Hiatus

Where have I been, right?

After much putting off, I've decided to go on a blogging hiatus. Not months, but a few weeks away - time spent to get my mind right and focus my energies on a few specific goals for 2012. I feel like I've been doing a lot of "saying" and not as much "doing" the last few months, and am hoping to change that in the New Year.

Don't fear - 2012 will, eventually, bring lots of talk of resolutions, bucket lists, relationships and, of course,
diving into the real world feet first.

Until then, enjoy what I have to offer here. Even I am starting to realize there are more deep insights and life advice (that I, too, need to take!) on my blog than I thought.

Happy 2012!

Do you want five fries with that?

When I saw the deal for $26 worth of McDonald's Big Macs and fries come through on LivingSocial this week, I forwarded it to my fast-food-loving boyfriend with the subject line, "Your dream come true," and then promptly clicked 'delete.'


$26 worth of McDonald's?! Five Big Macs and five large fries somehow just sounds terribly wrong. However, in a recent article on Slate, I realized that both LivingSocial and McDonald's were under the impression this deal could and would compare to the Whole Foods deal earlier this year, in which more than one million deals were bought (including mine). With just over 272,000 McDonald's deals bought to date and just 11 hours left to go before the deal closes, I think we're safe to conclude that's a big NO.

And to me, that's really no surpise. Given that 40 percent of LivingSocial users have household incomes of $100,000 or more, it makes sense that a deal for Whole Foods would appeal to that target audience, while a deal for McDonald's wouldn't. Sure, everyone loves McDonald's from time to time. But especially for the affluent, it's not an establishment that's visited on a regular basis.

Let's face it - Groupon and LivingSocial users are, by nature, trendy individuals, as I think we can all agree the companies themselves are somewhat "trendy" concepts. The LivingSocial user likes the idea of shopping at an all-natural marketplace with deliciously fresh baked breads, hard-to-find eco-friendly brands and the freshest organic produce - not eating two fat beef patties with "special sauce" and being reminded of "Supersize Me."

The takeaway? McDonald's and LivingSocial didn't do their homework. 272,000 deals is still a lot of deals, but it's clear that this medium was not quite the right avenue for McDonald's.

What do you think? Did you buy the McDonald's LivingSocial deal?

This post can also be viewed on RedEye 'Hoods.