“B-î-G ma-cks—FI-lay-A Fish

Quarter Pounder—FRENCH Fries

I-cy Cola—thi-ck sha-kes

SUn-daay-s—AND

Apple pie

Big Macs— Fillet-a-fish,

Quarter-Pounder—French fries

Icy Cola—Thick shakes,

SUNDAYS and

Apple pies”

Big macs, Fillet-a-fish = hands together; slap each other on right and left side twice

Quarter-Pounder—French fries= Outside hand goes up and hits each other, hand goes back down to tap own hand, then goes below hand to hit each other again

Icy-cola= slaps right hand on waist, drops left hand

Thick shakes= Index finger of right hand goes up in the air and is twirled

Sundays and apple pies= grab corresponding right hand; grab corresponding left hand; (forms X) and bounce together

Analysis:

Angela has lived in California all her life, and now attends the University of Southern California, majoring in English. Her beliefs are .She first learned this game in third grade during recess from her classmates. At the time she did not realize she was reciting the McDonalds Menu. It was one of the many songs she sang and played. Looking back on it now, she thinks the song may have come from the 70’s because “that’s when McDonalds was in and popular.”

We know that McDonald first opened in 1955, Thus the terminus post quem for this pieced of folklore must be at least after that date. TV dinners and fast food enterprises gained popularity during the 1960’s and 70’s. To be more specific the Big mac made its daybue in 1968. Thus, we can move the terminus post quem up until that point. Moreover, this is a prime example of a possible commercial advertisement becoming folklore. When a commercial advertisement becomes engrained in a culture, that when you know its going to last a while. However, usually advertisers take a piece of folklore already existing in society and interweave it into a commercial or advertisement. This is one of those rare cases, where the opposite has occurred. And it has occurred targeting kids. Children are great, ideal sources for spreading folklore, for they absorb information fast and then want to tell everyone they know what they had just learned. This is more exposure and free advertisement for McDonalds not to mention that children tend to have some leeway when it comes to getting what they want. The reputation of the song over and over again, may make McDonalds very appealing once lunch time comes around. Also, it is very hard for a parent to look into their children’s eyes and tell them no. This may be due to the adult’s romantic notions on children’s innocence; children have not yet been corrupted by society, which enables them to get what they want. This could attribute to McDonalds earlier business success.