Thursday, November 03, 2005

The End Of The World.....sob.......

as we know it.

I received some terrible news yesterday. It seems that the McRib is on it's Farewell Tour this season.

For some unexplained reason, McDonald's has decided that they will take the McRib off the menu. Forever. This will be the last season they will have them.

Now, Paulius said not to worry- It's just a marketing ploy. They are going to toot it as the Farewell Tour, everyone is going to buy gobs and gobs of them and moan and complain and write nasty letters to the headquarters, and then after a year or so- McDonalds will have a Nostalgia Tour- returning them for a limited time only. Then because they are so popular- they will put them back on the menu as a seasonal thing again.

I hope to goodness he is right.
It is always the cue for us that the holidays are here.

The first McRib I ever ate was in October 1989 at the McDonald's on Woodruff Road. I was working Security at the Greenville Mall and they had the Monster Mansion set up for Halloween. It was chilly weather- almost downright cold- and on my lunch break I saw the McRib ad on the window of McDs and decided to try one.

I got one with a large order of fries and a Chocolate milkshake- and it was love at first bite!!!

Every year since it has become a family thing to go out and get a McRib dinner as soon as they come out in October.
My oldest son, Frank, has the same passion for them as I do. The rest of the family like them- but don't anticipate the return nearly as much as we do.

A McRib stands for something. You can enjoy them all month long and it's the signal to us that as soon as Halloween is over, we can start getting out the Holiday decorations. Only three weeks til we have to have all the windows decorated with swags and/or wreaths, the Snow village set up in the place of honor, the front door wreath set in place, and the Christmas Tree set up for decorating on Thanksgiving Evening.(Artificial trees only- real trees must wait til after the 10th of December.)
We send someone after a bag of McRibs while we are decorating. We send out for a bag of McRibs when we are wrapping gifts. We stop for a McRib meal when we are spending the day shopping for Christmas gifts.

And all too soon, the holidays are over and the McRibs are gone for another year.

Sure, we can go out and buy the stuff and make a similar sandwich at home during the rest of the year- but it's just NOT THE SAME.

Maybe it has to do with the memories we associate with the McRib meal than the actual sandwich itself. All I know is- It just won't be the same without it and if there are ANY McDonalds executives out there in the "blogosphere" who are reading this now, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE!!!!!!-(I'm down on my knees as I am sure millions of other McRib Lovers are)-
Re-think this HORRIFIC decision you have made! Don't take this icon of the holiday season away from millions of people who are loyal eaters of this truly wonderful memory-making sandwich!

I hope Paulius is right about the marketing strategy- but just in case he isn't- I'm going out to buy a dozen chest freezers now and as soon as they are installed, for the next month if you need me, you can find me at one of the 10 Million Gazillion McDonalds nationwide.

I'll be stocking up.

9 comments:

Sunny said...

BTW- If you want to sign a petition to return the McRib to the menu immediately and keep the McRib permantly- here is the addie.


http://www.petitiononline.com/mcrib12/petition.html

:-)

Paulius said...

Again, huge marketing ploy. In England the Mars corporation do the same thing with the dark chocolate Mars and Snickers bar.

Why would McDonalds decide to kill off something that is amazingly popular?

They say 'No more McRibs after this season!'

Everyone freaks out and buys two or three of them per day for the entire run.

Next year, McDonalds will put out a press release that says 'Due to public pressure, we'll be bringing out the McRibs for a limited time.'

Everyone freaks out again, and buys loads more McRibs.

Couple of years down the road they do the same thing over and over.

OzzyC said...

Sounds amazingly like what they did to Coke back in the 80's.

BTW, McRibs make me cringe. I vaguely remember the first time I tried one, and it was okay, but nothing to write home about. Then I looked a bit deeper. Yet another pressed meat patty, designed to slightly resembled boneless ribs, and covered in BBQ sauce. The "sandwich" has too much off-white color, and not enough "meat" color. There's so much crap in there that they can't even spray paint it enough to look real. Give me a real, home-cooked rib any day, but keep that processed crap away from me.

MC Etcher said...

Is it me, or were those McRibs in 1989 better than the ones they serve now?

They changed something, but I don't know what.

Sunny said...

I seem to remember that when i first ate one they had a very small amount of mustard on them. Good- but I like them without it. Maybe that was just a regional thing tho?

Silver Creek Mom said...

Never had one and I don't think they even seel them here in Canada..Although I'm not a lover of McDonalds.

Sorry you may now take me off your blog roll.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Anonymous said...

We’re doing our part to save the McRib…are you?

http://estarablog.squarespace.com/journal/2005/10/28/save-the-mcrib.html

Vicarious Living said...

Wow - just, wow. lol
Was that the same year they had those Cherry shakes? Damn those were good.

Anonymous said...

Pam said

keep the mcrib in the metro st. louis area