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When I started collecting Mcdonalds advertising and memorabilia I was amazed at how much stuff was thrown away during any of the promotions and finally at the end when the next promotion was about to start. I think they call it 'built in obsolescence'. I realised that if I was to collect this stuff I needed to be there when it was thrown away and using my charm and natural predisposition for scrounging, I infiltrated the system. I made friends with managers and gained their trust and confidence and they kept me in the loop when anything was being disposed of and kept it for me to collect. I was surprised that the staff didn't try to keep it themselves but for the most part they didn't seem to be interested, perhaps familiarity made it less appealing. They saw it every day and had the job of putting it up and taking it down again, so it became a bit like Christmas decorations,nice for a while but eventually it is time to move on to whatever followed on. I would get phone calls about things I could collect before it had to go in the skip, and of course I would call in as soon as possible to prevent that happening. I was well known for my eccentric obsession and they humoured me and I in turn let them. For some reason they didn't see it as I did, and thought I was mad? I think for a while the obsessions were a bit over the top but I did get a lot of stuff that was destined for recycling and the shredder. I suppose my obsession lasted about 8-10 years approximately 1991 to 2000'ish. I did sell some of my spare stuff on Ebay and as well as the restaurants giving me stuff I also visited car boot sales and picked up the toys and things that were on offer. It was an interesting period for collecting for me and McDonalds advertising was just a part of what I was into. I think I was attracted by the way they presented each promotion; a splash of colourful images of the toys on offer, done in such a way that children (and some adults!!) were drawn to it and had to have it while it was available or it would be gone. They never repeated a promotion in the same way twice so were guaranteed repeat custom from those who didn't want to miss out on anything, a brilliant ploy and it worked a treat.