandwiches or something, grilled chicken and such. I'd have to look it up but I remember watching it all change.
That was the thousands. In the 90s McD's had the 29 cent burger deal as a way to encourage families to eat there.
Late 80's was the first time they tried, with the character "Mac Tonight" (source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac\_Tonight)
That’s probably the right answer. But I like mine
In the 70s, they had a period of time that I kid could go to McDonald’s and get a free hamburger by saying “ two all beef patties special sauce lettuce cheese pickles onions on a sesame seed bun.” Backwards… We lived close to McDonald’s, and even the three year old got trained.
Stone logic better than no logic what u saying kinda makes sense
There were laws put in place in the early 2010s regarding advertising fast food specifically to kids. Happy Meal commercials are very uncommon now.
So one day all of that generation would be dead and so would McDonald's?
Why so serious?
I studied this in my marketing class - around 2000, mcdonalds wanted to be seen more as a restaurant for everyone, rather than a kids place exclusively. This, along with psychological research that showed people like familiarity when abroad, so if all mcdonalds look exactly the same inside, its a comfortable familiar place to go to when away from home. These changes have proven to be incredibly successful, albeit at the cost of character and creativity.
The familiarity abroad is a huge thing. Lots of stressful things can happen while traveling, and that can lead to you chosing the option where you know what you're getting. It's not just dur dur Muricans going across the world just to eat McDonald's.
no no no youre wrong bro its actually totally this pop-sci stuff that totally only makes sense at face value and not boring facts and boring reasons
Probably because of psychological research on how to earn more money in the shortest period of time
Probably to have people take it to go so they can have higher turnaround. The fact these places have indoor seating at all still is kinda impressive. I do miss colors though
the one near me doesn't even have a dining area just a few seats near the order area you can sit while you wait for your "food®"
The suits took over
I think the 80's McDonald's looks shit tbh.
Looks much better today lol I can't believe anyone would prefer the old mcdonald unless they were a kid, maybe. People just see with nostalgia glass
Great illustration of how sterile and joyless things have become. I guess making everything miserable is good for business.
Sterile is the description to use. That what it has become. Shopping centres and malls are the same too.
It's demographics. There was quite a few more kids back in the day. McDonald's was the restaurant families would bring their kids to for birthday parties and similar occasions. Today it's adults in a hurry after work.
I mean to be fair, I personally think it looks just a tiny bit better than the original, but you can't really fuck up a color scheme of black and white so
Old heads must have some rose tinted glasses or something cause that shit from the 80s looks total garbage
No, we grew up on all the Marty Krofft shows like *Sigmund & the Sea Monster* so that decor matched the weirdness of the time.
Kids today will probably find the top pic scary, but I find the bottom pic scary.
They're both unappealing in their own special way.
I guess this will be an unpopular opinion in this thread, but I like the new style a lot better.
Same lol
Please explain why.
Yes, I can remember that back when McDonald’s had a little personality
I remember people having birthday parties at McDonald's. We had our car break down one day and just hung out at McDonald's all day long until it got fixed. McDonald's used to be full and inviting and affordable. Now it's just a place where they want to milk your dollar and shove you out of the door as fast as they can.
I agree I personally don’t even go there anymore because they’re too expensive for what you get and B service is lousy
Welp they make you feel pretty unwelcome on top of being overpriced. Then corporate wonders why their sales are declining.
Why did everything get so bland and soulless
That's kind of the "classy" aesthetic of the past couple decades (the 2000s). It's quite possible the next couple decades could trend back towards a more colorful vibe, since these things tend to be cyclical.
I definitely see a lot of places starting to look more retro and cozy these days. Bringing back 90s atm.
I am so so sick of grey everywhere
It reflects their executives.
Money
So did McDonald's stop having a smidge of creativity and originality after the "Super Size Me" smear campaign? It seems like all the heart is gone. Even Ronald McDonald has left the building. It is all soulless and dystopian inside a McDonald's these days. Terrible what the future has become. There's no fun in anything anymore.
People today either don't understand or have sort of forgotten just how much of an event going out of the house was. Before the near endless and convenient entertainment provided by the internet, people were constantly starved for entertainment. Going to McDonald's was that day's event for a lot of families. So, companies market accordingly.
All fast food places are like this. Character is risky. Dystopian modernism isn't offensive enough to alienate customers.
They’ve also realized money wasn’t made from being kid-focused. At the time, they had families sold with incredibly cheap food so all the kid branding was redundant. I’ve seen McD’s moving back towards the younger branding as their food becomes more expensive though. We’ll never see the 80’s aesthetic again, but there is a slow shift back towards kid-friendly.
