Public feuds... media gold. News stations fill their minutes, radio stations fill the air, and newspapers complete their pages with the endless details surrounding the argument. Currently, I can’t help but know too much about Mel Gibson and his ex-girlfriend... the tapes... the child... and now everyone else that has been offended. The story is everywhere, and everyday seems to have a new something. Well, there is another feud just beginning to heat up... very public, involves more than 2 people, and actually quite expensive, but I like it.
Who’s gunning for each other? It started out when McDonalds introduced their new fruit smoothie line this past month. It wasn’t the first time that McDonalds dipped into food service that wasn’t quite within their menu range. A while back, they began Cafe McDonalds, which offered coffee shop drinks, that closely resembled drinks served at Starbucks. Go back even further when McFlurries hit the market reminding consumers of Dairy Queen’s ice cream Blizzards. When a concept is making money, McDonalds is not afraid to jump on the bandwagon in order to insure that some of the money is going into their bank accounts. The McDonalds REAL fruit smoothie, is their most recent attempt to jump onto a bandwagon... which is currently being pulled by Jamba Juice, but Jamba Juice does want to share the road with McDonalds. What’s the best way to let a corporation know that you do not agree with what they are doing? Picket... write a letter... maybe some legal action... well Jamba decided to share their opinion by introducing a new product, the Cheeseburger Chill.
The rather gross, cheeseburger smoothie commercial can be seen at www.cheeseburgerchill.com
Jamba Juice has created a fictional drink, but sending a clear message to McDonalds that they should stay out of food industries, and just stick to selling what they are known for... their hamburgers and cheeseburgers. It is a bold, and pricey message. Also, if you go to the website above, you can watch the commercial, but you also receive a $1 off coupon for any smoothie at Jamba.
I’m leaning towards Jamba Juice, I don’t like or even trust, products that don’t “fit” with the restaurant. It makes me feel the greediness of big businesses like McDonalds. Also, from past experiences with Fast food chains trying something new like this, the quality of the new food items goes down over time. I’m embarrassed to admit it, but about a year ago, I preferred McDonalds iced coffee. I became a daily consumer, until a few months in, when I began to notice that the iced coffee did not taste the same. Some establishments were just making the iced coffee directly from hot coffee. For those religious iced coffee drinkers out there... you know that it’s just not the same. It was about a 50/50 shot that I would get a good iced coffee, so I stopped going... it wasn’t worth the money to hope for the drink I wanted. I don’t know if anyone else has had a similar experience with other food items, but I wonder if the same thing is going to happen with the smoothies. I’m also curious to see if and how McDonalds responds to the Jamba Juice ad.
- AP
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