MMeM, Vol.13 Issue 45 – All World Problems

You’re going to end up with both.

I remember reading a story about McDonald’s straws a while ago where fisherman were up in arms about changes to the striping colors on said straws. Apparently, when cut into 1-2″ lengths the slightly thicker, wider plastic straws from McDonald’s were being used to catch Spanish Mackerel with surprising success compared to other lures.

A CHANGE IN STRAWS LED TO PROBLEMS CATCHING FISH.
In a move that would have unforeseen, mackerel-related consequences, McDonald’s shifted their straw design in 1984 from a red-and-yellow color scheme to brown-and-yellow. The problem? Fishermen along the Gulf of Mexico had successfully used the original version to lure Spanish mackerel: Three lures could be made from a single sipper, and caught five times as many fish as any other lure. The new straws failed to attract any catches; McDonald’s dryly advised the distressed fishermen try Big Macs instead.”

That was a nice little story. This is not. Perhaps you’ve seen people at coffee shops are coming from them with drinks that have straws and they have placed their donut on top of the drink with the straw poking through? Yeah, I guess I’ve seen or heard of that too.

Well, as McDonald’s has continued its successful world domination, in Japan consumers there have combined these two “ideas” with whatever you can call this…

All of this McDonald’s straw craziness seems like 1st World Problems and idle mindlessness in the case of hamburger-strawing.

Then, there is the real world use of Spanish Mackerel fishing. I guess when you have SO MUCH of something, anything, even McDonald’s STRAWS, you’re going to end up with both.

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