The "Hugo"? What the heck is a Hugo?
The Hugo is McDonald's new drink size, available only in certain markets, the Hugo is 42 oz and when filled with regular soda weighs in at an impressive 410 calories.
It's priced as low as $0.89. A hell of a deal! But who needs that much soda? From the NYT:
"People, I believe, tend to drink more during the summer," said Danya Proud, a McDonald's spokeswoman. "People are out and about."That's a rediculous amount of soda, but what can you do? People want what they want. We just wonder if it would sell as well if it said "410 calories" on it.She said the Hugo was being offered because of customer demand, and so far, it has sold quite well. Ms. Proud cautioned about comparing the Hugo to McDonald's old Supersize menu.
"That's not what this is about," she said. "You have to put it in context with the rest of our menu."
Did McDonald's Give In to Temptation? [NYT]
(Photo:Noah Berger/NYT)
This has also caused all of the gas stations to combat with cheaper fountain drinks. Many times the Quik Trip stores and other gas stations here will have drinks ranging from .25 to .69 cents.
Mobil gas stations offer .25 20 oz fountain drink, coffee, or ICEE/Slurpee/whatever the day after the St. Louis Cardinals score 6 or more runs in a game. This is probably the second most popular drink special in STL.
]]>Just why is it McDonald's responsibility to ensure that people stick to a healthy diet? It's not like they put a gun to anyone's head and make them eat Big Macs.
Let's stop pretending that this is a public policy issue. People are responsible for their own decisions. If they choose to eat junk food, that's their problem.
It's no secret that regular soda is full of sugar, that a 42-oz drink has 3x the calories of a 14-oz., or that fast food is bad for your health. If people decide to eat at McDonald's anyway, hey, it's a free country. And if you don't like McDonald's, you have the inalienable right not to eat there.
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Remember folks, McDonald's hates minorities.
@nequam: My fault for quoting a shill site in the first place.
]]>@nequam: Ok, I'll admit that a website with an agenda is questionable, but they do cite several scientific papers on the subject. How about [www.mckinley.uiuc.edu] , a website from the McKinley Health Center at Urbana-Champaign?
"There is no evidence that caffeine in beverage form is dehydrating. Its diuretic effects are usually compensated for by the beverage's fluid content."
I'd think that this is doubly true for someone who sips at it all day while living a fairly sedentary lifestyle. This site also lists 300 mg (about 3 cups of coffee worth) as a moderate intake. 136.8 mg (and you're assuming the cup contains no ice, which is probably erroneous) just isn't that much. Again, caffeine and its diuretic/dehydrating effects should not be something to worry over, here. I'd be much more worried about the sugar content and overall calories.
]]>McDonald's offers new drink size that is equivalent to several cans of soda.
Do they plan these releases or what?
]]>For an extra 10 cents you can get a 42 oz soda on a Taco Bell combo meal (instead of the regular 32 oz). It's been that was for a while here in MI.
]]>FWIW, baseball statiums have sold a drink at least as big for a while in a "collector's cup" along with the promise of a free refill. On a hot day in bleacher seats, when your brain is not 100%, that sounds like a good deal. Of course, about 40% through you realize you can not finish this drink ever. Darn marketing.
]]>Ickypoopy beat me to it. I was going to say that the convenience store has been selling the Super Big Gulp for ages and that sucker is 44oz!
]]>42? Thats hugo? The most common sale at my local gas station is 44oz, they also have 64oz, but the latter just isn't easy to tote around.
42oz is less then a can of coke bigger then a 32oz drink, and is equal to 3.5 cans of coke.
Is that REALLY a LOT? Doesn't seem like it to me!
]]>hmmm... Sad
]]>@bbbici: The "Thin Elite" consists of the other end of the retard spectrum, where teenage girls have more ribs showing than an ethiopian child, and image-obsessed bitches dishonor the great taste of food by puking it back up. The only advantage the Thin have over Fatso's is at Super Paper Mario...
Somewhere inbetween fat and thin lies happiness, and the ability to eat french fries because you know you're going for a run later that night.
]]>Are you people suggesting that merely by selling a larger cup that people will drink more soda? Ameircans are by and large greedy for soda, I see people sitting in the restaurant getting their free refills, why not save them the short walk and give them a bigger cup? McD's isn't forcing anyone to buy this. My problem with McDonalds is not the size of the cup but rather the choice of drinks, where is the Green Tea, where is the vitamin water, where is the Gatorade? Can't they give us watery drinks such as these as a selection?
]]>What's wrong with the 42 ouncer? Nothing, especially at this good price. Get two straws and share with a friend! Or use only one straw if it's a really good friend.
]]>In L.A. , this 42 ounce soda sells for .69 cents.
While I think this is an obscene amount of soda, I was just a little pissed when I ordered a medium Diet Coke and was charged $1.79!
]]>i love this. the fatter and dumber the majority get, the more power the members of us 'thin elite' have.
]]>Any reason I shouldn't have? You didn't make any of the usual sarcastic marks to suggest you weren't. And it's something that a lot of people believe/repeat. Right up there with the 'you'll catch cold if you go outside with wet hair'.
