McDonald’s Japan to offer any soda of any size for Y100

In the past, customers have kept spending in check by ordering only food and requesting only tap water. As sales of sodas and diet sodas have slipped, they have responded by aggressively by making it cheaper. That's because fountain drinks have high profit margins. Whether you choose to order a drink with your meal makes a big difference in profits to fast-food chains.

McDonald’s seems hell-bent on making the people of Japan fat. Their most recent campaigns all make it easier and much more convenient to shovel unhealthy food into your face

whats a bad wording toward on big company. why

McDonald's Canada has been running this campaign for a while now. And they offer all drinks including ice coffee and their smoothies. As for making Japan fat, you are not forced to go and buy anything, and a small soda once in a while will not kill you.

small, medium and large mean nothing when cups are filled to the brim with ice

Japan McD has the capability to make healthier foods, they could offer more Chicken selections fried or skinless versions and more selections with salads and juices (real 100%)

http://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en/full_menu_explorer.html

McDonald’s seems hell-bent on making the people of Japan fat. Their most recent campaigns all make it easier and much more convenient to shovel unhealthy food into your face

Suddenly, Diet soda.

The phrase "can't give it away" comes to mind.

From my understanding refills are/were common place in other countries except here. So this campaign a step in that direction.

@horsefella - Totally. I guess they're content paying for mostly ice instead of the beverage they ordered. If necessary, I'll tell them less ice, less beer foam (head), etc...

This opinion article cracked me up. Makes a lot of sense

"McDonald's Canada has been running this campaign for a while now. And they offer all drinks including ice coffee and their smoothies. As for making Japan fat, you are not forced to go and buy anything, and a small soda once in a while will not kill you."

That is precisely what will kill you. Sodas are laced with HFCS ( high fructose corn syrup) - a poison that has rapidly turned America into a Diabetic Overweight Heart disease riddled nation. Add to the fact this is a highly addictive, and you have a winning concoction. Good luck avoiding this poison.

Cancer and obesity for only 100 Yen!

So now you can do at Miki D's what you were doing at vending machines.

So...you have to pay for cold teas, the saving grace of Japanese fast food chains, but for soda it's just "open wiiiiiide". If they offered tea at the same price, I'd have no complaints, but the faster this campaign disappears, the better.

I guess they're content paying for mostly ice instead of the beverage they ordered. If necessary, I'll tell them less ice, less beer foam (head), etc...

But sometimes in Japan if you ask for less ice, they give you less drink, especially if it is 100% juice, watch out!

syrup + tap water = cheap (the cup and straw cost more than the contents)

Mc D's is running out of ideas as they lose money.

A cup of soda at those fast food chains is about 10~13 yen in actual cost in which the cups cost more then the content.

i hope they close down this rubbish unhealthy crap like mc do. full with chemicals and fats and sugars. burgers are cold when served and taste like... its time that people wake up and learn about diet. nutrition etc etc..

McD will NEVER close down, it is one of the biggest money makers in the world. It's a multi-billion dollar industry. Disneyland would probably close first before the clown goes in the grave.

Ever get the feeling that the writer of this article is anti-Mac? lol!

mc do will close down on the day when people educate them selfs a bit more about diet, nutrition and find out what they actually stuff in their mouth when they feed on the junk at mc do. 30years ago they said smoking didnt cause any harm and than the law suits began. in the future they will take mc do, coca cola etc.. to court too. as long the people stay stupid and let the commercials manipulate them not much will change but its just a matter of time until the mob becomes smarter.

Yes, Ka_chan is right. For decades you can find drink machines here in Japan that have the large "American size" and the small "Japanese size" for the same price. And the small size is sold out.

It realy is not The Matter of Size it is Giving you a Choice at a reasonable price of what size you drink . It is not the Franchise,s fault if you don't use their healthy choice menu.

Sure, but it's 200 Yen for the cup

HFCS ( high fructose corn syrup) - a poison

Why does JapanToday attract so many conspiracy theorists?

HFCS and sugar from sugarcane/sugarbeats are nutritionally identical Not all soda uses HFCS. Outside of America, alot of places still use normal sugar from sugarcane

This HFCS stuff reminds me of when people were claiming autism is due to vaccination. That turned out to be complete bunk.

In the past, customers have kept spending in check by ordering only food and requesting only tap water. As sales of sodas and diet sodas have slipped, they have responded by aggressively by making it cheaper.

Unlikely. The McDonald's Value Set menu is designed to make the inclusion or exclusion of a drink cost-negligible. In fact, purchasing most menu items a la carte would result in paying more, not less, than ordering a Value Set and simply sticking with water. Yes, beverages for a restaurant represent a pretty insane profit margin, but this is hardly what's at work here.

McDonald's seems hell-bent on making the people of Japan fat.

No. McDonald's is hell-bent on making a profit quarter-by-quarter, like any business. No one is forcing anyone to purchase 100-yen soft drinks.

