All language subtitles for The.80s.Top.Ten.S01E04.Fast.Food.1080p.DSNP.WEB-DL.DD+5.1.H.264-NTb_track4_[eng]

ROB: The eighties were
a decade that seriously hustled.

We were told greed was
good,

and that insatiable
desire to consume

is the theme of this show.

NARRATOR: We are what we eat,
and in the eighties, we liked it fast.

DMC: There was this
fast food explosion.

KEVIN: 30 minutes or
your pizza's free.

NARRATOR: They were the
guilty pleasures that defined a decade.

LONI: You don't know what
the hell was inside of it.

But if you cooked it
right, you had glory.

JON: It's cheap and it's
fast and it's delicious.

ADAM: The notion of
moderation is absurd.

NARRATOR: Brands battled to unlock
the cravings of a decade on the move.

DEE: The Happy Meal in itself
was like crackerjacks to the next level.

JASON: Could be the best tasting lettuce
and tomato hamburger, ever.

MEAT: I don't know what
they did, but it was really good.

NARRATOR: 10 guilty
pleasures, 10 fantastic fast foods.

But which one will rise to
the very top of our menu?

ROB: Now, let's get the party started
by pigging out on our number 10.

ADAM: In the 1980s,
you had neon,

you had perms and
Jheri curls.

NARRATOR: In the decade
of outrageous clothes, and big hair

even the humble French fry
gets an eighties makeover.

The fast food industry
revolved around the way we lived,

and in the eighties, it
gave way to the curly fry.

ADAM: The curly fry had this
kind of zany-ness to it

that really spoke to the time.

ADAM: It was visually really cool.

NARRATOR: By the
mid-eighties, America's love affair

with French fries has taken a dive,

when sales slump after
years of rapid growth.

To win consumers back,
French fry makers start experimenting

with different styles.

DMC: Hip hop took rock
and funk and created this gumbo.

Curly fries took the idea
of what a French fry's

supposed to be, and
mixed it, you know what I'm saying,

like a DJ would,
into something else.

NARRATOR: On menus
since the forties,

curly fries were too
labor intensive to be called fast food.

MALE: This is what they
call a French curl.

Unwind it and there's two
curls on the one potato.

NARRATOR: But in the eighties,
the process gets industrialized.

Now potatoes are blasted down a shoot
at 60 miles per hour into waiting blades.

CLAUDIA: My favourite part
about curly fries of course

is all of these crispy edges
throughout, so you get,

you know, the flavor of a
steak fry with, you know,

a delicious crispy fry.

MALE: (Singing) You and I
love roast beef at Arby's.

Tender and juicy.

NARRATOR: Arby's had
become famous for roast beef sandwiches,

and only roast beef
sandwiches.

Now, they're eager to
expand their sales horizon.

So, in 1988,

they introduce a fry variation
with its own culinary twist.

FEMALE: Spicy new twister
fries, Arby's curly fries.

NARRATOR: This unique
spicy seasoning is called Cajun style,

capitalizing on the growing trend for
southwestern foods with bolder flavors.

PAUL: Our food has
wonderful flavors,

and it has depth
and it has emotion,

and it just makes you,
you know, want to get fat.

NARRATOR: Arby's
curly fries are a hit.

Sales in the US
jump by 17 percent.

ANNE: Not always was I
in the mood for a roast beef sandwich,

but I was always in
the mood for fries.

ADAM: My memories of them
are wrapping French fries

around your finger
and becoming these

little like carbohydrate
laden springs of joy.

NARRATOR: Arby's curly
fries tap into the cultural zeitgeist

as our number 10.

Their popularity spirals
for generations,

and they're still
on menus today.

DMC: Curly fries was
like hip hop, people thought it

was going to die like
disco, but it stood the test of time.

ROB: How do we rank
10 tasty items, like curly fries?

Well, we recruited
eight brilliant brains to rank our

fast foods by grilling
them on two factors.

Eighties wow, their
importance at the time,

and impact.

How we digest their legacy today.

ROB: It's time for our number nine.

One of the truly genius
parts of American fast food technology

is taking something ordinary
and creating a unique way of cooking it,

and then finally coming
up with a catchy name.

Edging in at order
number nine, a crunchy case in point.

ALVIN: Americans in
particular like fast food

because of the
automobile culture.

ADAM: In the 1980s you had people
in their cars longer than ever before,

and more people were
driving, and that meant

you had less time
at home to cook,

and it meant you needed food that you
could grab quickly and cheaply on the go.

ADAM: Cup holders are
becoming standard in cars.

And that spoke to what
was happening with food.

LONI: I mean, who came up
with the genius idea

of waiting in our cars
to receive our food,

and then eating it in the car?

That was genius.

That started it all off.

SANDERS: Howdy do.

NARRATOR: Chicken king Colonel Sanders
built his business on the road.

Often sleeping overnight
in his car to deliver his sales pitch

of 11 secret spices and herbs.

But in December of 1980, the colonel
reaches the end of the highway.

ANCHOR: Colonel Sanders is dead.

The old chieftain of
the Kentucky Fried Chicken empire

died in Louisville,
Kentucky, in a hospital, aged 90.

NARRATOR: The colonel leaves
behind a global legacy

with annual sales of
two billion dollars.

Meanwhile, the nation is
going crazy for chicken,

and other fast food
chains are catching on.

MALE: Wendy's chicken sandwich.

WORKERS: (Singing)
Come and get it.

MALE: Roast chicken club.

FEMALE: The Burger
King chicken sandwich.

NARRATOR: To keep in
the fast lane, KFC must rev into gear,

and they hatch a
surprising plan.

They create a sandwich
called the Chicken Little,

engineered to be consumed
behind the wheel,

and a whole new consumer
highway opens up.

ANNE: You could get KFC in your hand,
while you were in the car driving.

ADAM: You could still
steer while eating a Chicken Little,

as opposed to trying
to make your way with a Whopper.

NARRATOR: It's perfect
for the convenience

obsessed car culture
of the eighties.

But it also bucks the
trend in a decade known for going big.

DMC: The eighties was
all about being seen.

Most people thought,
yo it's got to be big to be seen.

They were smart, no, let's go small
and everybody will notice us.

NARRATOR: At only 39 cents
each, they're a big hit with customers,

and initially boost
sales by 10 percent.

CLAUDIA: Chicken Littles are a perfect,
perfect, perfect, perfect snack.

NARRATOR: But low price
means low profit, and KFC realises

it can make more money by staying focused
on its chicken buckets.

So, despite being a
popular menu item,

in the early nineties,
Chicken Littles get parked.

MALE: (Singing) Kentucky
Fried Chicken, we do chicken right.

NARRATOR: Gone but not
forgotten, in 2012,

fans campaigned to bring them back,
and Chicken Littles ride again.

MALE: Little is the new big.
New KFC Chicken Littles.

NARRATOR: And they remain
on menus to this day.

Chicken Littles fight the trend
of the bigger means better eighties,

and drive in at
number nine.

But we're about to go
bigger. Way bigger.

ROB: Now I'm a fan of
man-sized portions

but that kind of went
out of control with our number eight.

Sometimes you can have
too much of a good thing.

NARRATOR: Audrey Griswold
wasn't the only one to be dreaming

of a never-ending
feast in the eighties.

ADAM: Go big or go home
is an American expression.

ADAM: The notion of
moderation is absurd.

ALVIN: America is about
the bountiful harvest.

That's why we celebrate
Thanksgiving.

Plates of food and
vegetables, huge turkeys,

this is a part of
American culture.

NARRATOR: The all American
all you can eat buffet

is actually a
Swedish import.

The smorgasbord came
Stateside at the 1939 World Fair,

and the buffet soon finds
a spiritual home under Las Vegas neon.

ANNE: I guess it's a
trait of being an American, you know,

that we just want more,
everything in excess.

NARRATOR: By the eighties,
the conspicuous over-consumption

that made Vegas, well,
Vegas, has hijacked the entire decade.

Burger joint Wendy's wants
to get in on the action.

FEMALE: (Singing) You'll
find our salad bar deliciously complete.

12 garden fresh ingredients,
yeah, all you can eat.

NARRATOR: Wendy's salad bar
has been around since the late seventies.

DAVE: My daughter
Wendy says, Dad,

people are eating
more salads today.

NARRATOR: But in the decade of excess,
they decide to roll the proverbial dice

and double down,
way down.

DAVE: That's a heck
of a good idea.

NARRATOR: Wendy's decides
to raise the bar.

MALE: You've seen biker
bars and

piano bars, handlebars,
even Zanzibars,

but you've never seen
nothing like Wendy's Superbar.

ADAM: The Superbar by
Wendy's was a collection

of some of the strangest
things you'd ever imagine.

MALE: In the mood for fettucine Alfredo
or Rotini with meat sauce?

Maybe some Spanish
rice, re-fried beans and tortillas?

ADAM: I'm not really
sure how any of those foods go together.

NARRATOR: The ability to
create your own meal

was perfect for a decade
that lived large

and taught us to ask for
exactly what we wanted.

MEG: I'd like the chef's salad please
with the oil and vinegar on the side

and the apple pie a la mode.

