McD's franchisees say the brand in 'deep depression' & 'facing its final days'

[Habbaku]

Is eye enlargement surgery a thing?

[Monoriu]

Is eye enlargement surgery a thing?

Yes, some girls do that.  But even more common is wearing eye enlargement contact lenses.  Those will create an effect where the eyes will look larger than they really are.  The right kind of make-up will further enhance the effect.  I think the girl in the pics above wear the contact lenses and does her make-up skillfully. 

[alfred russel]

But you can't even see her elbows. 

Dorsey:  Of course the analyst could be skewing the sample to validate his own point.  Journalists do it all the time when they cherry pick some like-minded people to represent the mood on the street.

However, for someone doing so, 29 is a pretty big sample, and only 12 out of 29 is a pretty weak result.  Furthermore, it's not clear to me that an analyst who is seeking to validate his own negative outlook on Mickey's is necessarily going to provide potentially useful feedback to the CEO.  Lastly, the share price is going to be driven by metrics, not a perception that franchisees are pissed off at management.

This doesn't provide any useful information to the CEO. He isn't going to be looking at public surveys of his franchisees to know what they are thinking.

This analyst has achieved one thing with this report: getting his name all over the news. Can't say whether that was his intent.

[Admiral Yi]

This doesn't provide any useful information to the CEO. He isn't going to be looking at public surveys of his franchisees to know what they are thinking.

What the CEO habitually looks at and what would prove useful are two separate questions.

[Sophie Scholl]

I thought the same thing, till I saw it was out of 29 random US franchisees who were polled.  I still think it is a rather crap argument and sensationalist journalism.

29 franchisees who own 226 restaurants.  It's not a terrible sample.

There are 14,267 McDonald's in the United States.  226 is a pretty small percentage of that total.  Globally there are more than 36,000.

[Admiral Yi]

There are 14,267 McDonald's in the United States.  226 is a pretty small percentage of that total.  Globally there are more than 36,000.

The ratio of the sample to the population has no impact on the variance of the sample.

[DGuller]

There are 14,267 McDonald's in the United States.  226 is a pretty small percentage of that total.  Globally there are more than 36,000.

The ratio of the sample to the population has no impact on the variance of the sample.

  Well, in all realistic situations, with big enough populations relative to sample size.  A sample of size 99 out of population of size 100 would be less statistically noisy than that out of population of size 1,000.  But the difference between 1,000 and 10,000 would be almost non-existent.

[Agelastus]

According to Entrepeneur.com there are 12867 franchise units in the USA (the rest would be company owned, I assume..)

One news site lists "over 2400" as the number of franchisees, another gives "over 3000". Even if the selection had no biases I'd still prefer a larger sample base if conclusions are being drawn from the data.

[Jaron]

In any survey, is optimal sample size n - 1 ?

[Jacob]

Is eye enlargement surgery a thing?

Yes, some girls do that.  But even more common is wearing eye enlargement contact lenses.  Those will create an effect where the eyes will look larger than they really are.  The right kind of make-up will further enhance the effect.  I think the girl in the pics above wear the contact lenses and does her make-up skillfully.

Yeah.

Most smartphones sold in Asia ships with apps that "beautify" photos. I reckon the girl is probably wearing contact lenses to make her irises and pupils look large, and she may have had relatively minor eyelid surgery - but the bulk of what makes her look like a doll is most likely off-the-shelf image post processing.

[celedhring]

I'm hardly a regular customer, heck, even when I was a poor student there were better alternative options for cheap food around here. The only times I went to McDonald's was when I went out and got the munchies at like 3am, because they were open until very late.

They have tried to reposition themselves highly upscalish around here, but the fact remains that I can throw a couple extra euros and have a much better meal in other quick food places, or I can just have a kebab or whatever if I want to go really cheap and on the go - and I still prefer greasy kebabs to their burgers.

[Martinus]

Is eye enlargement surgery a thing?

Yes, some girls do that.  But even more common is wearing eye enlargement contact lenses.  Those will create an effect where the eyes will look larger than they really are.  The right kind of make-up will further enhance the effect.  I think the girl in the pics above wear the contact lenses and does her make-up skillfully.

Yeah.

Most smartphones sold in Asia ships with apps that "beautify" photos. I reckon the girl is probably wearing contact lenses to make her irises and pupils look large, and she may have had relatively minor eyelid surgery - but the bulk of what makes her look like a doll is most likely off-the-shelf image post processing.

Is self-mutiliation and uglification also a thing in Asia? Because she looks monstrous.

[Martinus]

I'm hardly a regular customer, heck, even when I was a poor student there were better alternative options for cheap food around here. The only times I went to McDonald's was when I went out and got the munchies at like 3am, because they were open until very late.

They have tried to reposition themselves highly upscalish around here, but the fact remains that I can throw a couple extra euros and have a much better meal in other quick food places, or I can just have a kebab or whatever if I want to go really cheap and on the go - and I still prefer greasy kebabs to their burgers.

I think you are overly critical. For example, all things considered, I think McDonald's is "safer" in terms of sanitary condition that most "mom and pop" quick food joints. Plus there is an issue of recognition in a foreign place. I think McDonald's does serve a role.

[Syt]

I tried to find a picture on Google where she looks more like a real human being, and less like an artificial doll.

I failed.

When I saw the picture I first expected it to be related to a new human-like robot from Japan. Human beings should never fall into uncanny valley territory.

[celedhring]

I'm hardly a regular customer, heck, even when I was a poor student there were better alternative options for cheap food around here. The only times I went to McDonald's was when I went out and got the munchies at like 3am, because they were open until very late.

They have tried to reposition themselves highly upscalish around here, but the fact remains that I can throw a couple extra euros and have a much better meal in other quick food places, or I can just have a kebab or whatever if I want to go really cheap and on the go - and I still prefer greasy kebabs to their burgers.

I think you are overly critical. For example, all things considered, I think McDonald's is "safer" in terms of sanitary condition that most "mom and pop" quick food joints. Plus there is an issue of recognition in a foreign place. I think McDonald's does serve a role.

We have loads of local chains that serve quick food that's both better quality than McD's and not much more expensive. I'm pretty sure that's the case in the majority of the developed world.