This is the link to that strange and unsettling McDonald's ad. A lot of people were really upset by this. It's a perfect example of pathos gone wrong. Pathos as you may recall, is a way of persuasion by appealing to people's emotions. In the ad, they try to feign a sense of community by using certain signs to appeal the American public. These signs had things on them such as “We believe in you Crystal,” “We remember 9/11,” and even “Boston Strong,” referring to the Boston marathon bombing. Some shots show the restaurant and sign severely damaged or even underwater from floods. I can see what they were trying to do but they just failed horribly. I wonder which genius in the marketing department at McDonald’s came up with this and patted himself on the back for it. When using pathos it is incredibly important to know your audience, really when using any kind of technique to persuade it’s important to know your audience. McDonald’s seriously fell flat when it came to gauging how the American people would feel about seeing such things. This ad also showed how design is so crucial to persuading people and getting them to feel a certain way. This was very poorly designed and executed, therefore, people were not moved by it in the way that McDonald’s meant. They were moved, but to outrage and anger. Hopefully in the future they do a little bit more research about their audience so that they can avoid another blunder like this.
In our next portion of reading there is a bit about a 'funny' story involving engineers trying to get more women involved in their project, and the way they communicated wanting the women to help came out horribly wrong. That reminds me a lot of this story because the intentions were good but the lack of thorough planning completely alienated the audience. I think this McDonalds story illustrates well that you cannot get lazy and forget or skip certain steps of planning. I can see how in theory this ad was clever, but I believe they failed to test it on an audience similar to who they are targeting and that ended them in an awful situation.
ReplyDeleteI remember watching this advertisement on TV a few days ago. I think Mcdonald's tried to exploit tragedies (ex: 9/11) to enhance their reputation of caring about their community. The food they sell is probably one the most unhealthy things you can eat, but since they changed their sign a few times I'm supposed to be convinced that they care about their community? I agree with you, its a very bad advertisement.
ReplyDeleteLike Mr. Mecherle's Uncle Ben example, perhaps this commercial resonated with certain people. Is there anyone in the class who thinks that that this is a really good ad? Or even an okay ad?
ReplyDeleteTheir intentions were good, but the way they conveyed the message was not. Michael you are right, they did try to exploit major tragedies. That was not right at all. Personally I don't think this is a good advertisement. There are a million other ways they could've portrayed themselves as part of a community.
ReplyDeleteYes, it is clear McDonalds was using pathos to try to attract customers, and I think it was a good attempt. However, by only showing each sign for a fraction of a second, I think their message was lost. In fact, it almost made it seem as McDonalds was exploiting tragedies for the commercial. They could have done a better job if they only included one sign and one McDonalds per commercial, and they could've added more emotional and personal appeal.
ReplyDeleteI both agree and disagree that this ad was a misuse of pathos to demonstrate a message. The ad did use tragedies to show the McDonald's franchise a caring corporation by displaying the signs outside of these chain restaurants. By showing this commercial, it probably hoped to increase sales and profit through empathy. On the other hand, I believe this ad is also smart advertising because it did not directly show any of the products that McDonald's sells. It simply showed display signs of the different tragedies that occur throughout the world. In some respect this ad is no different from the commercials that show victimized dogs encouraging people to buy them from the shelter. These organizations use extreme cases to advocate a certain message, which is what McDonald's did.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your views on how misguided and poor the McDonald's ad was. Even though I understand the message they were trying to convey, it seemed almost disrespectful that they would bring up those issues in trying to advertise their food. Even though McDonald's may have been a part of many communities, it was not a focal point in contributing to the wellness of the community (no offense). When people think of disaster or problem relief, McDonald's is not necessarily the first company or person that comes to mind, and as a company they should have realized that before making the ad.
ReplyDeleteI personally don't have a problem with this McDonald's ad. I don't really understand what prompted them to create it, but I think "outrage" is a bit of an overreaction. I agree a little bit with Phil when he says they may have been exploiting tragedies, but I think it's important to note that not all of the signs had to do with tragedies. Many of them were celebratory. If people are interested, the ad says you can go online to learn more about the specific boards. In my opinion, most ads that are based so much on pathos will cause some controversy. To me, this seems like a typical situation where people go looking for trouble, just because they enjoy arguing for the sake of arguing. I'm sure a large corporation like McDonald's doesn't decide to run a commercial like this without weighing the pros and cons and running it by multiple people. Many companies will do whatever it takes to get business and advertising teams sometimes go to extremes. Although I can see both sides of the argument, I think people just need to take a breath and calm down. It's just a commercial.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Genevieve in that I don't necessarily have a problem with this ad. Although I understand why this ad could be perceived by some as having a negative connotation, I think McDonalds wanted to help keep in mind the people affected by these events in our history. In my opinion, these tragedies have nothing in common with buying a McDonalds happy meal but that doesn’t mean this ad is an “outrage.” No matter what McDonalds intentions were with this ad, it’s a controversial topic that is going to provoke disagreements.
ReplyDeleteMy opinion may be unpopular but I am perfectly ok with this ad. McDonalds is known for touchings hundreds of peoples lives through their Ronald Mcdonald House Charities. I did some research and they do some incredible stuff. Their motto is to "help families find strength in numbers through a network of local chapters" By the end of 2014, they will have 300 local chapters in 62 countries and regions around the world. They have raised more than 200 million dollars through donation boxes found in local chain restaurants. They have 305,000 volunteers and staff members, connections with medical communities around the world, partnerships with respected companies and generous donors. Their programs can be found in 89% of the world’s best children’s hospitals and every year, the charity claims to help nearly 9 million families stay together. These stats alone show that Mcdonalds does a ginormous amount of work in local communities so I feel like when they put up signs referencing their condolences to tragedies their not just giving some shoutout to get business, they actually do care about local communities and get involved in multiple ways. You can read all the stuff they do if you want at http://www.rmhc.org/what-we-do but I believe that to a lot families, Mcdonalds is more than just a fast food place. So I think the ad is more genuine than some people give it credit for.
ReplyDeleteThe McDonald's company was not wrong about creating the advertisement at all. Although it does seem strange that horrible events in America's past are being presented through a mere McDonald's ad. People could interpret the ad as just a way to gain public appeal in buying their products, but that is just a horrible way portraying such an advertisement. McDonalds is an American born Food Chain so I do not see why not to create an advertisement such as this. The company should at least have a donations box within the restaurant or present a donation program that the customers can join. The advertisement kinda reminds me of the humane society commercial with the sad looking pets. It's as if the shelter is not really doing anything to help the animals other than shelter and feed them. It looks like a horrible place and is very upsetting to watch. I guess that gets the donations rushing in, which it should, but still the commercial is very upsetting.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching the McDonald's ad and reading through the comments, I can understand why there are mixed emotions on whether or not there is anything wrong with this ad. In my opinion, the intent of this ad was to advertise and attract people to the nearest McDonald's. I think that the message was right, it was just an inappropriate time. However, the message wasn't insensitive or portrayed in a disrespectful way.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching the video, I can understand why people can find this to be offend. I am indifferent to the ad overall. McDonald is trying to provide some support to the community. I can not see how people view this ad as way to get people to buy more food.from Mcdonald.
ReplyDeleteAfter rewatching this ad and thinking about our talks in class, I appreciate what McDonalds is doing here. They are trying to give support and bring some happiness to their local communities. I think that they overestimate their standings in some communities though, especially larger communities. In a smaller community where there is only one McDonalds that everyone goes to then they may be a more integral part of the community but in a large community they are just kind of there. Therefore, I think that they should have done a better job tailoring their commercial to the larger communities, and not just the small ones.
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