JEN: That idea of I want
it the way I want it really

emerged in the eighties, to the point
where at the end of the decade,

that was when When Harry
Met Sally came out,

and Sally said I want
it on the side.

MEG: But I'd like the pie heated,
and I don't want the ice cream on top,

I want it on the side,
and I'd like strawberry

instead of vanilla, if you have it.

If not, then no ice cream,
just whipped cream, but only if it's real.

- If it's out of a can, then nothing.
- WAITRESS: Not even the pie?

JEN: Everybody called
her high maintenance, but guess what?

We were all starting to do that.

NARRATOR: The Superbar
offered us the choice we craved,

and all we could eat
for a mere $3.49.

So, in the decade of excess,
what could possibly go wrong?

NARRATOR: The Wendy's
Superbar hits our number eight

because it offered us all
the choice we craved,

and all we could
eat for just $3.49.

MALE: Wendy's Superbar features
three distinct all you can eat bars.

Pasta, Mexican, and an extensive salad bar
that even includes dessert.

Very tasty, it's excellent.
I'll be back.

What about the price?

FEMALE: Fantastic.
You can't beat it.

NARRATOR: But it's a
victim of its own success.

The unlimited seconds
policy, and the cost of keeping

this vast feast of
food fully stocked,

costs Wendy's more
money than it makes.

ADAM: It's hard to not
want to try everything.

Especially when the
buffet set up is geared

for you to try everything.

NARRATOR: Tragically for
salad gluttons, in 1998,

the Superbar closes down
its sneeze guard forever.

ROB: Wendy's learned the concept of all
you can eat can occasionally bite back,

but the eighties fast
food wars raged on.

One of their competitors
came up with another brilliant idea,

which is our coveted
number seven, and that idea is simply,

if you can't beat
them, out-price them.

NARRATOR: Between 1980 and
1990 the number of people

migrating from Mexico
into the US doubles.

And over the decade,
Mexico's influence

starts to be felt
across US culture.

(music)

EDUARDO: Mexican people
have always been in the United States.

Our food, it was so good that people
wanted it everywhere they went.

People love it.

Somebody saw that and saw
this is an amazing cuisine.

How do I take this and
give it to everyone?

NARRATOR: Founded by
American entrepreneur Glen Bell,

Taco Bell, get it, Bell,
takes the quintessential

street food snack from
south of the border,

and transforms it for
mainstream US tastes.

MEAT: I eat at Taco
Bell whenever I can.

I think their tacos
are incredible.

TIFFANI: It was like
hands down my favourite.

EDUARDO: It was never
something I thought of as Mexican food.

- It was its own thing.
- CLAUDIA: Are they authentic Mexican?

We know they're not.

But at the end of the day,
everybody loves tacos,

and Taco Bell was really
at the helm of that.

NARRATOR: As the
eighties roll in,

Taco Bell has become a
familiar part of American life.

But in 1988, due to
an ever-expanding

fast-food market, their
sales have nose-dived.

Needing to reinvent their
image, they introduce a maverick plan.

MALE: You'll love our
59-cent value menu,

guaranteed or your
money back.

NARRATOR: In 1989, Taco Bell
drops the price of six popular items,

and launches its famous
value meal.

TIFFANI: We used to get the value meal
and we'd go to the beach

and we'd sit all day,
wearing no sunscreen.

ALVIN: The value meal is about speed,
low cost, and convenience.

You looked at the cost of buying
the vegetables in the supermarket,

the cost of cooking it at
home, what was cheaper?

Fast food. Which was quicker?
Fast food.

NARRATOR: The value meal
pays off big.

Taco Bells gobbles 70 percent of
the Mexican fast food market,

and their profits
jump by 25 percent.

It's a call to arms,
and their competitors

soon add their own
value menus,

starting a price cutting war that
continues to this day.

ALVIN: You saw as every other
fast food chain got on that bandwagon.

The value meals are
very characteristic of the 1980s,

and Taco Bell's was
at the essence of it.

TIFFANI: Taco Bell
changed the way some families

were able to feed
their families.

There were times that
my dad was working two jobs.

That fast food every now
and then was life-saving,

for time but also
for money.

NARRATOR: So, let's
take a look at our ranking menu.

Arby's curly fries
spirals at number 10.

Sliding in at number
nine, it's the Chicken Little.

Wendy's Superbar is
our number eight.

And Taco Bell has cornered
the number seven.

But what hot little
number will pop in at number six?

LONI: You don't know
what the hell was inside of it,

but if you cooked it
right, you had glory.

