Talk:McDonald's urban legends/Archive 1

This whole article makes no sense on Wikipedia since urban legends can never be cited
Above —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.84.210.118 (talk) 00:55, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

Urban legends can not be cited. Meaning that they can not be used as evidence to prove a "fact". Like they can not be used as a citation which is neccessary to enter factual information. That does not mean that Urban Legends themselves do not exist. They do, and wikipedia is an encyclopedia reference for things that do exist. Another way to look at it is that I could not use *insert historical figure* saying that the world is flat as evidence (or in wikipedia terms, a citation) that the world is indeed flat. That doesn't mean that *historic figure* cannot be referenced in wikipedia. 24.255.228.55 (talk)

Chicken McNuggets
Has anyone else heard about the Chicken Nuggets previously containing 60% chicken and 40% fish? Apparently the thing about the rumor is 60% allows McDonald's to call them chicken. Recently they have said they are now 100% white meat chicken. I have Googled this and found nothing else, although I hardly any spent time on it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.84.210.118 (talk) 00:51, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

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)

Rat meat
Deleted as this is purely one person making a statement which is not backed up with any sources. There is a place for this and Wiki is not reddit. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.2.176.63 (talk • contribs) 21:26, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

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)

It is not myth that McDonalds funded http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NORAID with 0.5% of profits and continued to do so untill the 9/11 attacks. Every politician in the US was scared of losing the Irish American vote and refused to touch the issue, then after 9/11, being seen allowing companies to support terrorists became a problem. — Preceding unsigned comment added by WarrenAl (talk • contribs) 19:47, 24 May 2015 (UTC)

Not a myth, but not correct either. The whole thing was a misconception: http://www.nytimes.com/1989/11/30/opinion/topics-of-the-times-the-ira-you-say.html Le Crapaud (talk) 11:05, 30 March 2016 (UTC)

"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)

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)

"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.


 * Okay, Mr. Unsigned Entry, the soy thing checked out, if you get the original recipe for the McLean, which was later changed. We studied that in my Freshman year of college in '98. However, our class studies and reporting came to the conclusion, using evidence and research and interviews, that the with the sole exception of the original McLean test-run, all McDonald's burgers are 100% beef. No funny mutations, no phony company, nothing like that. In fact, McDonald's gets a good portion of its meat from American, Red Chinese, Argentine, and Brazilian farmers, and other locals, too. For the record, I eat at Jack in the Box mostly. 12.192.184.60 (talk) 14:48, 29 June 2010 (UTC)


 * OK, thanks Mr Passive Aggression. But I'm not sure that "my class did some research one time" counts as a reference. Did you publish your findings?   No, I didn't think so. Nobody cares about your "research", especially if there is no trace of evidence to back it up.155.69.128.255 (talk) 08:07, 31 August 2015 (UTC)

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 difference 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)

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

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)

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)

Personally, I fail to see what is encyclopedic about this article. If it was up to me, I'd add to the McDonalds article a few blurbs about McDonalds being a popular source of urban legends with a few examples provided and delete this article. If you really want to read up on urban legends there are sites like Snopes that more than does the job. 98.66.150.201 (talk) 12:34, 21 February 2011 (UTC)

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. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.235.249.80 (talk • contribs) 04:51, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

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)

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

Ball Pit Hoax
I think this should be added. It is the story of a boy whose mom took him to McDonalds 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 emergency 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 overdose. 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)

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)

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)

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)

Mutant Lab Animals
This part of the urban legends is exceptionally upsetting and does not seem to be plausible. I would ask this part be removed or refuted as it is a troubling image that I would like to confirm is untrue. Thank you. —Preceding unsigned comment added by TEXASLonghorn13 (talk • contribs) 00:48, 25 October 2008 (UTC)
 * I've heard this or similar rumors for other franchised fast food stores. The one I am more familiar with is that related to KFC, supposedly having bread a chicken with 12 drumsticks or some junk, and that's why they could no longer use the word "Chicken" in their name, as it technically wasn't a chicken.  I've seen a television segment where KFC explicitly denied it; they use regular old chicken, and even if they had the slightest desire to use anything different, science is not yet at a point where such mystical animals can be bread; certainly not in a profitable manner.
 * The rumor is properly attributed, so I see no reason to remove it. -Verdatum (talk) 15:02, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

The shakes do contain animal fat
Read the ingredients, McDonald's shakes contain mono and diglycerides; which are almost always derived from animal fats unless they explicitly state vegetable. This stuff is in many foods, especially dairy sweets. It may or may not be pig fat, most likely it's from chicken. This should be added to this article.68.3.165.84 (talk) 03:46, 24 November 2009 (UTC)

FILLER
The NY Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/31/us/31meat.html) did an expose on a company called Beef Products, Inc. that processes slaughterhouse trimmings with ammonia and sells them to various fast food companies including McDonalds. The reason they need to treat the trimmings with ammonia is because these are typically trimmings that are mixed up with loads of fecal matter and were usually discarded or sold as pet food. The fecal matter increases the bacteria content such as E. Coli and Salmonella to an extremely high level not considered safe for human consumption. However, by grinding the meat into a slime and treating it with ammonia, Beef Products, Inc. is able to kill the bacteria and claim its beef is "safe". The ammonia is supposed to neutralize the bacteria not just in their own product but even in the end product it gets added to. To back up this claim, BPI offers (http://www.beefproducts.com/buy_back/index.cfm) a "Product Buy Back" guarantee where if a customer uses at least 15% of BPI's filler in an end product, they agree to buy it back if it test positive for E. Coli.

How come none of this is discussed on here?

Shuxter (talk) 18:07, 3 March 2010 (UTC)shuxter


 * Ever worked at a grocery store? More specifically the butcher department? Okay, there are certain grades of beef on the market. For instance, USDA grades of Choice, Select, etc. Until the late 1990s, most grocery stores in America were selling Select grade beef. Below Select, I believe (though I could be totally wrong now) I think it's either Industrial or Utility grade. Above Choice is Angus or something like that. To my knowledge, I believe McDonald's gets Utility grade beef. Since I don't have a source on hand, don't quote it until somebody here wants to do further investigation and find credible sources. 12.192.184.60 (talk) 14:55, 29 June 2010 (UTC)

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McRib
Add the McRib urban legend. It is pretty common. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2605:6001:E790:5800:75B3:C242:8B88:A322 (talk) 03:56, 16 February 2016 (UTC)

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