The anchors aren’t even supposed to acknowledge them, McDonald’s reps explain. That’s part of their genius, my little lambs! They get into your mind without you knowing it. So they just sit there, two logo-emblazoned plastic cups, percolating into the psyche. Made-to-scale models that weigh something like seven pounds each — refreshing, and bottom-line boosting!

My current fantasy is that I'm booked as a guest on this "news" show. In the middle of my segment, I casually reach over to the fake coffee as if thinking that it was placed there for me. I raise it to my lips and start to suck on the straw. I suspect the looks on the faces of the hosts would be priceless.

I guess they have to use fake stuff cos the real stuff looks so unappetising?

yes, I'd like a plastic coffee, an egg McHockey Puck, and a small toy to put on my desk to irritate co-workers. To go.

Boooo!

Nothing is sacred anymore.

Nothing says "professional journalism" like "props indicating your news team buys cheap iced coffee"...

@outeast -- They have to use fake because otherwise the cold iced coffee would sweat (condensation) and leave a big wet puddle. By the end of the show all the ice cubes would be gone and it would look like a latte. (Not to mention, the news team might actually drink it, if it were real, and then you'd have a half-empty cheap iced coffee -- ultra-professional journalism!)

I bet the logo shows up better with a full cup, too. To be fair, I have had their iced coffee & it is surprisingly okay. My favorite coffee over all is from Dunkin Donuts...including their iced coffee, and hot chocolate.

My mom makes the best iced coffee ever, but in a pinch, without my mom or a DD around, I will do a McDonald's iced coffee. It's pretty cheap, too. Not like a $5 cup of Charbucks.

It seems like one of those mean practical jokes, like the candies with soap centers. You put people under really hot lights, and then right in front of them you put a realistic-looking but undrinkable frosty cold beverage. They could hardly bring their own drinks along, either, or the viewers would wonder why the TV people were drinking cans of Fresca instead of those nice iced coffees beside their hands.

But WHY would plastic scale models of plastic cups of coffee weigh seven pounds each???
Did they put lead weights in the bottoms to prevent the newscasters acidentally turning them over?

As that said "Product placement has reached the TV news." Its only about advertisement. every pixel of screen where a viewer sight may reach is salable from advertiser's point of view. Now it has to make looking professional is what marketing team is working for.

man....you dont think when your watching it do you...

My mom makes the best iced coffee ever, but in a pinch, without my mom or a DD around, I will do a McDonald's iced coffee. It's pretty cheap, too. Not like a $5 cup of Charbucks.