ROB: Our number six is living proof
of a memorable line from Hamilton,

and that is that immigrants
get the job done.

Let's meet two guys from
Iran, who definitely got the job done.

Ow.

NARRATOR: Having immigrated
to the US in the 1960s, in 1977,

brothers Paul and David
Merage found Chef America.

Their start-up becomes a
big success, selling frozen foods.

But by the early eighties, the brothers
are looking for the next big thing,

and soon they spot
two emerging trends.

TIFFANI: The microwave.

The fact that you could
make a meal in two minutes was huge.

NARRATOR: In the eighties,
the microwave was the fastest growing

kitchen appliance sold
in the United States.

By 1986, more than 60 percent
of homes have one

and there's a good reason for that.

MALE: Nearly half the
American labor force is now female,

the result of changes
in attitudes, politics and laws.

NARRATOR: And many of
those working women are also mothers.

SETH: If you had a family
with a working mother,

the microwave was
absolutely your best friend.

A kid could come home
from school,

make himself dinner
in like two minutes

without any chance of
burning down the house.

NARRATOR: In the eighties,
latchkey kids,

unsupervised minors
who'd come home to an empty house,

become a phenomenon.

FEMALE: So, these kids are spending
part of their camp day learning

how to be secure
latchkey children.

ADAM: I was a latchkey kid
and my mom, you know,

was just amazing and
worked many, many jobs

so that we could get by, and very often
I would get home before she would.

NARRATOR: The Merage brothers
realized that if they can create a snack

easy enough for kids to microwave
on their own, they'd have a winner.

But that's not as
simple as it sounds.

SHAWN: Early microwaves
never heated things evenly,

so you had to constantly
come up with creative solutions.

JAMES: And I think a lot of
people learned pretty fast

that microwaves are
good at certain things,

not very good at
other things.

NARRATOR: But with
so much to gain,

the brothers decide they
need to go for broke.

They spend years developing a way
to make microwave food crispy.

FEMALE: (Singing)
Hot Pockets, hot.

When you want a hot
meal, without a big deal.

Hot Pockets.

NARRATOR: The key to
their success is a magic

metalized inner sleeve
now as a susceptor,

that brilliant mimics the
effects of home baking,

keeping the insider piping hot,
and the outside brown and crispy.

ADAM: You put them in
that little magic sleeve and nuked it.

CLAUDIA: I mean, that
was just so innovative.

It gave you the opportunity to toast
inside of a microwave.

NARRATOR: This cutting-edge
technology helps create

an easy snack that
speaks to the cravings

of the latchkey
kid generation.

Who needs Mom when you can instantly
crisp up one of these babies?

- WOMAN: Ham and cheese.
- GIRL: Pizza please.

- BOY: Barbecue.
- MAN: It's for you.

JEN: If you're a kid who
was like a latchkey kid,

came home from school,

you know at least how
to heat up a Hot Pocket.

CLAUDIA: They were a
staple for all of us.

Pick up a hot pocket,
put it in the microwave, and you're done.

NARRATOR: The Merage
brothers' ingenuity and persistence

means this tasty snack
transforms mealtimes,

and earns an enduring
cult status.

REGINALD: I will confess
this about Hot Pockets.

I had a Hot Pocket
about two years ago, and they still good.

ROB: Try the Hot Pockets,
they're breathtaking.

Five down. Five to go.

We've covered some of
the main food groups,

from Chicken Little to
the unlimited buffet,

but one genius brand
told us that the point of fast food,

was to lose all of
the weight that we'd been gaining.

Our number five.

CLAUDIA: Americans
love to eat.

I mean, we are the
supersize culture.

But then of course,
what happens when we supersize everything?

We realise that our
waistline also supersizes.

NARRATOR: In 1980, the US
government publishes

its first set of
dietary guidelines,

noting the connection
between diet and heart disease.

FEMALE: From fried chicken
to hot dogs to ice cream,

American diets are
soaked in fat.

NARRATOR: And by the
mid-eighties, dieting

has become a $10
billion business.

MALE: The champagne diet.

FEMALE: The great
American sandwich diet.

MALE: The grapefruit 45 fat
burner plan just may be

the most successful weight
loss program ever.

NARRATOR: The pressure
for women to be thin is everywhere.

FEMALE: Particularly for
women, dissatisfaction with body image

is absolutely pervasive
in American society.

JENNIFER: Celebrities like
Jane Fonda, Cindy Crawford,

were super thin, super fit,
and that's really what

women in the eighties felt
they should look like.

FEMALE: This is no
rehearsal for a stage show chorus line.

This is Jazzersize, the
latest way to exercise.

