here's the scene: two women are sitting in a bookstore cafe sipping coffee by a fire. think liberal arts grad students. not exactly mcdonald's bread and butter clientèle.
they break away from their NY Times and Dostoevsky and have an exchange similar to the following:
blond white girl: "Hey, so i heard mcdonald's makes lattes now."
jewish girl: "Well that's...that's...fantastic," she says, social consequences be damned.
and then they say things like i don't have to listen to jazz all day long! i can read gossip magazines again! i can watch reality tv! i don't really know how to speak french! i don't even know where paraguay is! what's paraguay?
And then the pitch: Try mcdonald's McCafe coffees. all the coffee, hold the attitude.
and i wonder aloud: who is Ronald McDonald appealing to with this ad?
possibility #1 - they are appealing to starbucks nation
maybe this commercial is on to something. maybe people across the country don't really like starbucks at all. maybe they're just trying to look cultured and intellectual. perhaps it will only take a few brave souls to stand up and break the chains of oppression that starbucks shackles us with. no more pretending. no more jazz or literature or notebooks. no more double roasted beans with italian names. no more! we can be ourselves. we CAN drink cheaper, less flavorful coffee at mcdonald's and chit-chat about non smart things. sweet.
maybe.
possibility #2 - they are appealing to wal-mart nation
assuming possibility #1 doesn't happen, then who else might this ad appeal to? might it be the very people who resent starbucks nation? people who see the starbuck elites as phony liberals and want nothing to do with them? people who revel in being quote-unquote less cultured than other's of us and will stake their superiority flag in the moral high ground of unpretentiousness?
leave it to mcdonald's to pick a culture fight in order to galvanize its base by uniting it against a different type of culture. no other restaurant chain is so self-conscious as to concern itself with the culture level of its customers (except maybe arby's). just advertise your product like burger king does. be proud of your cheap price and guilty pleasure appeal.
this is a classically political tactic, though. imitate your nemesis (hey, let's sell lattes like starbucks does!) and then destroy them for the very qualities that you admired and wanted to steal in the first place. this is like clinton or mccain killing obama on his message of hope and then ripping him off moments later (mccain: "i'm fired up and ready to go!" clinton: "yes we can!").
the final bit of crap here is that most people don't completely fit into one category. who doesn't go to both starbucks & mcdonald's from time to time? why do entities like mcdonald's and/or politicians always try to divide people against themselves in order to galvanize allegiances? i guess i just answered my own question there.
i can speak freely on these things since i'm impartial to the issue. i prefer dunkin' donuts.
8 comments:
to be honest, i am relieved that mcdonalds has targeted an audience that can ask these kinds of questions. research shows that they’ve targeted children for years. after all, they have the potential to be lifelong customers. playplaces are aplenty. they even created a “mcworld.” the add was right: it can happen and it has. thankfully, many of my friends have questioned this new campagn. why wouldn’t they? it doesn’t make sense.
i do believe that starbucks has a strong consumer base. i think that this is because of the same “mcproduct” idea. every peppermint latte i’ve ordered from starbucks has been equally enjoyable. they create a uniform experience, just like mcdonalds does. i am unsure of why mcdonalds feels the need to create a stereotype about another popular chain. this is especially startling because they are not a direct competition. who says “do you want mcdonalds or starbucks?” they certainly aren’t in the same ballpark.
i think your second theory is spot-on. i witnessed a similar “us against them” moment when 96.3 assured listeners they’d play all the hits, without the rap and r&b. i am unsure of what makes these public corporations draw a line in the sand. people can like both starbucks and mcdonalds. the french, jazz, and paraguay have nothing to do with coffee. these stereotypes are irrelevant. coffee houses have just as many idiots as fast food joints.
i am, however, happy for the person in charge of mcdonalds marketing. he’s been out of work since the whole “hip bill knapps” campaign. good for him.
-ber
and then there's this:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/91497
Your both over looking there $1 ice tea. Or has that been around for a while. Either way, I dont care.
i think the $1 iced tea is actually a forward thinking advertising move for micky D's. it's completely positive, the cup looks kind of cool, and for some reason it seems like a good deal. nonetheless, i've never bought one.
` LOL, ROTFL and other abbreviations.
` I have lived right next door to McDonaldses for the past few years (they keep following me!!) and I gotta say, I've never once been tempted to go in.
` And Starbucks? Forget it. They don't even do REAL fair trade. Liars!! (I learned about this in Anthropology class.)
` Of course, I live in Western Washington, so there's literally coffee kiosks across the street from one another all over the place - like, right outside my window?
` I also used to live in an apartment that had one in the back driveway!!
` But I don't bother with that crap. Instead, I just get Very Vanilla Silk (which tastes like a vanilla milkshake and is frequently on sale), drink a little of it, then add some chocolate syrup and instant coffee into the carton.
` Shake and voila! It's a cool, tasty and very lowfat coffee drink - and I drink it out of the carton because everybody uses up all the glasses and doesn't wash them!! Gr.
Good Article here:
http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2008/09/10/stirring_up_the_market/?page=full
There's nothing I love more than going to McDonald's and being greeted by "I hate my job, and I have no interest in serving you", and then sitting down to enjoy my meal or beverage with little children all around me, screaming and crying and being yelled at.
i enjoy everything the the McDonald's McCafe coffees except the goofy name
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