The McDonald’s advertising account executives are probably not aiming their commercials at me. I can’t remember the last time I ate McDonalds (possibly because it would have followed an irresponsible amount of drinking) and I can’t imagine ever being drunk enough to do that again (not because I’ve reached a higher plane of maturity, but because I tend to do my irresponsible drinking closer to home, far from the dubious temptations of a quick’n'dirty cheeseburger). There’s really nothing that could entice me to sample their product, so I am not surprised that the latest campaign leaves me cold. What I am surprised by is how confused I am by the ad. Perhaps I have inflated expectations of my levels of insight, but I had expected that McDonalds ads were too stupid for me, not that I was too stupid for them.
Here’s the ad that has me so befuddled:
After I’d seen it the first time, I was gobsmacked. Stunned by the relentless pandering to the fragile male ego with the (professional, capable, career-woman) wife representing the (gorgeous, debonair, flirtatious) Simon as balding and spreading to her (balding, spreading) husband who smirks in his (misguided) confidence that he is a true prize. In “ad break” viewing, it seems as though the wife is perhaps deliberately bringing up her Simon story as a means of stoking her husband’s ego. She knows that he’s insecure, and that he remembers her dashing teenage suitor, and thinks that this re-telling of the reunion scene will banish the insecurities he’s carried throughout their marriage.
Then I watched it more closely.
Now, when she started on her little tale (“You’ll never guess who I ran into today!”) I think she had every intention of telling it like it was. Then, she registers his tone when he responds snarkily “yeah, I remember Simon from school” (notice the intake of breath, and her changed expression). Up until then, she had no idea of his simmering resentment of Simon, but now it’s clear. She decides – in the interests of protecting his delicate self-esteem – to reimagine the whole scene in a way designed to placate him.
Who is McDonald’s selling to with this? Surely not the “wives”, who might recognise this awful charade and would therefore be unlikely to respond positively to it being shown up in such a harsh light. Surely not the “husbands” who might start to question their wives’ sincerity whenever they are favourably compared with an unarguably handsome man. And it’s not the kids, who are embarrassed – and, quite possibly, terrified – by the revelation that their dad could be a similarly sad, pathetic, deluded little man.
Best possible scenario? The agency is deliberately white-anting Mickey Ds.
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I think the advertising “gurus” thought this was comedic, that we were going to have a laugh at the husband’s expense.
Thank you for writing a blog post on this dreadful, out of touch ad. It just amazes me how out of touch and sexist ad execs are. Maybe they are all acting out their inner Mad Men fantasy.
Maybe the ad execs were being tongue in cheek, and maybe the wife is now having to comfort eat after realising she picked the wrong guy. Because if she had gone with Simon she wouldn’t be reduced to eating a Big Mac for dinner it would at least be take away thai if not some delectable sushi.
By the looks on the kids faces even they realise what a knob their father is.
If she had had to stop to get the family pack because she had been having a liaison with spunky Simon, now that would have been good marketing.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by realityraver, Injera Rufus. Injera Rufus said: @suziwong66 @bookshopaddict @realityraver Finally got my Maccas ad post up: http://bit.ly/aRTNTd [...]
You know, not until I read this did I realise what this ad was about.
I hadn’t actually seen this ad but heard the tail end of one of the McD’s family pack ads that said something like ‘Give mum the night off’ which is SO irritating and wrong on SO many levels I can’t even be bothered to go into them all. Then I saw the ad you linked to and now I’m even MORE cross! For the exact same reasons you listed – plus imagine being married to a person who is so hopeless and childlike that his wife has to wipe mayonnaise off his face. I do so hope your subversive ad agency theory is correct though!
Raver – I like your idea that she had to resort to McDs because she was too busy conducting her affair with Simon to get dinner ready! And I hadn’t considered the prospect that she was “comfort eating” to deal with her disappointment at not having made the right choice. Even so, having McDs as her choice of comfort food is equally as depressing.
Reemski – I’m still not sure that I do know what this ad is about! Of course, I could be operating under an antiquated assumption that ads are designed to sell products… and advertising may have (must have, judging from this example) moved on.
Katya – Oh, the “give MUM the night off” is so rancid! I couldn’t even bear to discuss the mayo-wiping, because it was so sickening. Hopeless, childlike… and yet so smug.
[...] than obliging when it comes to posting them on YouTube. The fact that I’ve found both the “I’ve made the right choice” McDonald’s ad and this Hungry Jack’s one on the web leads me to suspect that the respective companies are [...]
i’ve been shouting at that ad (i always shout at the ones that annoy me) – sexist piece of crap. Like it’s not enough to be sexist to women, now we’re going to treat men like brainless bits of fluff with low self-esteem, useful as a second income, but without a brain in their (balding) little heads.
Sheila (@stinginthetail)´s last blog ..I Killed The Thing…
Have you seen the follow up ad, Sheila? It’s more of the sexism towards men, this time with the husband taking the narrator’s role, but talking up his gym exploits to the background video that shows him up as a fraud. As with this ad, I wasn’t sure that I hadn’t imagined it after I’d seen it, since it seemed altogether too awful to be real. I haven’t seen it again, but might have to YouTube it just to confirm that I didn’t dream it (and if I did, perhaps I should pitch it to McDs).