ROBERT: Everybody's
trying to get fit and, uh

well what are you
going to eat?

NARRATOR: For many, the answer to that
was a revolutionary product

that sparked such a
buying frenzy

it emptied shelves
across the US.

NARRATOR: In the 1980s,
a humble unit of measurement changes

the way we look at food.
The calorie.

Counting these calories
had been made popular

by bodybuilders in
the late seventies.

And in 1981, frozen food
manufacturer Stouffer's

launches a meal that
promises to be 300 calories or less.

FEMALE: Now when you
watch your weight, do it deliciously,

with new Lean Cuisine,
from Stouffer's.

CLAUDIA: The advertisers
nailed it with this, right,

everybody wanted
to lose some weight,

and they wanted the fastest
and more affordable way to do that.

NARRATOR: Lean Cuisine
is so popular,

stores can't keep up with
demand, and sell out.

MEAT: There may
have been some diet meals before,

but nothing attacked
the population like Lean Cuisine.

MALE: This is the
hot stuff.

Premium single serving
dinners of about 300 calories.

This segment of the
frozen food industry

is the hottest thing
going right now.

NARRATOR: Lean Cuisine
makes the painstaking

work of counting
calories easy.

KATIE: Lean Cuisine took the guesswork
out of what you were eating.

The calories had
already been counted.

JEN: There was this idea
that if you ate a Lean Cuisine meal,

you know, once a day,

that somehow the
pounds were just going to fall off.

FEMALE: Low calories,
light food, therefore healthy.

JACKIE: I'm going to be
healthy; I'm going to be fit;

I'm going to eat
a Lean Cuisine.

JENNIFER: Lean Cuisine
is probably not

the most healthy thing
that someone could eat,

it's still processed food.

ROBERT: But the
significance of Lean Cuisine was that

it was the right idea
for the right time.

NARRATOR: By the end
of the decade,

Lean Cuisine is only one
diet regime among many.

But the calorie
counting revolution

they helped start remains
with us to this day.

MEAT: I looked last
night in my freezer.

I still have four.

ROB: So many fast foods, so little time.

And time is the essence
of our next contender.

Rather than you go to
the food, how about we figure out a way

to get the food to you
in 30 minutes or less.

Well I can instantly
tell you

that this special delivery
is our number four.

WAITRESS: Hiya Tony,
two or three?

TONY: Two. Two. Give
me two, that's good.

NARRATOR: Americans have
loved pizza since the dawn of time.

But how did we jump
from eating slices in a local pizzeria,

to expecting whole pies delivered
to our door while still piping hot?

As with so many things,
we have the eighties to thank for that.

CLAUDIA: The fact that
you can get a pizza at your home,

that's freshly baked, that's still
gooey and melty and delicious,

I mean that was the
holy grail of pizza.

Yes. Yes. (Laughs)

NARRATOR: Pizza delivery
becomes big business,

and a national obsession
that reflects the era's need for speed.

CRISTELA: The whole culture
was now, I can do it now,

I can always get it
now. Now, now, now.

NARRATOR: But nobody
likes cold pizza, and in 1984,

Domino's gets a brilliant
streetwise idea.

When founder Tom Monaghan
redefines his brand,

and the entire
concept of fast food.

MALE: So, when you
want hot, delicious,

quality pizza, delivered
in less than 30 minutes,

Domino's Pizza delivers.

One call does it all.

KEVIN: The big thing
was like 30 minutes or your pizza's free.

And, you know,
everyone loves free.

ADAM: Everyone wants to sort of
game it out and see what happens.

JEN: Are you rooting for Domino's
to get there faster cause you're hungry,

or do you want them to show up 32 minutes

after you call
so that you get a free pizza?

ADAM: I have friends
that would literally set timers.

REGINALD: I got so
many free pizzas.

I'd be like, hello brother,
I think you will find

that you've arrived 32
minutes and 15 seconds.

Yeah, that's what
I thought.

NARRATOR: Weaponizing home
delivery gives Domino's

the edge over its rivals,
and in the eighties it becomes

one of the largest
fast food enterprises in the world.

MALE: From 400 stores in 1978,
Domino's now lays claim to nearly 3000.

NARRATOR: But the
runaway success of the promotion

eventually begins to
speed dangerously out of control.

Domino's need for speed
has become a killer,

causing a national outcry.

MALE: We're not talking
about any kind of emergency situation;

we're talking about pizzas.

NARRATOR: But in 1993,
a St Louis woman hit

by a Domino's driver is awarded
79 million dollars in damages,

and the brakes are
finally put on.

ANCHOR: Domino's Pizza
has abandoned one of its longest running

and controversial promotions.