Also, this article is mistaken. This campaign was introduced two years ago, not one. The first time was the summer of 2011, shortly after the Tohoku quake, when the government was asking businesses across Japan to do what they could to reduce electricity consumption and take unnecessary strain off an over-taxed power grid; the lost of power from the Fukushima Nuclear Plants was significant enough to cause mandated rolling blackouts that summer.

Losts of business and offices -- restaurants as well -- were turning their thermostats up to cooperate, resulting in inside temperatures far higher than normal.

McDonald's Japan introduced the 100-yen soft drink campaign that summer ostensibly as a small way for customers to escape hotter-than normal offices during lunchtime, after work, or whenever with a cheap, cold drink. Sure, it was also a blantant bid to draw in more customers, but anyone who faults a business for trying to, well, generate business is an imbecile.

And if anyone still thinks there's some sort of sinister conspiracy at work here, your efforts might be better spent on figuring out how to combat McDonald's North America's decade's-long policy of endless free soft drink refills. Now there's a cause that should get your lather up: *"How dare McDonald's force customers at High Fructose Syrup-gunpoint to walk to the counter with their empty cups and ask for a free refill!"*

BTW, a small soft drink at McDonald's Japan is akin to about 3 ounces.... And they don't have free refills. Thus I doubt Japan will match the west in its rate of obesity by paying 100 yen for a large soda...about 8 ounces. Drink up....

Deplore,

HFCS and sugar from sugarcane/sugarbeats are nutritionally identical

Sorry, but they aren't.

Fructose and glucose are metabolised quite differently.

You can read about it here:

http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2008/dec2008_Metabolic-Dangers-of-High-Fructose-Corn-Syrup_01.htm

Someone above mentioned tea. I'd be all with that if it was 100 yen but it isn't- and I'd love to stop by MD's on hot summer days for a tall iced tea for a cool 100 yen. They didn't have that last campaign and won't this time either. Too bad!

Agree about the super sized fries, but don't knock the cheap large sized sodas - as long as you order Coke Zero, it is calorie free and won't be adding anything to your waistline, in the sweltering summer heat, here I for one welcome reasonably priced drinks...

LFRAgain, did you mean to say quarter pounder-by-quarter pounder?

I have to say. I've never walked into McD's just for a drink. I carry an 800 ml cold thermos filled with cold water everyday. Bought a nice Hurley water filter from the States, shipped to me by my parents. No filter replacements, send it back in 5 years for a free new filter, it will last for 10 years. $500 though. Don't buy them here, it's $1000. Wouldn't even cross my mind to drink a coke or anything else, well maybe Aquarius, during the summer here.

Mc D's is running out of ideas as they lose money.

They ran the same campaign for the past 2 summers, this is nothing new.

Next will be an article about McDonald's new campaign of all sizes of fries for 100yen.

Another article about McD's, another page full of whining about it being unhealthy, it making everybody fat and giving everybody cancer, blah blah blah. A 100-yen large coke is a blast of happiness on sweltering summer days. It's cheaper than any comparably sized drink from the combini, so good on them. If you don't want to take part, just walk away.

HFCS might not be more calorific than other sugars but it is metabolised differently and may have certain negative effects especially on the liver. Yes many drinks manufacturers outside the US do reformulate to avoid HFCS (e.g. Coca Cola in the UK), but unfortunately most seem to have a disdain for their Japanese customers and don't bother to do so in Japan. A bit like McDonalds Japan and their blase attitude to trans fats, but that's another story...

How much of the drink will actually be ice?

McDonald’s seems hell-bent on making the people of Japan fat.

Wow, slippery slope much? :/

Let's also put it into perspective. Japanese McD's large size is still the size of an American medium, and that price doesn't include refills, which many American fast food chains do. There is still the option of Coke Zero and other diet sodas. Also, just because all drinks are ¥100, doesn't necessarily mean that everyone will get the largest size. Personally I can never drink a lot of any soft drink, so even when they run these campaigns I still get medium.

Japan is the only country I know where you could offer any size drink for the same price and people will still choose small. Same with vending machines which are typcially 120yen for 350ml and 150yen for 500ml. These days it is quite common to see even smaller 250ml for 100yen and usually sold out.

Useless JUNK food and Drinks

Japanese food is awesome, I see no reason to eat McD in Japan for any reason. I know the actual food can come from multiple places but it's a specific food culture and it should be celebrated. Enjoy your food culture please! Cold green tea works for me in this case

Regardless of the size they still make money at 100 yen! Even a large soda might cost McDonalds 12 yen!

I agree with sf2k, with all this wonderful food and drink in Japan, I don't understand why anyone would want to eat the reconstituted offal and fructose loaded soft drinks in fast food shops.

In the summer, mugicha (roasted barley tea) has ZERO calories. In Okinawa, there is also sanpincha (Jasmine tea) and uchincha (turmeric tea). Great stuff and good for you.

Hear that whiny scream coming from the east? That would be Mayor Bloomberg of NYC.