万花筒 Kaleidoscope 2007-06-22&23, 麦当劳寻求妈妈们的建议

The call of Ronald McDonald, a lot of kids would enjoy eating McDonald's for every meal, but their parents might not be too keen on that idea. And that's where the company's latest strategy has come from, using moms to improve the menu and bring in business. Here is CNBC's Phil LeBeau.

There is a coconut¹.

Shaking up its image, McDonald is turning to the probes. Six moms, from across the country, getting unprecedented² access behind the counter, in test kitchens, even storage coolers.

I liked it when the muffins were softer.

I am gonna play in the same box.

Guidder Mocarile, a mother of three from Pennsylvania, among four thousand who applied³ to be a McDonald's quality correspondents.

I wanna make sure that they are doing the best for my kids.

What about vegetables?

Marketing⁴ the moms is no accident with childhood obesity⁵ rates at an all time high. McDonald's and others are stressing healthier options.

Mom knows best, and we want her to feel better about her experience, and feel great about the food that she is feeding her kids.

Mc Donald's is not the first company to court mothers. In fact, KFC has a similar focus group. But increasingly, these companies are not only using mothers for feedback, but also to get the word out about their products.

That's my serve.

Nintendo use the grass-roots moms marketing campaign with the Wii Game system. Groups of moms were given the game for Wii Parties.

This is less about being scientific than it is about learning what inspires people.

Moms are definitely the home run for marketers if they figure out how to connect with them.

Mc Donald's moms will blog about their experiences throughout the summer.

Our kids are the ones that eat there. They are the ones that say what they do and do not like and they are also the ones that want the junk food.

So who better to come to than us if you wanna improve your quality and improve your product?

A mother's touch, one more ingredient in the recipe companies are using to cook up business.

Excellent.

Phil LeBeau, CNBC, Chicago.
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Serve: (Sports) To put (a ball or shuttlecock) in play, as in tennis, badminton, or jai alai.

1 coconut   

n.椰子

参考例句：

• The husk of this coconut is particularly strong.椰子的外壳很明显非常坚固。
• The falling coconut gave him a terrific bang on the head.那只掉下的椰子砰地击中他的脑袋。

2 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

3 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

4 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

5 obesity   

n.肥胖，肥大

参考例句：

• One effect of overeating may be obesity.吃得过多能导致肥胖。
• Sugar and fat can more easily lead to obesity than some other foods.糖和脂肪比其他食物更容易导致肥胖。