It will no longer
guarantee that you'll get

your pie within 30 minutes.

TOM: I just didn't feel
I could put a hundred

and some thousand Domino's
people in jeopardy.

NARRATOR: It's the end of an era,

but the policy has
a lasting impact.

Today, Domino's is the highest
grossing pizza chain in the world,

and home delivered pizza
has been permanently baked

into American popular culture.

MALE: Give me that.
Hey, this is a 10. The tab's 13.

TURTLE: You're two minutes late dude.

Never pay full price
for late pizza.

MALE: I gotta get a
new route.

Hummmm.

ROB: Now I won't comment
on the actual gourmet quality of Domino's

but I understand why it's
so high on the list,

because the whole idea
revolved around fast delivery, which,

if you think about it,
might have inspired

a little product
delivery company by the name of Amazon.

I'm just saying.

NARRATOR: Domino's
rushed delivery earned

it a place as our number
four, ahead of Lean Cuisine

and Hot Pockets, but it
can't beat our final three.

Next, the war to end
all wars, fought under golden arches.

MEAT: It's called
Burger King.

McDonald's is called
McDonald's and that was a clown.

LONI: It was the king and
it was royal, but it really wasn't royal.

KIDS: Burger King, yay!

ROB: Well now we're
down to the big three eighties foods.

They have a few things
in common. First,

they're all very much a
part of our daily lives,

second, they've made
billions for their creators,

and finally, they
all have insanely catchy names.

And no name was more
of a mouthful than our number three.

REGINALD: I remember
being about six or seven years old,

and back then, a
Whopper was huge.

NARRATOR: The Whopper has been
Burger King's signature dish since 1957.

LONI: Now you see I'm
a burger connoisseur of course.

My favourite fast food
place was Burger King.

I mean, it was something
about that burger.

CLAUDIA: That
flame-broiled goodness

that's just
absolutely delicious.

NARRATOR: Beloved as it may
be, Burger King is far from

the only burger
joint on the block.

In the early eighties,
competition from Wendy's

and other chains
is heating up.

And Burger King is
lagging behind market Goliath McDonald's.

KEVIN: Burger King had
to gain a foothold,

a toehold against the
juggernaut that was Ronald McDonald.

ADAM: The hamburger is
the national sandwich,

so to be the best, to
have the best hamburger,

to have the most
popular hamburger, is the holy grail.

NARRATOR: So, in 1982,
Burger King kicks off

what became known as the
Battle of the Burgers.

And in true eighties
fashion, they take no prisoners.

BRIAN: McDonald's and
Burger King were always sort of the Marvel

and DC of their
generation when it came to fast food.

NARRATOR: Burger King's
weapon of mass digestion? The Whopper.

MALE: Burger King's new
ad campaign involves the claim

that consumers
prefer the Whopper over the Big Mac.

The fast food
battle rages on.

NARRATOR: Burger King's
provocative claims

become a whopping big deal.

They enlist a young Elisabeth Shue
in their advertising campaign.

FEMALE: All you do is buy
one Whopper and say:

COUPLE: The Whopper beats the Big Mac.

FEMALE: Just say that
and get your second Whopper free.

REGINALD: I remember
when I went, it was like loads

of poor black folks going,
the Whopper beats the Big Mac. (Laughs)

The Whopper beats
the Big Mac.

And eventually some dudes
would get to the counter

and they'd be like, hey man, you know
this (bleep) I ain't saying that,

just give me my
Whopper. (Laughs)

STEVE: We had
people lined up out in the streets.

We had groups of
teenagers coming in singing it.

We had, that weekend alone,
10 million people mouthing our claim.

NARRATOR: McDonald's
is less than pleased.

They bite back by suing, and Burger King
agrees to shelve its campaign.

But a year later, Burger
King's at it again.

This time using the Whopper
to trash McDonald's cooking methods.

MALE: Burger King
presents broiling versus frying.

FEMALE: At this time,
Burger King would like to suggest

that everybody from
McDonald's please leave the room.

Now, the rest
of you ready?

ROBERT: And they said,
oh our burgers are flame-broiled,

you know, and the implication was,
oh, if you go to McDonald's,

your burgers are sitting
in a puddle of grease.

REGINALD: We ain't like these other
people that use a frying pan. No.

NARRATOR: Now imitation
is the sincerest form of fast food,

and in 1984, McDonald's
concocts the ultimate Whopper stopper,

spending $100 million
on an ad campaign,

featuring a pre-Seinfeld
Jason Alexander.

It launches its own
version of the Whopper.

JASON: Hey, you say you're getting tired
of lettuce and tomato hamburgers

in this town that
don't quite make it?

