Impact of McDonald's Globalization Essay Sample

McDonald's spends approximately $1.8 billion on advertising and promotions globally each year, attempting to build an image of being a sustainable corporation. McDonald's primary concern is money, generating profits from everyone and anything. McDonald's Annual Reports talk of 'Global Domination,' aiming to establish more and more locations throughout the world, yet their continued global development implies more uniformity, less variety, and the weakening of local communities.

The water discussion infrequently, if ever, considers the water used to grow food on farms. A basic Big Mac takes at least 5000 gallons of agricultural water. A study shown from an article “When it takes 5000 liters to make a Big Mac”  did study and it shows that If we limit Melbourne, Australia’s residents to two Big Macs every day, the total amount of on-farm water required to cultivate the components would be 3,500,000 people times 10,000 liters. A Big Mac cheeseburger has a carbon footprint of 4 kg of CO2 equivalent emissions. 5 kg is due to diesel pollutants. The power emissions are 9 kg, while the livestock eructations and feces methane emissions are 2.6 kg. The average American consumes 150 burgers every year, resulting in 600 kilograms of emissions. This accounts for a little less than 3% of the typical American's 24.5 tons of emissions.

The majority of the beef used in McDonald's restaurants in the United States is raised in the United States, "but we import a small amount of our 100 percent beef from suppliers in Australia and New Zealand to augment our U.S. purchases," the firm claims.

McDonald's is the world's largest beef consumer. Methane released by calves raised for the beef industry contributes significantly to the global warming concern. Modern intensive agriculture is predicated on the significant usage of environmentally hazardous chemicals. 

Forests, which are essential for all life, are being destroyed at an alarming rate by multinational corporations all over the world. McDonald's has finally admitted to using beef raised on the ex-rainforest property, hindering its regrowth. Furthermore, the overuse of farmland by multinational corporations and their suppliers drives locals to relocate to other places and cut down more trees. Mcdonalds says they're  trying harder to have their resources come from sustainable deforestation supply chains for example on the Mcdonalds website states, “100% of the palm oil used in McDonald’s restaurants and as ingredients in McDonald’s products supported the production of sustainable palm oil and deforestation-free supply chains in 2020.” But the truth is, from the article,  McDonald’s – is the Big Mac in BIG trouble? ”McDonald's is one of the top ten importers of palm oil in the United States, yet it only buys 13 percent of the total oil from verified deforestation-free suppliers. According to UCS USA, McDonald's palm oil scorecard for 2015 is 24.4, only 3 points more than the previous year, and it is classified as a firm with limited commitment to the problem of deforestation”.

McDonald's uses hundreds of tons of unneeded packaging each year, most of which end up cluttering our streets or contaminating the land buried in landfills. The general public is worried about the quantity of packaging and food waste created by McDonald's restaurants nowadays (Better Packaging with McDonald's 2009). According to a survey taken by Keep Britain Tidy, McDonald's restaurants account for around 29 percent of the rubbish dumped on highways (Gray 2009). The very packaging expenses that allow McDonald's to reach a healthy profit margin end up decomposing in our landfills and polluting the environment.

McDonald's advertises their food as 'nutritious,' but the fact is that it is junk food, rich in fat, sugar, and salt, and poor in fiber and vitamins. This sort of diet has been related to an increased risk of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and other disorders. Their food also contains a lot of chemical additives, some of which might make kids sick and hyperactive. Don't forget that meat is responsible for the vast majority of food poisoning episodes. McDonald's was responsible for a food poisoning incident in the United Kingdom in 1991, which resulted in catastrophic renal failure. Other illnesses, connected to chemical residues or unnatural activities, have become a threat to humans as a result of current intensive agricultural methods (such as BSE).

McDonald's places profits ahead of its employees. One worker described having to dump hot grease into trash-bag-lined buckets without any form of gloves, all while the grease disposal equipment was inoperable for 6 months. 3 And, while McDonald's corporate offices undertake extensive inspections of franchisees' business operations regularly, they pay little attention to health and safety measures in those same franchises.

McDonald's is the country's third-largest employer. Millions of employees and their families are impacted by their safety procedures or lack thereof. There is no reason for McDonald's to forego basic staff safety procedures. After all, CEOs come and go, and if no one is working the grill, no one is generating money.

There are 1.5 million franchisees in the United States, while over half of all franchises are located outside of the United States in over 120 countries. About McDonald's reputation and future, there is concern about how the franchise's expansion of uniformity is impacting culture, manner, and the environment. In reality, McDonald's has demonstrated to the local people that it is possible to assimilate their culture. McDonald's globalization has sparked several debates on both sides of the issue. Proponents of globalization expect that it will foster culture rather than destroy it.