Corpus Linguistics
Prompt
Consider how the prominence of “McDonald’s” and “Wendy’s” has changed over time and what this might suggest about their impact on American culture. You may alternatively compare other restaurants or stores.
Wendy's
1990-2019
The graph above shows the occurence of Wendy’s in the COCA system. As you can see, there are peaks in the year ranges 1990-1994 and 2005-2009 with equal declines after each peak. For the decline following the 1990-1994 peak, this could be a result of a push in America to healthier diets, which resulted in less instances of fast food in media. Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy’s, also died in 2002, and the company struggled with advertizing following that event, which would lead to this decline. Furthermore, the spike in 2005-2009 could be a result of the recession in 2008 that likely forced many people to eat more fast food to save money.
McDonald's
1990-2019
The graph above shows the occurence of McDonald’s in the COCA. In comparison to Wendy’s, McDonald’s appears far more frequntly, which is likely a natural result of the company being the larger of the two. However, what is worth noting is how McDonald’s peaks and drops are nearly opposite the peaks and drops of Wendy’s, however, the gains from 1990-1994 to 2000-2004 are minimal. These opposite peaks and drops could be a result of competition; however, another possible explanation could be that McDonald’s retained its popularity during the dieting times of the 1990s because kids still wanted McDonald’s. Additionally, the jump in 2015-2019 could be a result of a change in marketing and a mass modern renovation of all restraunts that began around this time.