The sun never sets on the golden arches. These gleaming symbols of the iconic fast food giant, McDonald's, can be found scattered across the surface of the earth. They seem to have spread even further than the standards of ancient Rome, the cross of Christianity or the flag of imperial Britain. McDonald's is so ubiquitous that the film-maker Morgan Spurlock found that most children had difficulty recognizing the United States president and Jesus Christ, but they could instantly recognize Ronald McDonald. In the course of becoming the corporate power that it is today, McDonald's has transformed people's lives around the world in a way that emperors and governments have only dreamed of (Schlosser, 2002). It might be argued that it has swept away thousands of small businesses throughout the world and replaced them with chain stores; that it has applied the standardized techniques of mass manufacture to the job of cooking food and serving people; that it has systematically rolled back the rights of workers; that it has hastened the introduction of monoculture factory farming; that it has made fatty fast food a staple diet for millions of people; that it has aided the rapid decline in people's ability to prepare even the most basic food for themselves; and that it has even changed the shape of our bodies by encouraging obesity throughout Western nations.