Big Mac

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For other uses, see Big Mac (disambiguation).

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The Big Mac is a hamburger sold by international fast food restaurant chain McDonald's. It was introduced in the Greater Pittsburgh area, United States, in 1967 and nationwide in 1968. It is one of the company's signature products.

History

The Big Mac was created by Jim Delligatti, an early Ray Kroc franchisee, who was operating several restaurants in the Pittsburgh area. It was invented in the kitchen of Delligatti's first McDonald's franchise, located on McKnight Road in suburban Ross Township. The Big Mac had two previous names, both of which failed in the marketplace: the Aristocrat, which consumers found difficult to pronounce and understand, and Blue Ribbon Burger. The third name, Big Mac, was created by Esther Glickstein Rose, a 21-year-old advertising secretary who worked at McDonald’s corporate headquarters in Oak Brook, Illinois. The Big Mac debuted at Delligatti's Uniontown, Pennsylvania restaurant in 1967, selling for 45 cents. It was designed to compete with Big Boy restaurants' Big Boy sandwich; Eat'n Park was the Pittsburgh area's Big Boy franchisee at the time. The Big Mac proved popular, and it was added to the menu of all U.S. restaurants in 1968.

Product

The Big Mac consists of two 1.6 oz (45.4 g) 100 per cent beef patties, "special sauce" (a variant of Thousand Island dressing), iceberg lettuce, American cheese, pickles, and onions, served in a three-part sesame seed bun.

The Big Mac is known worldwide and is often used as a symbol of American capitalism. The Economist has used it as a reference point for comparing the cost of living in different countries – the Big Mac Index – as it is so widely available and is comparable across markets. This index is sometimes referred to as Burgernomics.

Special sauce

The name was popularized by a 1974 advertising campaign featuring a list of the ingredients in a Big Mac: "Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions – on a sesame seed bun."

Big Mac Sauce is delivered to McDonald's restaurants in sealed canisters designed by Sealright, from which it is meant to be directly dispensed using a special calibrated "sauce gun" that dispenses a specified amount of the sauce for each pull of the trigger. Its design is similar to a caulking gun.

In 2012, McDonald's admitted that "the special sauce ingredients were not really a secret" because the recipe had been available online "for years". It consists of store-bought mayonnaise, sweet pickle relish and yellow mustard whisked together with vinegar, garlic powder, onion powder and paprika.

Packaging

The Big Mac, along with many other McDonald's products, was first served in a "clamshell" styrofoam container that was phased out beginning in 1990 due to environmental concerns. The product is now sold in an easily collapsible box of thin cardboard.

Advertising

The earliest instances of McDonald's utilizing advertising for the sandwich were mainly print ads, and a TV ad in which Hoyt Axton sings "The Ballad of Big Mac" which aired in 1969.

Two all-beef patties slogan

The Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions – on a sesame seed bun concept for the jingle was created by Keith Reinhard, Chairman Emeritus of DDB Worldwide, and his creative group at Needham Harper and Steers. Originally, the ingredients appeared as a one-word heading for a McDonald's ad developed for college newspapers. The words were then set to music created by Mark Vieha, who performed the original jingle. The first run of commercials ran only a year and a half, going off the air in 1976, but its popularity remained beyond its TV life. Subsequent to the jingle, McDonald's followed up with a promotion based on its customers spontaneously having a "Big Mac Attack".

Many franchises in the United States ran promotions during the original campaign that awarded a free burger to customers who could recite the slogan within a specified time (usually two or three seconds). One example of its success was that the McDonald's operators in New York City ran out of Big Mac buns. McDonald's Australia emulated this promotion in the mid-1980s, and some Brazilian McDonald's around the same time (only offering a free glass of Coca-Cola instead), in the Portuguese-language version, which is "Dois hambúrgueres, alface, queijo, molho especial, cebola e picles num pão com gergelim".

The slogan soon led to a shaggy dog joke that had as its punchline "two obese Patties, Special Ross, Lester Cheese, picking bunions on a Sesame Street bus".

In 2003, McDonald's revived the phrase. In an English-language ad from McDonald's international "i'm lovin' it" campaign, a rapper rapidly spouts off the trademark in the background music. Also in 2003, American Greetings and Carlton Cards released a Christmas ornament of a Big Mac, on which the slogan was both printed and played aloud by pulling on a string. Roy Bergold, National Advertising Manager at McDonald's, has a big hand in championing the original campaign and helping to bring it back.

In 2008, the phrase was revived by McDonald's Malaysia. The revival includes the original prize of a free Big Mac if the customer is able to recite the phrase in under four seconds. This was released in May, along with the promotional Mega Mac, which has four beef patties rather than the standard two.

1980s advertising

In the early 1980s, as a promotion, McDonald's staged an in-house rivalry between their two most popular products. Consumers were invited to decide "Which one will be number one? Chicken McNuggets or Big Mac sandwiches?" For each of either item that a customer bought, they received another of the same at half price. Later in the ad campaign, the second was offered for free. It was eventually announced that Big Mac was "number one".

2005 advertising

In 2005, McDonald's began offering product placement rewards to hip hop artists who namechecked the Big Mac in their music, giving US$5 to the artist for every time a song mentioning the hamburger was played on the radio. This offer quickly spawned a satirical reference from hip hop artist Mad Skillz, who references the marketing ploy in his track "2005 Wrap Up" by stating "And I'm beefin' wit' Mickey D's man, y'all dead wrong, Talkin' 'bout payin' rappers to mention Big Macs in their song, We do rap from the heart, y'all better have some respect, Alright, Big Mac! Big Mac! Big Mac! Now where's my check?"

Variants

File:McDonalds Mega Mac Malaysia.jpg

A Mega Mac burger with a large Coke and fries in Malaysia

• The Mega Mac or Double Big Mac – four 1.6 oz (45.4 g) beef patties and an extra slice of cheese. Available in Australia, Canada, China, Egypt, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia (during promotional periods only), Turkey, Singapore, Pakistan, South Korea, and Thailand. Discontinued in New Zealand. In the United States, buyers can ask to double their Big Mac with two additional patties, although this is limited to only certain states. The Double Big Mac is the biggest regular hamburger produced by the chain and has 680 calories.
• Big Big Mac – a Quarter Pounder-like product sold in Europe (Finland, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, and Italy). Has been sold periodically in Sweden, there called "Grand Big Mac" (where "Grand" was pronounced in British, not American, English, in their advertisingTemplate:Verification failed).
• The Denali Mac – made with two quarter pound patties. Named after Denali in Alaska, and sold only in that state. Also known as the Bigger Big Mac as a limited-time offer product to celebrate the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
• In India, where consuming beef is illegal in most states, the Big Mac is known as the Maharaja Mac and was originally made with lamb instead of beef; however, along with the company's other items, it is now made from chicken. A vegetarian option is also available, substituting corn patties in the place of beef.
• The Chicken Big Mac is a Big Mac with two breaded chicken patties sold in Pakistan, Egypt, UAE, Kuwait, and Qatar.
• The Giga Big Mac is a larger version of the Big Mac with three times the meat of a Big Mac sold in Japan.
• Mac Jr. is a reduction of the standard Big Mac. It uses a two-piece bun and contains only one beef patty. Available in the U.S. beginning in 2017.
• Grand Mac uses larger patties, at ¹⁄₃ pound (150 g) combined. Available in the U.S. beginning in 2017.

McDonaldland character

Main article: McDonaldland

In addition to the McDonald's signature hamburger, Big Mac was the name of a character, Officer Big Mac, in McDonaldland, the fictional world created as an advertising campaign for McDonald's. Officer Big Mac was similar to Mayor McCheese, except he was the chief of police, wearing a constable uniform and sporting a large Big Mac for a head.

Museum

File:BigMacMuseum.jpg

The Big Mac Museum in 2014

On August 22, 2007, McDonald's opened the Big Mac Museum in North Huntingdon, Pennsylvania to celebrate the Big Mac’s 40th anniversary. The museum features the world's largest Big Mac statue (measuring 14 feet high and 12 feet wide) and has hundreds of historic artifacts and exhibits that celebrate the Big Mac.

