Madden writes: "When you cruise around a McDonald's drive-through, you are doing much, much more than simply voting with your dollar."
Madden: 'McDonald's does not advertise the living conditions of its employees.' (photo: Tim Boyle/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
19 July 13
magine waking up one morning, opening your front door, and finding a mysterious box with a strange button inside it. That same night, you receive a visit from a peculiar man who tells you that if you press the button, you will be gifted $1 million and a stranger will die. Do you press the button, guaranteeing yourself a life without financial worry and costing someone his life?
This is the premise of the 2009 movie "The Box," starring Cameron Diaz and James Marsden. Diaz and Marsden play a married couple who must make a most difficult decision: money or life. Though dramatized for Hollywood, this is, in fact, a decision that each of us makes every day.
McDonald's made waves this week with its near-confession of worker exploitation. The company’s new online finance guide allows employees to work out a monthly budget and has prompted outrage over the observation that workers would have to get second jobs and essentially omit eating from their daily routines in order to survive. This is outrage that I simply do not understand.
How is it that people think companies like McDonald's can survive? Is it presumed that consumers can buy extremely low-priced food, workers can make a reasonable living, and company execs can take home millions all in the same universe? There’s definitely a logical deficiency there. Besides the obvious cost-cutting done in the area of food quality, it’s the low-level employees who are getting the short end of the stick.
Many attempted boycotts fail because they don’t achieve enough participant volume. Just to put a dent in financially hurting a company like McDonald's by boycott would take the participation of millions. Think about it - 69 million customers are served every day on average, according to the company’s 2012 annual report - how could we ever get that many people to participate?
Many McDonald's customers are resigned to eating the company’s "food" because they can’t afford to shop elsewhere. These people are not the primary audience of this article. Many, many more McDonald's customers could easily afford better things to put in their bodies. So why do they keep eating that crap? I would argue that the answer is the disconnect between their reality and the workers’ realities.
Imagine, again, that you are faced with the decision of pressing the strange button in the box. It’s sitting on your kitchen table and you alternate your gaze between it and the growing stack of bills on your counter. Now, imagine that a middle-aged mother appears before you with a gun to her head. Suddenly, it all becomes clear to you. If you press that button, your stack of bills will go away, but she will die. For most of us, the choice would become clear in that moment. Seeing the direct effects of our actions impacts our decisions. This is why McDonald's does not advertise the living conditions of its employees.
Most people assume that a boycott of a giant company will fail, and therefore it does. We think: what does one person’s money matter in the grand scheme of things? I would argue that it matters very much. I am not advocating a boycott. I’m encouraging each of us to think about the lives that the cashiers and drive-through workers go home to each night. Think about whether your low-priced meal is worth their struggle and exploitation. Think about whether you would push the button if they were standing in front of you with their lives on the line. This is a personal decision that should weigh heavily on you as you consider where to spend your money.
When you cruise around a McDonald’s drive-through, you are doing much, much more than simply voting with your dollar. By handing that primary color-clad employee your cash for a burger and fries, you are pushing the button inside that box.
As a vegetarian, I am told constantly that my decision to not eat meat doesn’t matter, and that the slaughterhouses and factory farms are still in business, in spite of me. Don’t get me wrong, I do wish they were gone, but damaging these companies is not the motivation behind my dietary choice. I simply came to the realization that I could no longer live with myself if I was complicit in the evil being wrought by them. The same goes for all companies - not just McDonald's - who exploit people, animals or the environment. So the next time you’re in line waiting for a large sweet tea, think about the true value of your dollar. Is it worth pushing the button on others?
Briana Madden earned her bachelor's degree in journalism from Illinois State University and is an Editor at Reader Supported News. She can be reached by email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
