Can anyone tell me what is wrong with the North East of England? OK lot's of opportunity for southerners to respond with the usual North/South divide rubbish - It's too cold, rains all the time, women of all ages go out on a Friday night in January wearing nothing but the merest hint of clothing, ad infinitum - but I mean specifically on one specific point......
Special Offers at McDonalds.
I keep seeing adverts for special meal deals and there appears on most of them the small print at the bottom of the screen saying "Not available in the North East".
What's that all about?
Some ideas we've been kicking about.
1/ The offers are simply too confusing for the Geordies so McD's are looking to keep things simple for them (harsh!).
2/ They get even better deals which aren't available to us in the South (paranoia?).
3/ Maybe McD's don't do much business in the NE - could be that the Geordies et al are only interested in fresh fruit and veg and as such would not be interested in the new menu combo on offer (yeah not likely I know Ed).
4/ McD's are fed-up with running outlets oop North and are trying to encourage more Southwards migration (farfetched?).
5/Northern branches are independently franchised and do their own advertising and marketing (boring).
6/ The alien lizards running the world in secret (talk to David Ike) are trying to kill off those of us in the South by encouraging obesity and cholesterol poisoning (interstellar unlikely).
If any one knows the truth - can you let me know. And in case anyone wants to know I only eat McD's every now and then and only in small amounts and that was before I heard about "Super Size Me" - now I've seen that it should encourage most sensible folk keep clear of the Golden Arches wherever possible. Not that the food is bad, you do tend to get something reasonably edible and scarily filling and I have no problems with any paranoid globalisation moans either - ultimately we are in control and if the world didn't want the golden arches available worldwide we wouldn't be visiting branches when we were on holiday or at home either - profits would fall and they'd eventually have to retrench themselves or go out of business.
We are the consumers after all and most businesses live the lie that the customer is always right. And if you've had contact with any business sales or marketing department's practices and techniques you'll know just how fallible the proposition is of consumer primacy.