McWords

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A McWord is a word containing the prefix Mc-, derived from the first syllable of the name of the McDonald's restaurant chain. Words of this nature are either official marketing terms of the chain (such as McNugget), or are neologisms designed to evoke pejorative associations with the restaurant chain or fast food in general, often for qualities of cheapness, inauthenticity, or the rapidity and ease of manufacture. They are also used in non-consumerism contexts as a pejorative for heavily commercialized or globalized things and concepts.

A screenshot of the video gaming website IGN under "McIGN" branding circa September 2003

McWords include:

• Many McDonald's products and branding concepts, including:

• Mayor McCheese
• McCafé
• McDonaldland
• McInternet – A free Wi-Fi service in some U.S. McDonald's restaurants. In Venezuela and Brazil,^[1] it is an Internet cafe service offered in several McDonald's restaurants.
• McState – The McDonald's job and career search service.
• McDrive - A McDonalds-branded Drive Thru fast food service lane.

• McWorld – The term was used in a mid-1990s McDonald's advertising campaign depicting a world ruled by children. It is also used in a critical way to emphasize the deprecation of local culture in favor of a global culture prescribed by large corporations.
• McChurch – A megachurch.
• McDojo – A dojo that is not technically authentic. Generally, they hold large classes and require legalistic contracts, and have gimmicks like "black belt in a year" programs.
• McDonaldization – the process by which a society takes on the characteristics of a fast-food restaurant.
• McJob – A low-paying job in which one serves as an interchangeable cog in a corporate machine; originally appearing in an article in The Washington Post in 1986 and later popularised by Douglas Coupland's novel Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture.
• McMansion – Quickly-built mansions; a group of large houses built in the same style in the same area.
• McOndo – A Latin American literary movement. The name is a spoof on the fictional village of Macondo.
• McPaper (or McNews) – A newspaper that is considered manufactured and "for the masses" because of its simplistic prose style and flashy use of colors. Typically used in reference to USA Today.^[2]

See also

• Cocacolonization
• Disneyfication
• McDonald's Restaurants v Morris & Steel (known as the "McLibel case")
• Walmarting

References