When you go eat at fast-food restaurants, the way their staff dress can make for a very big and important impression. Take for instance the international chain heavyweight Mcdonald’s; their mascot Ronald McDonald is a colorfully-dressed clown, and their counter personnel and other staff have followed suit in this trend with their uniforms of bright tan with shades of red.
Or at least that was how it used to be. In the company’s latest step towards shaking up their brand – moves that ranged from offering alternate sizes for the Big Mac to developing mobile apps for online ordering – they decided to change the uniforms as well.
They even modeled the new duds online, and the internet erupted.
Check out how our uniforms have changed over the years to keep our teams looking and feeling their best! #TBT pic.twitter.com/pCcRwaM6B4
— McDonald's (@McDonalds) April 20, 2017
Shades of the empire
As it turned out, the new McDonald’s staff uniforms were now in some varying shades of gray, of all possible colors. No obvious patterns in the clothes, nothing but big expanses of gray with occasional accents of the Golden Arches here and there. Be it shirts, caps, aprons, blazers and what not, almost everything in their ensembles come off as remarkably drab.
The scheme may look smart and professional enough, but McDonald’s seems to have forgotten that they are a fast-food restaurant chain that’s geared towards younger customers like children.
Social media is quick to point out how the new threads have ended up making the big M’s helpers look like something dark and sinister, like the Galactic
The scheme may look smart and professional enough, but McDonald’s seems to have forgotten that they are a fast-food restaurant chain that’s geared towards younger customers like children.
Social media is quick to point out how the new threads have ended up making the big M’s helpers look like something dark and sinister, like the Galactic Empire from “Star Wars”.
Do the new #McDonalds uniforms remind you of #StarWars Imperial officers? "I find your lack of fries disturbing." pic.twitter.com/r6w7WTzwJe
— Peter Murphy (@PeterWMurphy1) April 25, 2017
Leave it to Twitter to make online outrage loud and noticeable throughout the internet.
A majority of comparisons were obviously of the evil Empire officers from the original film trilogy and the recent “Rogue One” spinoff, who reported to (and tended to get force-choked for failure) by Darth Vader.
Alternatively, there may be shout-outs to the Empire remnant the First Order from the sequel trilogy of “The Force Awakens” and the upcoming “The Last Jedi”. Other posters have cited similarities to grab from either “The Hunger Games” to “North Korea”
Made by real fashion designers
The new uniforms were designed by fashion veterans Waraire Boswell and Bindu Rivas, to be trialed first by McDonald’s at their 14,000 restaurants across the US. All well and good, except for really looking like bad-guy wear.
McDonald’s reasoning for the change in uniforms had been to "bridge the gap between fashion and function, allowing for an easy transition from the restaurant to a social environment," according to a statement online. And apparently, some interviewed staff tended to agree with the change, feeling that the new grass gave off a much more modern image in their view. But that’s their view; Twitter users feel very differently with the idea that the change took the “Happy” out of the experience.
@McDonalds Your new uniforms take the "Happy" out of #McDonalds. But in fact depressing in " sad" times. Suddenly I'm no longer hungry. 😐
— JoEllen (@kuhn_joellen) April 24, 2017
