Was McDonald's Involved?

This video is blowing up on YouTube right now, in which an actress does a great job lampooning the way in which black women have been portrayed by fast food chains, particularly McDonald's. While I want to believe this is just one woman creating a nice resume piece that will likely land her more roles, something makes me cautious that it was that innocent. That something is the Big Mac featured in the final third of the four minute and twenty second video. It's perfect. It looks styled. And we've all seen the "what they advertise, what you get" photographs. I did one years ago for Wendy's Baconator. Besides the perfection of her meal, she makes an excellent pitch for a Big Mac and vanilla shake. Watching her eat it, you want your own.

And 4:20 seems a little too perfect as well, now that I think about it.

  

Saturated Street Scenes: Prague

I'm calling this one "Lo, I Am With You Always"

Across the Vltava River from downtown Prague, Czech Republic, (where there is no shortage of opportunities for western dining, including a TGIF's and nearly a dozen McDonald's) is a nice public park called Letenske Sady. It was in that park one beautiful day on an unknown date that the Google Street View camera came across the scene of an innocent childhood game amongst some girls.

Creepy lurking clown sold separately.

Click for the large

You can view the actual scene here.

And all of the Saturated Street Scenes are here.

Hot Liquid Hope

For those of us old enough to remember when coffee was just coffee, before Starbucks and other gourmet outlets turned it into an expensive, sugar-laden delicacy, there were two undisputed leaders in the quick java jolt: Dunkin' Donuts and McDonald's. They simply tasted the best. McDonald's coffee was always way too hot, but there was no confusing its fine taste with your average 7-11 cup. And Dunkin's was even better. (Recently I stopped at a turnpike rest stop and had the most unsatisfying cup of Dunkin' Donuts coffee I've ever set my lips to. It had apparently been sitting on the burner for a week and seriously damaged my view of Dunkin'.)

I attempted to quit all my addictions at once on Monday. It was a bad day. I made it until this morning, when I made myself a small cup of coffee. The difference in outlook was amazing. I went from "Life sucks and I want to go back to bed," to "I'm going to sell Dunkin' Donuts a new tagline and find a job!" It's a powerful drug. And it's legal!

So, here ya go, Dunkin'. (And Dunkin's agency.) You may use this so long as you give me a job. Same goes for any other coffee purveyor who wants to steal this. And it won't be hard to prove it's mine.

Maybe you tie it into a campaign whereby you offer a free cup to anyone who can prove they're on the hunt for work? (Yeah, that'd be cool; all sorts of derelicts and riff-raf standing in line at Dunkin'.) That way you turn yourself into the friend of the average Joe (HA! Joe! Get it? Nevermind.) who has been affected in these trying times.

McComedy Central

In this homepage screenshot of Comedy Central's site, I've highlighted in blue everything that is not about McDonald's. I suppose by midday the background image will be of lunch.

While this is a rather exaggerated example, this is how it's done, New York Times. I know you don't want to be this cheap and lowbrow, but you're never going to get people to pay for news online that they can find elsewhere for free, as Newsday's debacle should've told you.

Your Customers Wear Snuggies

Jack in the Box mocks the McDonald's crowd in this depiction of a couple of seniors awaiting the Death Panel as they describe their beloved Filet-o-Fish as "very dependable" and "soft." Nice job on the part of JIB to portray the fast-food giant as staid and boring. You're never going to beat McD's in sales, so why not just take a baseball bat to their creaky old knees and hit them where they're vulnerable?



McDonald's is just as guilty of this type of attack ad. The current radio campaign for their iced coffee directly mocks the Starbucks crowd as a bunch of trendy faux-Bohemians in need of an intervention to wake them from their cult-like devotion.

10 Year Time Travel

Wake up and smell the bullshit.

Mayonnaise is Looking for Fans on Facebook

Yes it is.

Donna Wood of Switzerland writes on Hellmann's wall:

"Hellmans is the best, I eat mayo with everything, so does my son and so does my mum, we are addicted!!! lol!

Dallas Edwards of Australia writes:

Oh my gosh! i just tried it tonight and there is no way in hell im going back to the other crap i've been eating!
YUMM!

Jonathan Trackwell of Los Angeles says simply:

I love you Hellmann's.

There is a group on Facebook that wants to get mayo into McDonald's in the UK.

Who knows how much of that is seeded by Hellmann's? I'm not sure it really matters anymore. The fact remains: it's a weird world out there for brands.

Hellmann's was used last night at my house. I may as well jump on the UGC bandwagon now.

supersize.

Bite Me

Caffeine Nation

Starbucks has been getting pressure in recent years from the likes of Dunkin' Donuts, who mock the elitist coffee culture that is the Seattle-based chain, and even by McDonald's, who will now add the cream for you if you want, and offer their own sweet and fatty iced caffeine beverage. McD's takes an even more direct stab at Starbucks with their website promoting McCafes in Starbucks' home turf of Western Washington, Unsnobbycoffee. And I don't know how many noticed, but in the recent Will Ferrell comedy Blades of Glory, 7-11 had a coffee product placement in one scene.

So Starbucks is now trying to lure the regular coffee people over to one of their ubiquitous stores, those of us who don't speak Starbucks and still prefer to define cup sizes in terms of small, medium and large. They're doing it by offering, of all things, REGULAR COFFEE. (Example ad below.)

Ain't gonna work. As a regular coffee drinker, (maybe a dash of half and half, or if we're out of that, a splash of milk) when I'm not at home near my trusty Senseo coffeemaker and want a coffee, I will sooner drive through a McDonald's or pull into a 7-11 before I will darken the door of the Church of Starbucks. Starbucks devotees are cult-like, and a visit to a Starbucks by a regular coffee drinker is at the least an uncomfortable experience, usually leaving the regular coffee drinker feeling as though they've caved, fallen victim to the hype, and paid way too much for something that is worth about 50 cents.

McDonald's Brings Peace to Middle East

Every year, 23% of Filet-O-Fish sandwich sales at McDonald's are purchased during Lent, when many Catholics abstain from meat.

Filet-O-Fish is also a hot seller among Jews and Muslims, according to the link above.

Thanks to Chris Houchens of Shotgun Marketing Blog for the fish story.

I'm Lovin it

via

Ditch the Dancers

If you're like me, you long ago trained your eye to avoid banners and pop-ups, finding the content you're after while trying to avoid the carnival barkers on the periphery. And so the banner ad makers decided to follow you around the page and scroll down with you - or they unfold some mini-site out of a Flash banner you accidentally rolled over. Saw this one today- a new twist as far as I know - using, of all things, Subtlety. Ghosted McD's ad doesn't become colorized until you roll over it. A nice touch of class for a usually classless art form. No dancing gay cowboys or anything like that. Found at OrlandoSentinel.com.

In Praise of Little Debbie

She doesn't get out much. Not a lot of TV spots for the Snack Girl out there, though I did find this one that ties Little Debbie to NASCAR. (The actor studied at the Crispin Glover School just prior to the shoot.) Who knew Little Debbie was into NASCAR?



The reason I like Little Debbie is that she hasn't changed. You'll never see her breakdancing in the streets like the Cheetos Cheetah, or trying to rap, skateboard, surf or any of the other stunts Ronald McDonald pulls off in an advertising year. I even saw Cap'n Crunch with a guitar once. Blasphemy.

Little Debbie just sits there and smiles, virtually unchanged since 1960. OK, once in while she has a smoke. But only when she's drinking.