Some Uniontown residents were unhappy with the selected location; a McDonald’s spokesperson said that the decision was based on ease of highway access.

Nutritional values per geographical location

The Big Mac is a geographically localized product. In the United States, the Big Mac has 550 kcal (2,300 kJ), 29 grams of fat and 25 grams of protein. In Australia, the burger is slightly smaller with 493 kcal (2,060 kJ) and 26.9 grams of fat, but similar amounts of protein with 25.2 grams, while the Japanese burger tops out the scales at 557 kcal and 30.5 grams of fat. Several Mcdonald's subsidiaries adapt the standard features of the Big Mac (from the USA) to regional requirements.

Comparisons of the Big Mac standard nutritional values in different countries - Sodium values converted to their salt equivalents, rounded and in bold

Country	Energy kcal	Carbohydrates g	Protein g	Fat (total) g	Dietary fiber g	Salt equivalent mg	Serving size (weight) g	Reference
Argentina	485	40	24	26	3.3	2005		.ar
Australia	493	35.3	25.2	26.9		2148	201	.au
Austria	495	40	27	25	3	2300	219	.at
Belgium	495	40	27	25		2300		.be
Bosnia and Herzegovina	510	41	27	26	3	2200		.ba
Brazil	491	40	26	26	3.8	2033		.br
Canada	520	45	23	28	3	2413	209	.ca
Chile	478	40	26	24	4	2133		.cl
China	520	46	26	26				.cn
Croatia	510	41	27	26	3	2200		.hr
Czech Republic	510	41	27	26		2200		.cz
Denmark	510	41	27	26.1	3	2200		.info
Egypt	522		28.235	25.911				.eg
Finland	510	41	27	26	3	2200		.fi
France	508	42	27	26	3.1	2300	221	.info
Germany	510	41	27	26	3	2200	221	.de
Greece	495	40	27	25	3	2300	221	.gr
Hong Kong	497	43.1	26.4	24.2		2003		.hk
Hungary	510	41	27	26	3	2200		.info
Ireland	490	41	28	24	4	2100		.ie
Italy	510	41	27	26	3	2200		.info
Japan	557	45.2	25.5	30.5		2800		.jp
Lithuania	509	42	27	26	3.1	2300	219	.lt
Malaysia	484	46	26	23		1825	209	.my
Mexico	486	45	22	26	3	2228		.mx
Netherlands	510	41	27	26	3	2200		.info
New Zealand	494	36.8	26.4	25.9		2415	202	.nz
Norway	510	41	27	26	3	2200		.no
Poland	510	41	27	26	3	2200		.info
Portugal	509	42	27	26	3.2	2300	219	.pt
Romania	510	41	27	26	3	2200		.info
Russia	495	40	27	25	3	2300		.info
Serbia	493	40	27	25	3	2300		.rs
South Africa	496	39	24.3	26.4	3.2	2433		.za
South Korea	510		26			2533	213	.kr
Sweden	505	42	26	26	3	2300	219	.se
Switzerland	510	41	27	26	3	2200		.info
Taiwan	530	45	27	26				.tw
Turkey	480	43	28	22		2100		.tr
United Kingdom	508	43	26	25	3.6	2300		.uk
United States	540	47	25	28	3	2426	215	.us

See also

• Don Gorske, a Big Mac enthusiast
• List of sandwiches

Similar products by other restaurant chains:

• Big Boy (Big Boy Restaurants and Frisch's Big Boy)
• Big Hardee (Hardee's)
• Big King (Burger King)
• Big Shef (Burger Chef)
• Big Wink (Winky's)
• Bonus Jack (Jack in the Box)
• Superburger (Eat'n Park)
• Teen Burger (A&W) is not a double decker like the Big Mac, but its "teen sauce" is similar to "special sauce".

Further reading

• Gallagher, Peter B. (March 10, 1975). "Beefed-up old jingle pays off for Big Mac". St. Petersburg Times. p. 1D. Retrieved April 12, 2010.

External links

• Official US product information
• Official UK product information
• Official product information for the Chicken Maharaja-Mac
• The Big Mac Index
• The Big Mac Museum in North Huntingdon, Pennsylvania
  • Photo Tour of Big Mac Museum

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