]]>Drink Brawndo, the Thirst Mutilator. It has Electrolytes.
]]>:D
Also, you can buy your own soda maker at sodaclubusa.com and drink until you puke!
]]>And 5 times the caffeine of Coca Cola! You must have been FLYING!
]]>With a HANDLE? That is AWESOME!
]]>You are either A) Born with it, B) At risk of developing it, or C) Never gonna get it so stop worrying. Problem is, you know if you're (A), but the only way to tell if you are (B) or (C) is to actually develop a form of diabetes. The people in (B) who have the potential to become diabetic are no different than people who have the baldness gene or history of cancer in the family. It is something that if there is a family history of, you have the chance of having it, but it can skip you too. If it's NOT in the family history, you can STILL get it, but your odds are lower.
RE: The big cup, and why it is the next best thing to free porn...
Take my dayjob. I sit at a desk (with plenty of time to F' the dog on the Consumerist apparently), and don't really get to move around a lot. A nice big honkin cup 'o wakeup juice is just what is needed. And it being LESS than the price of the medium or large I normally get, Kupo!
Oh, and no, no Hugo in Canada. Or at least, not at my local clownstand.
]]>Seems like a much easier diet...I don't have to watch what I eat all day. Just drink 5 a day and I know my caloric intake is JUST RIGHT! Yay, McDonalds!
]]>Also 42 oz is small compare to the corner stores around here(south texas). Every once in a while they have a 64oz fountain drink for 99cents.
]]>Total drink caloric content? Maybe 5 cals due to the lemon juice.
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Why does McDonald's get criticized for everything? Go to a gas station, you'll see enormous cups for soda, and they have been offered for years. It's up to people to fill it with either diet soda or something without the calories (minute maid light lemonade is pretty good). Regarding the ingredients in diet soda, who knows what is worse, aspartame or HFCS? At least you don't get all the empty calories with diet soda.
]]>Sorry, wrong quote - should have been @Thain:
]]>@catskyfire: [www.firstendurance.com] would seem to disagree with you - "Depending on several factors, the diuretic effects caused by caffeine can be considered weak to negligible under normal caffeine consumption and for people without urinary tract problems." They quote a number of published scientific studies. I wouldn't worry too much.
]]>I think that it's a smart move to be more "health conscious" when it comes to food and stuff, but don't take away my supersize drink and fries! You can sit there and call me fat and unhealthy, but at the end of the day, I'm happy with how I am. I enjoyed a Big Mac with a whole bunch of fries and more soda than I need!
I KNOW I don't NEED that much soda, but I WANT that much soda! Excuse me for drinking a lot while I eat. If I only ate and drank what I needed, life would be boring. I'd be eating bread and water. I go to McDonalds because I want to eat that food. It's not like I have no choice of food otherwise, and I'd find it pretty hard to believe that anyone would find McDonalds being their only choice for a meal. That being said, I don't mind having a big tummy as long as I can enjoy my meals. If I cared about being fat, I'd work out.
]]>@mopar_man: @rockergal: When the commies took over in Russia they switched to metric. Are you some kinda commie? Metric = Un American. Next you'll be wanting the title changed to "1,715,440 joules Without Taking a Bite..."
"For the brochures for the US they should print the information in TSP/TBSP!"
Those are useless. Canadians, USians, Brits, Others, they all have different definitions of those.
@Murph1908: Yes! I drink a lot of pop (yeah, yeah, all my teeth are going to fall out, I know the consequences and I'm not going to sue anyone so leave me alone) but I ordered a medium from Wendy's last time I was there and the thing is MASSIVE. The value size is what the old small used to be.
]]>No, it doesn't. Diabetes is a medical condition wherein the body cannot either: A: Make the insulin to process the body's sugars (Type 1) or B: Handle the insulin being made (Type 2).
While sugared sodas can make diabetes worse, and certainly can exacerbate undiagnosed diabetes, it is not the direct cause. But the same problem can come of eating a lot of grains, potatoes, and corn. (Complex carbohydrates still become sugar to the body. To the body, sugar is sugar, whether refined cane, corn syrup, or a bag of carrots.)
]]>I work at a retail store and when I came back from lunch once at wendys a co worker and i debated which size drink I had received. I had gotten a medium, but she would not believe it was anything less than a large!
]]>I like the idea, myself. I tend to get a large drink and then (gasp) take it with me, and continue drinking it for awhile longer.
As for the name, I give them points for cleverness. The essence of 'huge' with a slight difference. As for it being named like a hurricane... I truly hope that just because natural disasters get names, that they don't become completely taboo to use. Especially a natural disaster that happened nearly 18 years ago.
]]>
You can order:
Large Drink (1.59) + Cheeseburger (1.39) = 2.98
or get twice as much everything, for cheaper:
Extra Large Drink (0.89) + Double Cheeseburger (0.99) = 1.88.
Go figure.
]]>Besides, the real benefit of the huge coke is that two people can split it: one person gets the huge meal, the other one gets a mac, and you've got a meal for two people.
