Over the past several days, I've repeatedly seen a McDonald's commercial whose slogan is something like "Eat where the Olympians eat." I can't find a clip of it online (probably for the best), but the campaign essentially claims that if you eat at McDonald's you will be experiencing something akin to competing on the world stage against humanity's most outstanding athletes.
And you know, it's not really like that.
After reading Mark Bittman's column likening soda marketing to the tobacco campaigns of old, I can't help but read these McDonald's commercials (not to mention all the Coca-Cola advertising, etc) as deeply sinister.
Not that Olympians never eat junk food. I'm sure they do. But that experience shares only sponsorship with the Olympic games. Going sledding, shooting rifles, and wearing skin-colored mesh glitter-suits share much, much more. Just saying.
3 comments:
Every time I see that commercial I yell,
"OLYMPIANS DON'T EAT MCDONALD'S!!"
(I mean, maybe they do sometimes, but certainly not as frequently as the commercial suggests.)
Then my girlfriend chimes in,
"THE OLYMPIC COMMITTEE SHOULDN'T ALLOW MCDONALD'S TO SPONSOR THE GAMES!"
And I agree.
word.
On the contrary, this is actually very accurate marketing. After eating McDonald's, the act of walking from your booth to your car will be like competing against humanity's most outstanding athletes. Exhausting.
Instead of clutching a gold medal, though, you will be clutching your chest.
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