In his mind, the free market would decide what programming was entertainment and what was just another ad. Fowler summarily began cutting regulation after regulation for advertisement on children’s programming. Fowler was a fellow acolyte of Big Business, a firm believer of the dominance of market forces as a yardstick for quality in broadcasting. Ronald Reagan, infamous nemesis of corporate regulations, began gutting the FCC from the inside, starting with his appointment of Mark Fowler as FCC commissioner in 1981. Then along came the Gipper, and everything changed. But the road to MAC and Me is paved with more than Big Mac wrappers and creative bankruptcy it was just the most blatant instance of a trend toward children’s programming that focused less on education and storytelling and far more on getting kids hooked on brands and products. Thirty years later, MAC and Me has faded into obscurity as a cult curiosity, a cynical feature-length commercial for McDonald’s and Coca-Cola that represents the most egregious example of that particular commercial impulse. It graced theaters for a mere two weeks and grossed only $6 million however, it did win two Razzies for Worst New Star (Ronald McDonald, of course) and Worst Director. the Extra-Terrestrial with a hefty glob of product placement slathered across every frame like so much barbecue sauce over a McRib. Long before it became a running joke for every Conan appearance Paul Rudd has ever made, 1988’s MAC and Me was already infamous - a blatant, soulless, calculated rip-off of E.T.
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