If you own a company, you can handle marketing like everyone else. If, however, money is no object, you can pull off some pretty memorable marketing stunts. That’s exactly what McDonald’s did back in 1996 when it came up with the “McPlane.” The McPlane was a McDonnell-Douglas MD-83 that was converted to fit the McDonald’s iconic red and gold color scheme. The conversion included replacing the original seats with 161 seats in ketchup-red leather with the yellow “M” on the headrests. The burger giant teamed up with local tour operator Hotelplan to make family vacations even more memorable by turning the flying experience into something to look forward to, not just a means to an end. The menu onboard was inspired by the famous McDonald's menu, which included McNuggets, a variety of burgers, soda and milkshakes. Unfortunately, fries were not on the menu because they couldn't do any deep-frying in the air. Perhaps the strangest thing about the menu was that the food wasn't even McDonald's. All items on the menu were "custom made," so they would allow storing and serving at a later hour, with the goal of "recreating the McDonald's experience." How's that for a stunt?