ALL: Yeah!

JASON: The McDLT.

ADAM: McDonald's
separated the hot elements of the burger

and the cold elements
of the burger

in a double wide
Styrofoam container,

just the ultimate eff
you to the environment.

JASON: Could be the best tasting lettuce
and tomato hamburger ever.

ALL: (Singing) New McDLT.

NARRATOR: But under pressure
from environmentalists

and a growing awareness of
the hazards of Styrofoam,

McDonald's consigns this
double wide McMissfire

to the trash bin of history.

Despite fighting off rivals, Burger King
never quite steals

the burger crown.

But their scorched earth
tactics in the burger

wars boost sales by
a whopping 15 percent.

It seals their position as one of
the true giants of the burger world..

ROB: Size isn't everything.

Well I think if we're
being completely honest, we know it helps.

Especially when
it comes to soda.

Fill a mega sized
container with mass quantities of sugar

and, well, you've got
our number two.

ELLEN: Why on earth would
anybody want this much soda

when they could have
this much soda?

NARRATOR: In the late
1970s, 7-Eleven is everywhere,

with over 6000 stores worldwide.

Sales of soda and their own
invention, the Slurpee,

are an important part
of its business.

MALE: Get your Big Gulp at 7-Eleven.

You drugstore cowboy, you.

NARRATOR: In 1976,
7-Eleven tries out a 32 ounce cup,

equivalent to over two
cans of regular soda.

Of course it's an
immediate success.

JON: The Big Gulp was an example of
supersizing a drink,

cause it was so cheap,
cause it's just corn syrup,

which is nothing
because of the low price of corn.

NARRATOR: But this is
only the beginning.

In the 1980s, government
legislation makes

the syrupy corn at the
heart of the Big Gulp,

already an inexpensive
ingredient, even cheaper.

ALVIN: In the 1980s, there was a focus
on farm subsidies in America.

Farmers would grow the
food, and then when it was sold on,

manufacturers could
produce something at such a low cost,

because it was
subsidised by the US government.

NARRATOR: And that subsidy
trickles down into 7-Eleven's soda sizes.

In 1983, 7-Eleven's cup
runneth over.

They introduce the 44
ounce Super Big Gulp.

KEVIN: The Big Gulp,
one of the best branded

pieces of merchandise
in advertising history.

It says exactly what it is.

It's a big gulp man,
it's a lot of liquid.

NARRATOR: The bigger
gulp is a big success,

and as bigger cups mean bigger profits,
7-Eleven goes even bigger,

introducing the 64-ounce
Double Gulp is 1988.

MALE: Now that's what
I call a large.

BRIAN: To put this in context,

there were no free
refills in the eighties.

Getting as much soda as
you could possibly carry was just heaven.

KATIE: Overnight,
it seemed like

kids were walking around with these
barrel sized drinks,

and the straw stuck
into their face,

like it was almost
an oxygen tank.

AMBER: We used to get
the biggest Big Gulp,

and my sister and I
used to share it.

We called them suicides,
so we would put literally

every single flavor
of soda or Slurpee

or whatever it was, in
the cup, in the Big Gulp.

ALVIN: It felt like
a bargain,

and that's at the heart of
a lot of American culture.

Size versus price.

NARRATOR: Once the cup
is out the bag, there's no going back.

Despite concerns that
the giant soda craze of the eighties

might be kicking off
an obesity crisis.

BLOOMBERG: This is becoming
a devastating public health issue.

It's an epidemic.

NARRATOR: An attempt
by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg

to ban the sale of sodas
over 16 ounces predictably falls flat.

PROTESTOR: I'm here to tell
Mayor Bloomberg

that if I want to drink a Big Gulp,

I'm gonna drink a Big Gulp.

ADAM: Having a huge
beverage that was cheap

and you could carry with
you wherever you went,

was kind of like a trophy
of American commercialism.

NARRATOR: But apparently America's thirst
for Big Gulps

is unquenchable.

BRIAN: It was a huge
deal to try to drink yourself sick.

MILLHOUSE: What's it
like Bart?

(brbrbr)

KEVIN: Americans
won't be happy at 7-Eleven until like

we're just opening
the trunk of our car

and just pumping liquid
right into it and being like, Car Gulp.

ROB: Gulp is right.
When we come back, our number one.

I mean, what possible trick
did these fast food

geniuses leave on the table
that we haven't gotten around to yet?

It's one where the
food takes a back seat.

DEE: It was like crackerjacks
to the next level.

CRISTELA: You would
have to try to collect them all,

and there was always
like that one that you couldn't get.

