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OOps! there's a problem. Blacks have to get in a long line. Whites and Mexicans are heading the pact!

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I have not seen the commercial. However, from reading its description, it seems very wrong, and I don't think the writer is too sensitive. The writer is being as sensitive as should be expected of all Americans. Commercials use a lot of psychology to get people to buy their products. Human emotion is the best one to exploit. Whether the family in the commercial is black, or not, however, it's still wrong to act as though wanting to work at a fast-food chain is the end goal in life. Too many high school students think that's good enough, and wind up working there well past high school, and forgo college or other means of getting good jobs and careers. This is no exaggeration. Perhaps the commercial should have the kid saying "I want to work at McDonald's so I can save money for college!" Now that would be a win-win situation.

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I haven't seen the McDonald's commercial and there might be subtle undertones that are racist, but it sounds great to me. We all know about people who have large numbers of franchise restaurants and they are doing quite well. In fact, Steak and Shake restaurants in our area are doing well only at the ones owned by certain franchisees. I admire kids who have big business plans. You see them now and again on Donny Deutch's TV show, Big Ideas . They are already millionaires. When I was trying to remember the name of the show, I found quite a few books listed on how to make you kid a millionaire. Maybe I should have read something like that instead of the Blue Fairy book when I was a kid.

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The kid in the commercial could do a lot worse. If he keeps his work ethic and initiative, he may well go far. According to the tell-all book "Fast Food Nation" by Eroc Schlosser, which is very unfriendly to the fast food industry, McDonald's and other fast food companies tend to promote from within, and many executives start out as line cooks or cashiers. This sentiment is echoed by the McDonald's corporate fact sheet, which states that "12 of 50" of the top management started out in the restaurants... and that number includes the CEO. No matter how hard Schlosser tried to dig up the dirt, he couldn't find anything negative to say about the amazing potential for upward mobility. According to Time Magazine, there are over 31,000 McDonald's locations. Of these, according to the McDonald's fact sheet 1,200 (3.87%) are owned by people who start out working in the restaurant. You need to have some serious green to do that (a 25% down payment of $300k of non-borrowed money according to McDonald's franchising Web page). Putting that amount of money together is not easy on a restaurant manager's pay. It usually requires a family or a husband and wife team, with everyone working for many years, saving and sacrificing for twenty or thirty years, and buying the restaurant at a mature age. It takes a phenomenal amount of hard work and discipline to pull it off, but over a thousand people have achieved just that. With an average annual revenue per property of $8M according to Nations Restaurant News, and a 6% to 8% profit margin in addition to the salaries franchisees may elect to pay themselves, the money isn't bad. A medium 7% of $8M is $560k, which will pay off the first restaurant pretty quickly. Many McDonald's franchisees therefore own more than one restaurant. So knock that 3.84%-of-all-existing-restaurants owned by former line workers down a bit, say to 2% or 3%. You've still got phenomenal upward mobility. Compare this to the upward mobility in other sectors. Suppose you go to work for a medical company instead... do you think you've got a 3.87% chance of eventually owning one of the hospitals? How about an auto manufacturer: how many line workers have a chance to eventually own one of the factories? As far as concerns college... McDonald's runs a program called "Hamburger University" which translates to 46 college credits (an associate's degree is usually 60 credits). The courses are generally delivered in conjunction with local colleges. None of these are watered-down liberal arts courses. Each course has received a credit recommendation from the American Council of Education. The courses include chemistry, marketing, and cooking. So although it's definitely centered around McDonald's business, there are applications in the outside world. The curriculum is compatible with a business degree or a restaurant and hospitality management degree. Tuition for this is free for McDonald's employees. I've never worked for McDonald's (although I flipped my share of burgers), and I don't own stock in the company. But the kid in the commercial could do a lot worse, provided he never buys into the customary American prejudice against manual labor, service jobs, savings, and self-employment.

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Squeaky's post was very informative and contained a lot of information I had no idea about. I find myself wondering if it is the same story with other major chains - Burger King, Wendy's, etc. I haven't seen the ad that the letter writer references either - perhaps it isn't being shown in the parts of the country where I and the other commenters live. However, I have seen plenty of ads run by the company and it is apparent that many of them are aimed at black people. It isn't necessarily racist to do that, though, as I learned in business school that you can break down global consumers according to any demographic group you like. And besides, I see nothing wrong with encouraging people of any color to get jobs. Everyone makes fun of "working at McDonald's," but even if one doesn't take advantage of the advancement opportunities that Squeaky describes, it's still a great place for a young person to learn fundamentals like getting to work on time and following directions from your supervisor - lessons that will serve the employee well later in life, after he or she has gone on to better things. I haven't worked at McDonald's, but I did work at other fast food restaurants as a younger man, and I can tell you that it is a highly structured work environment where a person generally at least knows what he is SUPPOSED to be doing. As usual, I'm with Larry - I see the letter writer's point but believe she is being too sensitive.