This Week’s Cartoon: “Old McDonald’s Had a Farm”

Blogging this one a bit late, as it’s been a busy week. I had a big freelance deadline, spazzed my lower back out, and hosted my sister-in-law and her husband while waddling about like a duck. But better late than never, right?

I originally intended to draw a cartoon about that douchetastic governor of Maine who wanted to remove a mural depicting the history of labor from the Department of Labor. But while checking Daily Show clips to see if they’d done my idea (they had, dammit), I came across this utterly ridiculous McDonald’s ad touting the artisanal nature of Big Macs. It’s only 17 seconds — check it out!

I just love the perky smile on the McDonald’s employee’s face as she pours her heart and soul into that Big Mac. Notice those chic, Asian-style bowls she’s grabbing the pickles and lettuce from. Why do I get the feeling those are not standard-issue at all McDonald’s? And then there’s the barn. Why, all Big Macs start out in cute little red barns, don’tcha know!  Heck, why go to your local farmer’s market at all when you can get hand-crafted, 100% beef burgers, lovingly made just for you by a chipper woman in a cute ponytail?

On a related note, my friend Anne pointed me to this article, in which a photographer compares advertised images of fast food with what you actually get.

[UPDATE: Here’s a video on how burgers are prepped to look perfect in ads — fascinating!]