The $1 Billion McDonald‘s Box
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This is the story of McDonald’s iconic Styrofoam burger box and how it became one of the most controversial pieces of fast-food packaging ever made.
Special thanks to Saabira Chaudhuri for her time and insights.
The autobiography Barefoot to Billionaire by Jon M. Huntsman Sr. served as a key source for telling his story in this video.
Corrections:
21:56: The logo shown for the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) is incorrect. The correct EDF logo can be found on their official website: https://www.edf.org/where-we-work
Sources:
Source Vault: https://fern.deals/source-vault (made with Lovable)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/12Gq41d_ASOkciBzi7iLByW8iSFrGgRsdyOXfDPQKnDg/edit?usp=sharing
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Doing the Twist – OTE
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Tempting Decisions – Wendel Scherer
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Pattern View – David Celeste
Impossible Theory – Rachel Sandy
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Divisive Alliance – Jon Björk
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@fern-tv
August 30, 2026 at 1:23 am
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@AlvinharrisonMuwandongo
August 30, 2026 at 1:23 am
😢
@3154RJ
August 30, 2026 at 1:23 am
Ha! Main reason that I quit going to McDonald's. —-Big box with a miniscule amount of food. Take your box and stick and stick it.
@thenameisdoc1
August 30, 2026 at 1:23 am
17:24 "now they're breeding down mcdonalds neck harder than ever"?
@kasperkarbe875
August 30, 2026 at 1:23 am
Bro we are just reaching out to get denied for the clip:)
@TarikZakariaBENMERAR-h8r
August 30, 2026 at 1:23 am
EDF logo is wrong (EDF one used is the french electrical company)
@Stafettenbremse
August 30, 2026 at 1:23 am
Please make a Video why you became a private equity
@2BoredGamer
August 30, 2026 at 1:23 am
w video
@FillyDupia
August 30, 2026 at 1:23 am
I see one of your video talking about nacro submarine used for drug trafficking and I think its a very good video, but I remembered there something called nacro tank, and I think it's gonna be a very cool video talking about a vehicle used in combat by cartels
@timotheyszczepanski6644
August 30, 2026 at 1:23 am
Awesome video as always; I will point out that the logo for EDF in the video is actually the one of Électricité de France, the main electricity provider in France, so a bit offsides haha
@AlishaMckechnie
August 30, 2026 at 1:23 am
hey, just want to mention you used the wrong logo for EDF! there’s the energy company (Électricité de France) which is the logo you used which differs from the Environmental Defense Fund logo.
@Containerrd
August 30, 2026 at 1:23 am
Crazy how the biggest cultural export of the US is McDonald's
@reggiebenes2916
August 30, 2026 at 1:23 am
McDonald's food was drastically better when packaged in polystyrene. The food was still disgusting to eat, but it wasn't quite as atrociously disgusting as McDonald's food is today.
@TharpaGyeltshen
August 30, 2026 at 1:23 am
Yarnhub and fern story telling is the best👏
@KY_Techno
August 30, 2026 at 1:23 am
Did we run out of ideas or sum??
@TheJackfrost88
August 30, 2026 at 1:23 am
sure packaging produces litter , and the wars are super environmental friendly …
@not_vane
August 30, 2026 at 1:23 am
fern is slowly becoming veritasium
@FlushFit
August 30, 2026 at 1:23 am
The AI production of this video is noticeable, and really unfortunate. It was glaring to me in the typesetting of rendered printed books. The subject mater and narrative would be really valuable to share with my design students, but the production is so distasteful and distracting that I believe they wouldn't watch it. What a waste.
@weebfourg
August 30, 2026 at 1:23 am
yeah so the logo at 21:57 is not for the Environmental Defense Fund, that is the logo for EDF Energy e.g Électricité de France.
@swiftietaylorsver
August 30, 2026 at 1:23 am
don't know if ur reading this or not but the reason this video didn't work much was because no one cares about mcd this much
@asandax6
August 30, 2026 at 1:23 am
I am no businessman but why is McDonald's going against reusable items? Wouldn't this lower the amount of having to buy items and in the long run save them money? Isn't this why normal restaurants use it anyways because they don't have to constantly rebuy cutlery?
@coolerfern
August 30, 2026 at 1:23 am
Not bad fern, not bad
@Marazo4
August 30, 2026 at 1:23 am
when did fern videos become boring :((
@kelseyschow5335
August 30, 2026 at 1:23 am
Thank you for not using AI 🙂
@bambousdelaforet16
August 30, 2026 at 1:23 am
It’s the wrong edf logo you put the énergie de France one lol
@Gramercy_Stiffs
August 30, 2026 at 1:23 am
How no one who invented all this packaging ever asked "but where will it all go", is one of the greatest human and environmental betrayals of our lifetime.
@jarrodneville7715
August 30, 2026 at 1:23 am
Bruh how do you guys improve the detail so much every time
@chefvylol3112
August 30, 2026 at 1:23 am
Great video again!
(P.S. Can you do a Hinterkaifeck case pls. Greeting from Thailand.)
@ASAPJermz
August 30, 2026 at 1:23 am
12:09 😂 people were confused when the labels were on the openings & it’s literally only 2 options..
@MassDynamic
August 30, 2026 at 1:23 am
bruh…so much plastic trash from that era that is STILL in the system and in the environment. what a catastrophe. all that forever trash from just one company. if mcdonalds doesnt want to invest in reusing cutlery, cups and plates, then they should at least invest into packaging that bio-degrades (if they are hellbent on throw-away packaging and cutlery). afaik, there's a bunch of companies that make biodegradable packaging, cutlery, and cups/plates.
@mmacgearailt
August 30, 2026 at 1:23 am
Please do a video on the most recent Nepal floods that occurred on 26 August 2026. Hopefully you're interested enough to do one!
@cruzin2554
August 30, 2026 at 1:23 am
Thanks for changing the thumbnail, the last one was not it
@villeneuveluc5540
August 30, 2026 at 1:23 am
The EDF you showed (the logo) in video is "Energie De France" French state electricity productor&distributor
@kat-cg6dy
August 30, 2026 at 1:23 am
15:12 i swear to god hearing 1987 activates a sleeper agent in me every single fucking time
@TheLordTwinkie
August 30, 2026 at 1:23 am
Running out of landfill space was a myth as well as recycling being bs
@eyesore-v9y
August 30, 2026 at 1:23 am
Private equity cookin good lately
@grifftown
August 30, 2026 at 1:23 am
first time I've seen those styrofoam boxes lol
Comments are closed.