Japan: McDonald’s launches Quarter Pounder, hires customers
Fast-food behemoth McDonald’s has finally introduced its Quarter Pounder in Japan. In hopes of generating a viral buzz for the launch, it selected a few key locations in trendy areas, re-painted the shops, and placed a few accessories outside.
[T]hey painted the signature red-and-yellow facade completely red&black and veiled it with a black curtain. Then they parked a couple of hot blonds in black skintight suits and a bodyguard out front. The top secret facility was unveiled on November 1 to be a Quarter Pounder store. The inside of the store is also black and only sells Quarter Pounder with Cheese meal sets.
McDonald’s Japan announced that sales records had been broken at a shop in Osaka, where 15,000 customers purchased a burger on opening day. Rumours immediately began to circulate that about 1000 of them had been paid to join the queue.
Ubersite GIGAZINE posted a screenshot of a recent ad from the temp agency Fullcast in an article titled “Short-term job to ‘line up to buy and eat a new product’ announced – Hourly rate is 1000 JPY” . McDonald’s says that it was market research to collect feedback, and that it wasn’t an intentional attempt to create buzz.
Ex-pat Australian blogger Neil Duckett posted several photos from one of the re-designed Quarter Pounder outlets. As he says, it looks more like a night club than a crappy fast-food joint.