Investigative Journalist Shares Images Of Unfortunate New McDonald’s Play Area
Fast food restaurant play areas used to encourage interaction between children.
SolStock | Getty Images Signature Fast food restaurants like McDonald's have long been safe havens for parents with active young kids. Most franchises offer play areas where kids can run around and cause a ruckus without annoying other diners.
However, times are changing. Those changes center mostly around technology and the very distinct ways that play has changed thanks to screens, apps, and video games. McDonald's play areas used to look like literal playgrounds, but as one user on X shared, the slides and jungle gyms have all been replaced and, as others pointed out, seemingly not for the better.
A woman shared a video of a modern McDonald's play area that critics described as dystopian.
A video by X user and journalist Nancy French recently went viral as it showcased a new McDonald's play area in Franklin, TN.
This "PlayPlace" included two screens, two chairs, and a pole that lit up with LED colors. It looked much more like a satirical film depicting a dystopian future rather than a fun zone for kids, but as French pointed out, this might just be the new normal.
"This is so heart breaking," she wrote. "I don’t think this is temporary. I think this is it."
Commenters were equally disturbed by the modern version of a McDonald's play area.
Many X users were also shocked by this play area. One commented, "This feels like a Black Mirror episode." Others shared their memories of McDonald's "glory days." One user shared pictures of McDonald's playplaces from the '80s and '90s, saying, "As a kid, it was so much fun!"
McDonald's first introduced the "PlayPlace" in the 1970s as a way to encourage family-friendly dining. These were vibrant and colorful areas that sometimes included slides, ball pits, and other elements to keep kids entertained.
Now, however, as many commenters pointed out, these once eye-catching fun areas are slowly being phased out or replaced with less physically fun activity areas.
Changes to fast food play areas began during COVID-19 when issues of cleanliness, hygiene, and safety posed potential legal ramifications.
In the popular Reddit thread r/Nostalgia, a user posted, "Whatever happened to McDonald's PlayPlaces?"
Many of the replies mentioned cleanliness. One user pointed out, "Liability/safety issues; McDonald’s getting hammered from a PR perspective for marketing to children; Covid; and a huge, underrated reason, in my opinion, with phones and tablets, kids had easier ways of being occupied and entertained while parents ate."
This last point about phones and tablets appears to be what McDonald's is betting on based on French's photos. The photo features two chairs facing a wall with tablets on them. A manager at this McDonald's location told Today that both tablets have four games to play in addition to the stomp machine. The "stomp machine," French speculated, "Might be for getting kids to exercise."
During the Covid-19 outbreak, many McDonald's were forced to close PlayPlaces, as well as stores entirely. This was after McDonald's announced plans to create the "Restaurant Experience of the Future" in 2019.
It's natural for a fast food giant like McDonald's to utilize its space in a way that reflects modern times and technology.
According to The New York Post, a McDonald's representative said of French's video, "While this restaurant has a few interactive features for younger guests, it does not represent the full PlayPlace design and experience."
YouTuber, and Associate Professor in the School of Architecture at the University of Illinois, Stewart Hicks, explored "the rise and fall of fast food architecture." Hicks starts the video by asking, "Have you noticed that McDonald's looks a little bit different lately?"
This phenomenon has been pointed out by others. As one X user put it, "Every aspect of life is being stripped of color." This might be a bit of an extreme statement, especially considering design trends have been leaning toward millennial grey styles for years. If homes, hotels, and corporate environments all boast a more neutral palate, why wouldn't restaurants embrace the same aesthetic?
French later added an update to her original post, sharing the previous structure that was replaced with the new disturbing one. “Community gathering places are important, and we just can’t afford to lose them,” French said to Today. “It would be nice if companies sort of thought of themselves as community institutions and try to preserve more than just, you know, their bank accounts.”
French does make a good point, but think of it this way: As a business owner, would it make sense to maintain a playground structure that rarely gets used, or would it make more sense to have more tables for potential diners and families even if they spend their time on screens?
Alexis Faible is a writer with a Bachelor's in fashion design and a Master's in journalism. She covers fashion, relationships, human-interest, and trending topics.