@KIDGENIUS: Fountain sodas are usually watered down compared to the stuff you buy in the bottles. Though 410 still seems like a little.
6. Profit
]]>Naaah better not.
]]>Oh and honestly I don't see anything too wrong with this if... you take it and pour it into one of those insulated cups for the entire day. I know a lot of busdrivers and the like do that already.
I almost wish they did have this around here, I have no problem throwing soda out, and it would be the cheapest drink on the go.
]]>I really don't understand why people don't just drink diet soda...it takes about a week or maybe two to get used to it (cold turkey approach), and after that it fulfills your carbonated cravings without bloating you to mammoth proportions. I knew someone who dropped 60 lbs just by switching to diet with no other lifestyle changes (of course, they drank a lot of soda).
]]>they had these cups a while back in a small town where i went to college...they're massive. they dont even fit in your cupholders in the car. but then again, the gas stations such as race track and qt offer the same thing here in texas.
]]>Thinking the same thing..... Does that mean the drink is cursed with bad luck?
]]>@mopar_man:
I agree! I love the metric system.
Thanks for helping me relive those memories Mcdonalds!
]]>Is it possible to just order a cup of ice at McDonalds? A buck for a massive cup of gradually melting ice water isn't that bad if you're going to be out and about for the day. It'd beat bottled, anyway.
]]>For the brochures for the US they should print the information in TSP/TBSP!
Or....the US could just get with the rest of the world and use the metric system.
]]>@mopar_man: true, but regular soda is not just carbonated water and corn syrup ... I'm sure the extra negative effects of aspartame make the drink only marginally worse
]]>@JustPeteHere: yeah... LOST in that giant cup! Wait a minute, you may have solved the mystery of the show! The plane crashed inside the cup.
]]>You really never realize, even if you are looking at the "Nutritional Information" (and I think that is an oxymoron in regards to McDonald's) brochures at McDonald's what the actual sugar, fat and sodium contents are in the food you are eating. They show the information in grams and milligrams! Unless you are able to convert them to tablespoons and teaspoons in your head (or use a gram/teaspoon converter online) it almost impossible to know how much you are really eating. For the brochures for the US they should print the information in TSP/TBSP!
That way when yo drink the HUGO it might be helpful to realize you are getting 25 (or however much) teaspoons of sugar in that refreshing drink!
]]>I think if you naturally watch your calorie intake, you are going to know this huge cup of soda has a lot of calories and avoid it.
]]>Great, I love the large sized cups. Great for a long trip. Calories do not matter to me, since I only drink diet. Even the low calorie lemonade would be what? 40 caloires in that big cup?
]]>@VA_White:
In my english class, you only lost points for misspelling a word once, and as long as it was consistantly misspelled the same way, there were no more penalties.
What is the big deal? So they are selling large amounts of soda?
Its not like convenence sotres haven't been doing it for years. I remember AM/PM used to sell a 96oz *BUCKET* of soda. Yes, it was so big it came in a bucket, with a handle.
]]>I am a certified pop-a-holic. But even I am stunned by what's a 'large' and what's 'small' these days. I ordered a medium at Wendy's the other day, and it was what once was the extra-large. Portion sizes are, without a doubt, the source of the obesity problem. 400+ calories for a soda. Jeesh. I am all for personal choice and responsibility, but when the 24 ounce that made me change my ways is now the 'small,' and these 200-400 calorie sizes are the standards, it's easy to get your perspective messed up. Especially when you are a teen without the early frames of reference.
]]>What size glove does the woman in the picture wear? The cup really doesn't look that large
]]>
what's next? katrina fries, large enough to blow through the dams of your arterial walls? the andrew burger, heavy enough to topple a FEMA trailer! they could do a whole range of disasterously huge, disaster-named foods.
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Meg has a "rediculous" mental block when it comes to that word. She spells it wrong quite consistently.
They are advertising the huge McD's drink here for .69 (for a limited time).
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But my preference was the sweet stuff. That is until McDonald's posted their nutritional information on a chart on the wall, and I saw that a large Coke (24 oz at that time?) had over 200 calories. I switched to diet right then.
Oh, and it's spelled 'ridiculous'.
]]>This is not a bad size. IF, that is, 2/3 to 3/4 of that cup is filled with ice.
]]>Actually, wouldn't it be significantly less than 42oz of soda since it will be filed with ice? Is 410 calories pure soda, or including ice?
]]>The should put the nutritional information on the side of the cup. After all, the bottle of Coke at the convenience store has it. Why should McDonald's get off easy?
]]>The only things good at Rotten Ronnies are their fries and their orange drink. Gimme a Hugo fries to go with that and I'd die of happiness.
]]>Please don't think this gigantic soda has anything to do with their supersize menu? Are they kidding? Folks, this is about 1.25 liters of soda here... take your standard supermarket bottle (2 liters) and drink more than half of it in one sitting. That's what you have.
]]>Wait, what? Hugo?
It's a Supersize drink. Nice to see it back. Since I only drink non-sugar soda, calories aren't a concern for me here, so I missed being able to get a drink that size if I wanted one.
Coming soon, the Hugo fries. And then, you can Hugo-Size your meal!
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