A Generational Desire of National Common Ground and Classless Shared Experience: McDonald’s Implantation and Success in France Since the 2000s

This paper is about McDonald’s successful overwhelming cultural implantation abroad, and especially in France since the 2000s. Indeed, it appears oxymoronic and ironic that an American fast-food chain would become a favorite in the country of gastronomy, slow food, table mannerism and savoir faire. But it is a fact, France is “Mc Donald’s eldorado.” The American fast-food enterprise became France’s first restauration chain in less than 50 years thanks to its adaptation to the French market, its attention to cultural culinary art and table layout, as well as its numerous partnerships with French agricultural industry. The “McDo Generation” rises the brand as a national favorite, and France is the biggest consumer and client after the United States. It now represents sales of over 6 billion euros for 2 million customers a day in France. Half of 18-35 year-olds, regardless of social background, visit the chain at least once a month, and one in ten 18-35 year-olds has already worked at...Show moreThis paper is about McDonald’s successful overwhelming cultural implantation abroad, and especially in France since the 2000s. Indeed, it appears oxymoronic and ironic that an American fast-food chain would become a favorite in the country of gastronomy, slow food, table mannerism and savoir faire. But it is a fact, France is “Mc Donald’s eldorado.” The American fast-food enterprise became France’s first restauration chain in less than 50 years thanks to its adaptation to the French market, its attention to cultural culinary art and table layout, as well as its numerous partnerships with French agricultural industry. The “McDo Generation” rises the brand as a national favorite, and France is the biggest consumer and client after the United States. It now represents sales of over 6 billion euros for 2 million customers a day in France. Half of 18-35 year-olds, regardless of social background, visit the chain at least once a month, and one in ten 18-35 year-olds has already worked at McDonald's. McDonald's has adapted perfectly to French habits and customs, and the brand has Frenchified its menu and image to benefit from the country’s social situation. I want to find out why was McDonald’s implantation in France the most successful in the world, and how its impact on culture, market and foodways was so extensive. Scholars agree on the observation, that France surprisingly became the most fertile terrain for the chain’s proliferation, but the reasons why and how the process happened as such are largely debated. As a result of my research and reflections, I argue that McDonald’s deep penetration of cultural habits and food customs in France is due to the lack of a classless common ground since the 1970s. Indeed, there used to be means in France, such as the single channel television, for national common cultural references and experiences, no matter the background. Globalization used to be expressed through common ground, references and experiences. But then, as the middle class shrunk and as inequalities increased in France, globalization manifested in differences in references and experiences. McDonald’s offered to French customers, no matter their class, a common experience and played the role of a reunifying class shared ground, or at least it was seized by a generation as such. The process was helped by the tools of globalization, but I believe it was embraced by a generation of customers to reappropriate a sense of social cohesion. McDonald’s strategies to make the restaurants a place to hang out and not only eat, to employ the youth from every social background or to expand its geographical implantation confirms the phenomenon. This paper will focus on the following questions, why was McDonald’s implantation in France so successful and how did the chain’s strategies exploit this desire of national common ground and classless shared experience? In my opinion, the analysis of McDonald’s efficient cultural penetration and proliferation reveals much about Americanization, globalization, and the French socio-economic context.Show less

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A Generational Desire of National Common Ground and Classless Shared Experience: McDonald’s Implantation and Success in France Since the 2000s