ROB: We've sampled the
menu from 10 to two,

but there can only
be one number one.

And now, that order
is ready for pick up.

Our panel has spoken, with a surprisingly
unanimous choice.

We've taken a Whopper
of a Big Gulp,

at the not so Lean
fast food Cuisines of the eighties,

and now it's time for
the main course.

Our number one eighties
fast food brought families together

and smiles to children's
faces everywhere.

NARRATOR: If there's
one fast food chain sure to bring

in the kids today,
it's McDonald's.

MEAT: If we had the
kids in the car

and we drove past a
McDonald's, that was it.

DEE: I was already a dad
by the mid-eighties

and we would have to go to
McDonald's all the time.

NARRATOR: But McDonald's
in the seventies isn't

quite the kid-friendly
zone it is today.

Then their menu was aimed
squarely at grown-ups.

ROBERT: The problem was that families
would come to fast food places,

you could get your kid
an ordinary cheeseburger

and maybe a small fries,

but there really wasn't
anything just for them.

DMC: And they're realising, we don't got
to speak to the adults no more,

let's speak to the kids
and we got them for life.

NARRATOR: In the late
seventies, the concept

of pester power is
gaining traction.

McDonald's charges adman
Bob Bernstein with the job

of convincing kids to
convince their parents to take them

to the golden arches.

Soon, Bob has a
breakfast brainwave.

BOB: I was watching my
oldest son Steve eat his breakfast cereal.

STEVE: I did what every
10 year old used to do back then,

I would put the cereal
box in front of me and

I would read that cereal
box over and over again.

BOB: And I'd ask him
if he'd like to read

the newspaper or
do his homework,

do something other
than read that box.

STEVE: I'd say no,
I'd just keep eating the cereal

and turning that same
box over and over again.

BOB: And then I thought
to myself, you know,

kids should have some kind of
fun or activity while they're eating.

And that's what we tried
to do with the Happy Meal.

FEMALE: Your kids will love
McDonald's Happy Meal.

It's a hamburger
or cheeseburger,

regular sized fries,
regular sized soft drink,

and a McDonaldland cookie sampler.

It's food and fun in a box.

NARRATOR: But a fast food
icon is not made overnight.

Initially McDonald's
tries out the Happy Meal

as a promotion in just
a handful of states.

BOB: It tested very well.
So, then it got to be challenged as

to whether it should
be a menu item.

NARRATOR: McDonald's execs
wisely decide to go for it,

and in 1979, the Happy
Meal is rolled out

on menus across
the country.

But it's not really
the food that catches kids' eyes.

LONI: And what made it
happy was you got your little burger,

you got your little
fries for the kids,

you either had milk or
some type of juice,

but it was the toy.
The toy.

CHRIS: McDonald's
loved that because

that's where pester
power came in.

Mommy, let's go to
McDonald's because I need this toy.

It was a brilliant marketing move.

BOB: Kids wanted a surprise, a toy

that they could get
out of the Happy Meal.

NARRATOR: In 1981,
advertising is deregulated,

commercials directed at
kids flood TV screens.

In another stroke of
marketing genius,

McDonald's starts toy
tie-ins with major movies and TV shows.

Pester power reaches
new heights.

LONI: At first it was like
a toy that was related

to like McDonald's, and
then it became fancy.

LARRY: In the eighties
there were amazing collections coming out

of the McDonald's
Happy Meal toy world.

DEE: It was like you
got a piece of food with the toy,

as opposed to getting
a toy with the food.

ADAM: As a kid, getting
a toy in a Happy Meal

was kind of a form of currency.

CRISTELA: Berenstein
Bears, I loved these.

This was actually a
really awesome cartoon.

STEVE: You could get
Star Wars collectibles.

I had to have them all.

CLAUDIA: I think my
favourite Happy Meal

of all time was the
My Little Pony one.

I remember going back and
having my mom negotiate

to try to exchange
the different, because I already

had that one, so I
needed the next one.

NARRATOR: The Happy
Meal is our number one for a reason.

It combines marketing genius,
convenience and a product that fills

a need that nobody knew
they had, until it was served up.

And to this day, our number
one still makes kids,

and its corporate
creator, smile.

CRISTELA: The Happy Meal
is remarkable.

It's a huge part of childhood.

It's Americana really.

ROBERT: It was enormously
influential because

once you had the
McDonald's Happy Meal,

then all of these other
restaurant chains are like,

we had better get one too.

KEVIN: One of the most
brilliant strokes of marketing genius.

Branding of the
highest order.

BOB: Yes, I'm very
proud of it.

I'm very proud of it.

ROB: Little do they know how much
I love McDonald's.