Photo by fakelvis
70,000 Volunteers Set to Wear McDonald’s Golden Arches in the 2012 Olympics…
McDonald’s has been chosen as the “presenting partner” for the 2012 Olympics, helping to recruit and train 70,000 volunteers, or the so-called Games Makers, required for an array of tasks including ticket checking, interpreting and providing first aid to the masses of millions due to visit the country. McDonald’s currently employs an army of 80,000 workers– their jobs dubbed as “McJobs” (a low-paying, low-prestige job requiring few skills). The company, it seems, hopes to gather 70,000 more people to voluntarily do an unpaid McJob over the course of the Olympics.
In addition to the role of presenting partner, the fast-food company has been deemed the exclusive recognisable “meal brand” of the London Games, ensuring that other food brands are unable to sell their wares, unless labels are removed and/or packaging changed. The company is doing better than ever, making a £708 million profit in just the first three months of 2010. It goes without saying that the Olympics will skyrocket these profits further, as masses gaze at the famous golden arches as a side dish to the games, not only through the food consumed, but also the t-shirts of tens of thousands of McDonald’s “volunteers”.
Lord Coe, the London 2012 Chairman, claims that McDonald’s is likely to attract and recruit the best volunteers due to its “established customer service expertise and strong high street presence”. Coe continues that the company is among the few organizations with the ability to prepare such a large team in the relatively short time period. His motivation is therefore made clear, but what is McDonald’s plan? To help out? Or to take advantage of people willing to do an unpaid McJob?
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So who exactly did you expect would be training the 70,000 volunteers? Seb Coe himself? Someone has to do it – you would no doubt whinge whoever got the job
Jon,
First, Londoners were promised jobs, not unpaid work. Secondly McDonalds makes enough profit to be able to pay these 70,000 “volunteers” a living wage for being human billboards advertising McDonalds. If they did not insist they walk around as unpaid sandwich-board carriers perhaps I would be impressed.
Are you going to be a volunteer yourself?