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An interesting ad from McDonalds

I was watching my usual regimen of football on Sunday, and noticed a McDonalds commercial that piqued my interest. The focus of the commercial wasn’t on the food, or on happy feelings after visiting Ronald — rather, the focus was on the employees.

It featured people in various uniforms from “respected” jobs — a doctor, a nurse, a policeman (if my memory serves me) — but each of their uniforms had a McDonald’s nametag. They later revealed that each of those people’s first jobs was working at McDonald’s. It concluded by asking you to show appreciation for the McDonald’s employee.

McDonald’s employees do have a bad rap; they’re often portrayed as being rude, uneducated, and poor. The term “McJob” isn’t a compliment. This spot aimed to try to ease the harshness of the usual portrayal.

I’m curious as to whether there was an incident that caused McDonald’s to decide to spend the money to make such a campaign; I can’t imagine the spot will help sell many Big Macs. Are they having trouble recruiting workers because of the stigma attached to working the drivethrough? I can’t say I’d want to work at McDonald’s, but it’s honest work. At least those people are trying to earn a living, rather than trying to live off handouts.

Mon September 26th, 2005 4:20 pm

Filed under Advertising & Marketing, Televsion

3 comments

  1. Mallory said:
    October 3rd, 2005 9:43 pm

    Are you saying welfare is handouts?

  2. Andrew said:
    October 4th, 2005 2:46 pm

    Some people need the boost from welfare to get on their feet. Other people just attach to the government and suck money out without trying to find a job.

    I’m not against welfare as a practice, but I am against those who abuse the system.

  3. Amit said:
    October 9th, 2005 6:24 am

    There was an actual incident then precipitated this commercial. Recently the oxford english dictionary (although I’m not sure if it was this specific dictionary) added the word “McJob” to their dictionary. This obviously caused McDonalds a lot of grief, so they have been on a PR campaign. I think they are right in doing so.

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