My MLK
The end of December really is the best time of the year. Not because of the stress-inducing holidays, mind you, but because it’s the time of year when critics around the world create list after list chronicling the best and worst of everything that happened in the preceding 365 days.
Coming in number one on The Fly-Team’s best lists of December 2008 is a list of marketing blunders compiled by Collateral Damage, a website known for its sarcastic takes on current events. CD’s list is chock-full of bad business decisions ranging from the manufacture of panties for tweens emblazoned with “Dive In,” the catchphrase from Disney’s High School Musical 2, to Hershey’s “Have You Found Mr. Goodbar” campaign that conjures up images of both a chocolate bar and a shocking ’70s-era film starring Diane Keaton. But nothing tops McDonald’s comparison of fast-food king Ray Kroc to Martin Luther King Jr.
From Open for Discussion, McDonald’s corporate responsibility blog: “Ray Kroc and Dr. King both demonstrated persistence and determination through their care for others and the sharing of the beliefs that shaped their philosophies.” McDonald’s has created the all-purpose template whereby anybody can compare themselves to the great civil rights leader. Seriously, go back and substitute the name of any person or group for Kroc’s: Hitler, Charles Manson, the Memphis City Council. It all works.
Crippling Abuse
Beginning in 2009, Memphis International Airport will charge disabled customers to park in convenient spaces created for the physically impaired. According to The Commercial Appeal, this decision will prevent airport workers from “hogging prime parking spaces.” Whatever happened to the good old days of ticketing, towing, and termination?