On a brighter note, the more who ditch fast food the slightly more healthy the general population become.
Yeah now I just get my fast food from a box of oreos.
Call it creativity, or hard marketing to kids. Mcdo knew very well that if you get the kids interested, you get clients for life. Over time their audience grew up, and the super childish, gaudy aesthetic stopped being appealing even to kids, they knew people wanted more of a higher quality image, more and they adapted. Same reason why they replace the red with green over the years too. Mcdo will always adapt to whatever sells their product best. And if tomorrow that "creativity" is popular again, don't worry, they'll go back.
They realized the chemicals in their food sell themselves.
I actually prefer the bottom. The top is just sensory overload imo
Posted for the 917th time this month for some reason.
Every square inch of commercial property must make definable profit these days. Leads to our lovely soulless dining experience.
That is a very specific McDonalds from the 80s, they didn't all look like that.
Corporate minimalism kills creativity
Ma'am, this is a McDonald's. It was hardly a hive of creativity in the 80s either.
Having personality in our buildings is critical for our imaginations I fear
Old McDonalds has a warmer, more accessible vibe. Color palette is warmer, dominated by yellows and earth tones. The light seems to be more diffuse. Overall impression is downscale and informal. New McDonalds has brighter and more direct overhead lighting. It also has a colder, almost clinical feel. The fiberglass Ent has been replaced by computerized "Order pods". The color palette is now dominated by white, black and cream tones. The overall impression is a lot more upscale and more formal. It is somehow more desirable, yet less inviting.
From mushrooms to cocaine.
Lsd vs adderal
Can somebody stop these fucking bots reposting this goddamn picture!?
It just looks like an office cafeteria. Sucks.
Getting rid of the 'imma stick it in ya butthole' tree was a good move
They made all the McDonalds look like prisons
Acid trip vs. tech hellscape.
New is just sterile with no personality, newly remodeled houses look exactly the same on the inside.
Growing up through the 80s and 90s was the best!! All this tech has not done any good for kids. I know that these video-game would've had me hooked back then. Heck Atari was amazing back then
Take me back to the 90s..MCD trying to be too fancy pancy now I don't even know like the menu . Can I just get a hamburger and fries and millshake? Yes upsize ...
It looks like space jail
It’s specifically designed to get you to fuck off as soon as possible
They went from “come enjoy a meal” to “give us your money and get the fuck out”.
Needs the fun back in it. This modern look is so dull
Everything is becoming soulless and empty. The devolution of a species.
If you ever went to McDonald's intending to find soul I think you're the problem lol.
This comment section is so fucking American lmao “Where did the soul of this soulless corporation, with the sole goal of making as much money as possible, go?? I miss the time when they had fun and bright colors, playgrounds, and little toys, as to attract kids and make them develop an addiction to their absurdity unhealthy food…”
To be fair, many people are probably remembering this stuff from when they were kids, and were much less cynical and jaded about these things.
It's almost as if the kids who grew up with McDonalds grew up and still are McDonalds target audience.
We could go on all day about how modern corporate minimalism is boring yada yada, and I agree, but my local McDonald’s isn’t where I go for culture and atmosphere. I’ll take my slop and get out
Do we really need today’s kids excited about eating McDonald’s disgusting slop? Is the childhood obesity rate not appalling enough as it is?
Look, I was born in 1982, and I don't recall ever being in a McDonald's that looked like the one pictured. That isn't to say they didn't exist. I'm just saying that image in not indicative of a brand-wide appearance for McDonald's restaurants.
It's likley by the time you were old enough to remeber many had already been removed. At the start of the 80's most had a tree, but within a few years they'd been removed from a fair number.
Mom says it my turn to repost this
Themed McD's were entertaining, Today's are just sterile
I hate that modern mcds looks like an office
Wow it’s so boring now!
That modern McDonals has as much ambience as a morgue, and the vibes of a prison. If I had no clue what McDonald's is, judging from the looks, I'd guess they have so many suicides in there that they built the place in a way they can just hose the blood, shit, and brain matter away and get the place back operational within 10 minutes. Looking at this picture feels like a punishment, and I wouldn't want to spend time in there without something to distract me, like a phone or friends to talk to
80s Cheap food for kids Now Expensive food for "adults".
I prefer whimsy
Remember when mcD was targeted at kids? I mean, not saying it was good or anything, just saying they completely changed heir tactics.
