Just what do marketing agencies do these days, if companies are increasingly turning to regular folks to create their jingles and add campaigns? The latest to step into the user-generated content fray is McDonald's, which is reviving its classic jingle from 1974, "Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, on a sesame-seed bun."

The user part is to create a new version of the jingle -- using the same words, in the same order -- and post it on MySpace.com. They have received over 1,000 submissions so far, and you can vote on the top five, who are all men, interestingly enough.

The New York Times digs into the background of the ad and all the particulars of the campaign, including touching base with the original creator of the slogan, Keith Reinhard, who is "thrilled" that the jingle is being revived.

Nothing much is new under the sun in advertising, of course. McDonald's is touting this campaign as a major revival of the jingle for Big Mac's 40th anniversary, but it has revived it in the past for other commercial campaigns. Other products have also tried the user-generated concept. Doritos did it in a much bigger way during the Super Bowl last year.

I actually prefer when companies pull out old campaigns like this and re-run them as they were originally. It livens up the hyper-stylized marketing of today's TV ads and gives you a sense of perspective.

I was only a toddler when the first version of this McDonald's ad came out, but I certainly remember the slogan, and probably every other McDonald's commercial of my childhood. There was even a hand-slapping game that we used to play at camp to the tune of McDonald's food itmes (Big Mac, Filet of Fish, Quarter Pounder, French fries, icy coke, thick shake...does anyone remember the rest?). But I cannot tell you the gist of any recent advertising campaigns.

If you're up for a challenge, you could try out our Brand Slogans Quiz.

At this point, it's hard to imagine someone who hasn't at least heard about Super Size Me. Morgan Spurlock's 2004 video account of the physical effects of eating McDonald's for a month amazed and disturbed thousands of junk-food junkies who had apparently thought that extra large sugary sodas, greasy Big Macs and deep-fried potatoes were the basis of a healthy diet.

Four years later, Chris Coleson, of Quinton, Virginia, has offered an interesting response. In December of 2007, Coleson weighed 281 pounds. Convinced that he needed to lose weight, he decided that McDonald's was the place to do it. Over the next six months, he ate nothing but McDonald's food, filling up on salads, wraps, fruit, and apple dippers. In the process, he lost over a third of his body weight, slimming down to a comparatively skinny 195 pounds.

Personally, I haven't walked into a McDonald's in three or four years. To put it bluntly, I have a Big Mac problem and don't trust myself around the tantalizing demon burgers. For that matter, the scent of french fries exerts a strange power over my soul, and the apple pies, oh the apple pies...

While Coleson's weight loss is impressive, I'm particularly blown away by his self control!

Bruce Watson is a freelance writer, blogger, and all-around cheapskate. While he loves the Big Macs, a part of his soul belongs to the Big Dave's Deluxe. Wendy's, please, bring it back!

What's your American Dream? Seems today is a good day for thinking about the big picture of your place in the economy. Because if your version of living the high life is driving around in a big car, then your life is getting more expensive every day as the average price of gas hits $4 for the first time. USA Today's special on the American Dream getting squeezed finds people dealing with the painful effects of a bad economy in new ways every day. How have you fared? Are you better off now than five years ago?

Other news nuggets you need to know today:

McDonald's Pulls Tomatoes After 23 Sick
Apple Expected to Unveil New iPhone
IRS Battles with Billionaire Anschutz
Amazon Goes Down for About 2 Hours
Corn Soars to Record High, Set to Go Higher
Goody's Files for Chapter 11

Elsewhere on the Web:

Family Businesses Lead to Family Drama
Souring Economy Puts the Bite on Pet Owners
Beer Makers Turn Increasingly to Viral Ads
Boeing's 787 Dreamliner First Flight is on Schedule
Companies Offering Free Gas to Attract Business
Lenders Slash Prices to Dump Foreclosures
Hard to Find a Job, But not an Internship
Visa, Mastercard See Gold in Prepaid Cards

Fast food has been blamed for the plague of Dunlop disease in the U.S. ("My belly dunlop over my belt.") Certainly, a typical meal at McDonald's takes a lot of work to burn off. A Quarter-pounder with Cheese (in Europe, a Royal with Cheese), fries and a medium Coke contains 1,100 calories. The average person needs 1,800- 2,500 calories for an entire day to maintain consistent weight.

However, most chains now offer waistline-friendly selections. For example, McDonald's has compiled suggested menus that don't require you to eat leaves and twigs. These include-

Breakfast:
Sausage Burrito
12 oz. orange juice
440 calories
(For comparison, two glazed Krispy Kreme doughnuts have 400 calories)

Lunch:
4 pc. Chicken McNuggets w/ honey dipping sauce
Side salad with a half pack of Newman's Caesar dressing
Small Sprite
470 calories

Supper:
Cheeseburger
Apple dippers with low-fat caramel sauce
Small Diet Coke
400 calories

Certainly these menu selections aren't perfect; they are high in fat, sodium and cholesterol. However, for sedentary workers they make a lot more sense.

This post is part of a series about real-life signs we're in a recession.

The good news about the recession is that there are bargains to be had for the adventurous shopper. The bad news is that many people are not able to afford them.

Times are tough and the economy is slowing. The National Bureau of Economic Research has not officially pronounced that the U.S. is in a recession -- technically two consecutive quarters of negative Gross Domestic Product Growth. GDP rose 1.9 percent last year and is expected to decline in the first quarter by 0.1%, according to Morgan Stanley.

Yet some economists, including David Wyss of Standard & Poor's, argue that a recession is already in progress. He believes that the economy is half-way through the slowdown, which he expects to be mild as recessions go. "It's still going to hurt," he said in an interview. "Recessions always do."

Indeed, signs of a recession are all around us. People are doing without a full tank of gas. They are watching their pennies at the grocery store. They are learning to do without things that they thought, until recently, they could not do without -- including $10,000 summer camps. Many are watching their homes decrease in value at an alarming rate and foreclosures have hit records.

In WalletPop's Recession Watch series, bloggers documented some of the new trends brought about by the economic slowdown. For example, some young adults are moving in with their grandparents. Businesses of all sizes are merging to save money. Others, such as a karate dojo, are adding quirky new side businesses, such as selling balloons.

Here are some other additional signs of looming recession: