Comments on: McDonald’s brews up anti-coffee snob ad blitz

By: Coffeeguy

Coffeeguy — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 03:18:59 +0000

I think this is a great campaign and something that strikes right at the heart of what Starbucks has become.

By: John

John — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 02:46:56 +0000

Why not just have a full McCafe coffee shop like overseas.

By: jimbo

jimbo — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 19:08:12 +0000

You guys are idiots. people who drink Starbucks and call ESPRESSO, EXPRESSO. are not snobs they are tools. Starbucks drinkers dont know jack about coffee. Starbucks is the non-snob place

By: alexis

alexis — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 01:57:47 +0000

I find the advertisements to be insulting. Coffee is coffee, but the ads paint being intelligent and informed citizen as negative, and I find it highly distasteful.

By: cam

cam — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 16:58:38 +0000

DOWN with starbucks DOWN with mcd’s!!!!!!
i own a small coffee shop,its great.coffee is for adults,mcdonalds is for anyone hoping to live a short life.everything is fine in moderation,but in this country people have fallen into the fads such as ‘my trucks bigger’ and ‘my coffee is in a paper cup’,and people have let corporate giants take over to the point were moderation is a word seldom used. we do not have health insurance,we do support other local buisnes and we recycle what we can…coffee grounds,re-usable sleeves and what not. ALL AT A LOW PRICE!!! starbucks once charged me almost 5 dollars for a 12 oz drink!! rediculous!! im glad that they are feeling the heat in this economy,they have raped and pilaged for long enough.

By: David

David — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 10:20:55 +0000

why are comments enabled on inane stories like this and not on things that matter… Sort it out!

By: Achshav

Achshav — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 01:52:23 +0000

McDonald’s finally cottoned on to the incredible profitability of espresso-based coffee drinks. It hopes to goose Starbucks by taking some of the sting out of the scam (lower prices).

But maybe, in addition to offering espresso drinks, McDonald’s needs to designate a seating area exclusively for the espresso crowd in its restaurants. Personally, I just stop by the drive-up.

By: Richard S.

Richard S. — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 14:43:53 +0000

I am one of those who think part time employees should not be given full health insurance benefits. By definition “part time” is “part time”. Any benefit that is given to an employee raises the price of the coffee.
Here is what I suggest: List two prices for the same cup of coffee. One would be “full medical benefis” and the other would be “without full medical benefits”. Of course the second one would result in a lot lower price of coffee. Let the consumers choose which option they
choose. I think the customers, wanting to get the most value for their money, would choose the “without full medical benefits” choice. For those who would feel a twinge of guilt in such a situation and would want to pay a little towards the medical benefits, a lock box could be put where the customers could dump any amount of money they would choose to go towards the employees’ medical benefits. See. Isn’t capitalism great?

By: Lonnie Royal

Lonnie Royal — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 07:48:10 +0000

I believe McDonald’s market share of the coffee market is limited. I don’t see spending a lot of money on coffee with their label. I drink a lot of coffee but refuse to use Starbucks primarily because of their Anti-military stance and their refusal to support Veterans and military in general. They show me little in respect of cost versus quality of their coffee and feel they are overpriced. Good coffee comes in many packages but a Folgers or Maxwell House premium blend is sufficient to meet my needs. So in terms of McDonalds I will forgo going out of my way to purchase their product which I haven’t tried yet. I am not one to go for specialized coffees like lattes and frappes and those additions to coffee. I don’t even use cream. I like the taste of coffee and don’t choose to mask the superb flavor of low oil, good quality coffee. I believe most coffee vendors are overpriced and most of it is all fad and simply a way to impress and not fulfill the purpose of providing a good product at the best price. I will be fine without McDonalds, Starbucks or any other Fancy Coffee provider.

By: atlgtto

atlgtto — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 04:46:34 +0000

First notice how Reuters only allows comments on frivolous issues like coffee. A further indication that the mass media is skillfully controlled.
I support McDonalds entry into the Coffee market. As for quality, that will be a primary factor upon which it must compete if it is to take market share away from Starbucks and others.
Starbucks market rests on the “compelling experience” marketing strategy that it helped pioneer. So the other factor would be the Mcdonalds environment.
It is going to be hard to convince local yuppie to sit next to a bunch of screaming kids eating happy meals while sipping on McLatte.
For McDonalds to succeed these issues must be addressed. For research they should study the customer dynamics for each restaurant and re engineer the restaurant according to the tastes of each stored target market. If there is an elementary school nearby then a big playground is more important than a reading room for Preston. If it is next to a university then the playground could be potentially sacrificed to develop more enclosed areas with less of a fast food look.
The overall challenge will be to keep the McDonalds image that has succeeded already and add value without trading off core values that created the brand equity in the first place.