McDonalds and the Big Chicken Caper
Brand: McDonald’s
Execution: TV
Link: Click Here (link is to AdCritic, a pay site)
Rating: **
Reviewer: David
Description:
The spot opens with a man watching his friend gobble down a McDonald’s Premium Chicken Sandwich with some alarm. The music is forbidding. He says, “Man you keep eating those – you’re going to turn into a chicken.” The spot then follows the friend as goes home, keeps eatching McDonald’s chicken sandwiches, starts leaking feathers and eventually gets out of bed to reveal chicken feet. The spot ends with a black screen with “all-white breast meat Premium Chicken Sandwiches,” followed by the McDonald’s logo and the “I’m lovin’ it” tagline.
What Works:
This ad certainly gets our attention. It has roughly the same pacing, cinematography and scoring as an M. Night Shyamalan film. It is utterly unlike anything we’ve seen from McDonald’s before. It is a memorable spot.
What Doesn’t:
This spot has issues on several levels. First, it completely violates the brand character of McDonalds which is meant to be approachable and fun. This spot is scary and forbidding. Secondly, it misses the fundamental brand positioning for McDonalds – the place for kids of all ages. Every time McDonalds has aimed its advertising to adults it has misfired, most famously with the McLean Deluxe. McDonalds is a place for families, first and foremost. It is true that heavy-eating adult males are the most significant user group for McDonalds, but as this advertising blog has noted previously, these men come to McDonalds to recapture a connection to their childhood and adult advertising will not necessarily have the expected effect on this group.
What is McDonalds thinking? Even the basic selling proposition is flawed here. We are supposed to be more attracted to McDonalds Premium Chicken Sandwiches because they are addictive and might turn us into a chicken? McDonalds seems to have turned back to the Burger King school of advertising that believes that any talk about the brand is good – even if the talk is about how absurd the advertising has become. We are surprised that DDB Chicago is behind this brand disaster.
Branding Bottom Line:
Memo to McDonalds – please stop scaring our kids or we’re not coming back.
June 16th, 2006 at 9:57 am
What struck me most about the commercial was I thought I was watching a burger king commercial. I was shocked to see McDonald's logo at the end. It was pretty blatant where they got the idea for a chicken man from.
June 19th, 2006 at 6:12 am
I do not watch this ad now…it ffffreaks me out!
I can't stand to see the chicken legs drop at the end!
June 22nd, 2006 at 12:57 am
Anyone who does not agree with this promotional clip has gone completely out of their minds. It is just sad and totally rediculous to believe that someone could be scared of this commercial! Bottom line-it's funny, not just a little funny, it's very funny. That is why McD's went along with it in the first place. Heavy-eating adult males have been sold on McD's for years and do not need another Ronald McD commercial to continue thinking about their favorite combo. McD was right in advertising this to a new market of consumers, setting themselves apart from there competitors using humor-not idiotic, kindergarten guys in costume commercials.
June 22nd, 2006 at 9:47 pm
What struck me most about this commercial was in undeniability to keep the audience captivated by the long nosed chicken man. He acts as if he doesnt care that he is literally turning into a chicken, but he knows that he cant give up what means most to him in the world, so therefore he becomes what he has always hated and eats, apparently. So in conclusion to this statement, it would be fair to say that McDonalds chicken man obviously lost his virginity to a chicken, otherwise, why would he have chicken leggs? Riddle me that bastages…
June 29th, 2006 at 8:20 pm
i hate that commercial, i cannot stand it, everytime that it is on, i have to change the channel. this is so so bad, i stopped eating chicken or any other fast food. the guy that speaks first is so awful, take him off tv and the other one looks half dead. those ckicken legs at the end, oh my god, i puke. this commercial makes MCD's lose customers, not gain any. think about something else. "Man you keep eating those – you’re going to turn into a chicken" oouwwuwuuw sickening.
July 17th, 2006 at 10:32 pm
I think that anyone who does not like this commercial is a fool… a downright moron…. finally a commercial with humor, irony, and a dark yet sensible take on the avaricious nature of the american psyche… I have been involved in production on numerous commercials, and I praise McDonalds for their bravery in showing the public what we all see within ourselves… helpless chicken-loving addicts. Grade: A++.
July 20th, 2006 at 2:28 pm
Does anyone know who directed this spot?
October 5th, 2008 at 8:29 am
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS ON THE LOOSE AT MCDONALDS
Recently I made a valid complaint to McDonalds customer services dept. about McDonalds poor standards at thier Harben Parade branch at Swiss Cottage, London NW3. The complaint concerned slow service, abrasive attitudes, and matters about unacceptable hygeine standards.
The complaint was passed on to the store by customer services, following which the store's manager, Bakry, promptly banned me from the store. He did not deny that my complaint was valid, but was told that I was banned simply becauseI I had made the complaint in the first place. Their management team consists entirely of immigrants, having come here on dodgy visas and the like, and all of which in favour of my unjust ban, which shows how much we are now under the control of illegal immigrants.
Perhaps this is consistent with McDonalds training practices. It would appear that you have to accept their adverse practices without question or suffer the consequences, as I myself did.