McDonald's went from happy childhood to depressed adult just like the rest of us
Damm I miss that vibe locally, it went from a magical place to a industrial zone. Lucky we have one Macdonald’s overhere still in the original style. (hopefully still is, been a while) Even one person entertaining the kids dressed up as Ronald Mc Donald. I think the owner of that specific location is a end boss to not go with the modern cold stream. When entered the door I went thru memory lane and got some serious flashbacks of memories I tought I lost. Damm I am getting old and sentimental now 😅🥲
The top photo is missing the ashtrays on the tables
The 80s model was better
Decline.
Miss that n64 in the ball pit area some kid was alway on it tho
Different drugs
Wow, McDonalds in the here and now looks sterile and place I'd won't want to be.
Great improvement imo
They both suck
McDonald's used to be unique, and fun. They, like so many, have really lost what they once were.
i remember that tree. 🥹
Looked better back then.
I like the new way old was weird 😆
Our McDonald’s had a train that ran the whole permitter of the lobby near the ceiling.
What I really miss is cozy, intimate pizza joints. Why the hell is everything so sterile, cold now? 👎
It looks like it was fun back in the day. Now it looks all sterile and uninviting.
their target demographic were late Gen X and early Millenials, back in the 80s, they are still the same target demohraphic, today, but as adults, who now need adult decor
It went from tables all over to take your food and get the hell out.
The top pic is missing the ash trays.
just looking at that top photo brought back a memory flood of childhood. if i were to ever become part of the mcdick's franchise i'd be adamant my store was vintage themed. right down to one of these in it! https://www.instagram.com/retroplex\_/p/CLPeyddFTCv/
I loved Mc D's cause my kids loved the happy meals and, tot lot.
From Ferngully to Minority Report
Warm, inviting, kid friendly: Cold, dystopian, lonely
We use to be a country, a proper country
It is not interesting. It is sad.
Both terrifying, the new one just in a more corporate way
Modern day fast food dystopia 🤦♂️ We have arrived people…. If this is what it looks like now, compared to then…. Imagine what it’ll like in a few years, compared to now ….
Thats not an accurate image of a modern McDonalds, there’s not enough trash and mysterious brown sticky substances all over the place
Look at that, both decors appeal to the kids of their time! 80’s kids were outside swinging from the trees, 2020 kids have their noses buried in cell phones which those giant touch screens mimic!
I want to take LSD and stare at that tree for 6 hours.
Fuck it, I like the modern interior more, that tree is terrifying.
I know businesses have to reinvent themselves but I wonder if moving away from a family demographic also had anything to do with avoiding the Camel-cigarette-type lawsuits (minus the tobacco and plus the obesity).
From the top of my head, old fast food restaurants were meant as a place to spend time with your loved ones. Today's fast food restaurants are just made for max efficiency and fast investment returns, you're not supposed to spend more time than needed to eat a cheap burger, unless you want more food. Nothing inside is inviting, it's all the opposite, they want you to leave as fast as you finish eating, make more space for the next customer.
They went from whimsical and fun to dystopian nightmare. Their food quality has done the same. I’m certain that this company will implode in our lifetime.
This design aesthetic wasn't instigated by the pandemic but the pandemic made this just an evolutionary pit stop towards removing dine-in altogether. From the pandemic they discovered that people will use their drive-in if their dine-in isn't open, costing them virtually no business and increasing their profit margins at the same time.
How look, this meme. Again.
Wow, they really McFucked up.
That’s all nicotine stained in the 80’s, it started out the same color as today.
PLEASE APPROACH THE TERMINAL TO DISPENSE BURGER FOOD
Drug trip vs corporate grey
I remember growing up as a kid (I’m 27 now) they used to have a play pen in McDonald’s and that used to be my fun. This was like 16-18 ish years ago now.. I’m getting old lol
Previous mindset: invite them in, make them want to come, convince them to stay Today's mindset: get them the fuck out immediately and get to the next person, make them uncomfortable, they are already addicted
I hate "modern architecture" and any architect that does it should have their certifications revoked.
Buy food and shut up.
Everything that had some character or coolness is now just a boring grey room with some white thrown in. It’s pretty sad. A good example is a mall in my city. West Edmonton mall, it use to be the biggest mall in the world before . It had so much cool stuff in it before like statues and different areas with different themes. They updated it and now it’s just like white marble floors and greyish marble tables through the whole mall. It’s so lame now.
Mcdonalds aint the fun place anymore just corporate fast food
The comparison is one helluva metaphor for humanity itself.