McDonald's has compiled a comprehensive 515-page dossier on one of its loyalty program members, detailing past purchases and predicting future spending habits. Reece Rogers, a journalist for Wired, uncovered the extensive digital profile after requesting the personal data the fast-food company had stored about him.
The report, described as "Minority Report"-style, included predictions about Rogers' future behavior, such as visiting McDonald's 2.16 times over the next six weeks and spending an average of $13.49 per order, totaling an estimated $29.15 during that period.
According to the dossier, a Large Diet Coke was identified as Rogers' most frequently ordered item, followed by a Spicy Snack Wrap and The Grinch McShaker Fry Large. His eating habits were categorized into specific behavioral segments like "Food-Led Afternoon Snack" and "On the Go Lunch in a Rush." The profile also assigned Rogers a "Customer Attrition Likelihood" of zero, indicating a low probability of him ceasing to be a customer.
The file contained a detailed history of Rogers' transactions, offers he received from McDonald's, and loyalty points accumulated, including his participation in the chain's Monopoly sweepstakes. Despite understanding that some data tracking would occur upon joining the loyalty program, Rogers expressed surprise at the extent to which information was aggregated and used in algorithms to forecast future purchases.
A McDonald's spokesperson told Wired that the company takes data privacy and security seriously and uses information like past purchases to personalize the customer experience with relevant deals and offers. The spokesperson also stated that customers have privacy choices available as outlined in their privacy statement.
Rogers has since requested that McDonald's delete the stored information and has vowed to stop patronizing the chain to test the accuracy of its algorithm. Experts note that such data collection and predictive profiling are indicative of a broader trend in individualized marketing. Stephanie T. Nguyen, a senior fellow at Columbia Law School, pointed out that McDonald's privacy policy indicates the company may monitor geolocation, browsing history, app interactions, and social media activity, using this data to train AI models and build customer profiles. She highlighted McDonald's claims of predicting consumer characteristics, psychological trends, predispositions, behavior, attitudes, and even intelligence abilities.
Joseph Turow, a professor emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communication, described the dossier as "AI going crazy" and emblematic of "extreme personalization," where companies strive to create highly individualized customer relationships, often without consumers fully understanding the scope of behind-the-scenes profiling. Turow emphasized that this practice is not isolated to McDonald's but represents a global shift in retail marketing.