Click on the “+” one screen above the treeline- The McDonald’s Project.
It’s a art exhibit of McDonald’s-inspired pieces, ostensibly product ideas. Some are constructive, others make a statement.
I saw these guys in Super Size Me. Interviewed:
- Stefane Barbeau
- Ryan McManus
- Charlotte McManus
- Duane Smith
- Stephanie Durrell
I wish they made a non-flash site!
Pieces in the exhibit and my summary:- Napkin Bags – Cory Constantino – bags usable as napkins
- Burgerette – Wai-Loong Lim – like Nicorette for fast food
- Reward Badges – Kirsten White and Mark Sullivan – badges to wear to identify self as a Good Patron outside the restaurant
- Neighborhoods – Richard Hanks and Eric M Johnson – McDonald’s-branded condoms
- Recycled Wrapper Blanket – Ali Maiorano – a blanket for the homeless made from cheeseburger wrappers (with the labels still visible), for social programs and advertising
- Quick’n’EZ Mealmaker – Ryan McManus – like a vending machine or an ATM in your home… for McD’s
- Romantic Dinner – Jarrod Beglinger and Ziv Marmur – a meal that comes with disposable paper flowers, candles, and cardboard stands
- Voting Frybox – Stefane Barbeau and Duane Smith – national ballot is printed on fry’s box- you want fries with that?
- Collectible Trading Cards – Wai-Loong Lim – cute little cards with names of cows on it. They are characters, but I would like to point out actually tracking the real cows your meat is from is impossible, since a single burger patty contains the meat from over a thousand cows.
- Portrait – Rachel Welch – a bunch of images of the consumer waste from McD’s. This is sort of a cop-out I have to say.
- Gateway Arches – Eric M Johnson – make another Gateway Arch (in St Louis) so it makes a giant McD’s M
- Complete Meat – Parul Vora and Jeff Weber – the opposite of textured soy protein – it’s vegetable product that is actually made from meat. They made a burger from this, with meat-based fries, bun, pickles, tomato…
- “M” – Ryan McManus and Charlotte McManus – a reinvention of the McD’s brand into the higher-end “M.” Sort of like McCafe already is, or how Taco Bell’s “Border Bell” was intended. The kitchen (by Jessica Halgren) is open like at Krispy Kreme.
- United Friendly Meal – Eric M Johnson – like an MRE made by McD’s, for consumption by troops as well as “liberated” populations
- american folk: fast food – Stephanie Durrell and Matthew Christensen – a montage of a series or interviews with people describing fast food
- NutriPatty – Wai-Loong Lim – it’s a gelatine sheet impregnated with nutrients. You insert it in your burger to boost its nutrition. I would totally buy this.
- Memento – Jarrod Beglinger and Ziv Marmur – I’m not quite sure what this is. It looks like a mass-produced travel journal with the entries pre-printed. Maybe it’s kind of like a magazine?
- Road Dog – Daniel Reilly – a bowl of food for your dog so he can eat with you in the restaurant
- Missing – Janet Villano – it might more properly be titled “McEcoMeal”- it’s a Happy Meal with information about deforestation on it
- Remixipies – Beth Mosher – I think these are beginning-cooking kits for kids, sort of “Lunchables” taken to the next level.
- Empire – Kevin Askling – an (animated?) map which only shows countries if they have a McD’s in them, as the world evolves over time
- Green – Stephanie Howard and Ben Beck – a McD’s location serving organic food, grown in the attached greenhouse dome.
- My First Drive-Thru – Tracy Fleming-Swyst and Thomas Swyst – one of those talking toys with the spinning arrow in the center, except this one makes noises like the person taking your order at the Drive-Thru
- Bib of Liability – Garth Roberts – a giant body suit with removable portions, each portion covered in legal documents. The patron would be required to initially don the entire suit and remove whichever portions they wanted, but by doing so signalling they agree to that part of the contract.
- Hands-Free To Go – Daniel Reilly – like a cardboard feed-bag for carrying your McD’s so you can drive while you eat.
- Trail Markers – Geroge Schnakenberg – little tiny direction pointers to the nearest McD’s which could be placed in every visible location
- The Nappy Meal – Ron Ruiz – bright golden hair on all the food packaging for a unique brand identity
- Udder Ketchup Dispenser – Robin Chalfin – a leather udder worn on the cashier’s chest- it squirts ketchup when “milked”
- Ready To Go – Joanne Byrne and Jonathan de Swaaf – a prefab disposable coffin
Web link of note: McDonald’s Project
(At http://www.release1.net/v2/indexFlash.html)