McDonald's has for decades maintained an extensive advertising campaign. In addition to the usual media (television, radio, and newspaper), the company makes significant use of billboards and signage, sponsors sporting events ranging from Little League to the Olympic Games, and makes coolers of orange drink with their logo available for local events of all kinds. Nonetheless, television has always played a central role in the company's advertising strategy.
To date, McDonald's has used 23 different slogans in United States advertising, as well as a few other slogans for select countries and regions. At times, it has run into trouble with its campaigns.
There have been many McDonald'sadvertising campaigns and slogans over the years. The company is one of the most prevalent fast food advertisers. McDonald's Canada's corporate website states that the commercial campaigns have always focused on the "overall McDonald's experience", rather than just product.[3] The purpose of the image has always been "portraying warmth and a real slice of every day life."[4] Its TV ads, showing various people engaging in popular activities, usually reflect the season and time period. Finally, they have never in their advertising history used negative or comparison ads pertaining to any of their competitors; the ads have always focused only on McDonalds alone.
In 1996, the British adult comic magazine Viz accused McDonald's of plagiarizing the name and format of its longstanding Top Tips feature, in which readers offer sarcastic tips. McDonald's had created an advertising campaign of the same name, which suggested the Top Tips (and then the alternative — save money by going to McDonald's). Some of the similarities were almost word-for-word:
"Save a fortune on laundry bills. Give your dirty shirts to Oxfam. They will wash and iron them, and then you can buy them back for 50p." — Viz Top Tip, published May 1989.
"Save a fortune on laundry bills. Give your dirty shirts to a second-hand shop. They will wash and iron them, and then you can buy them back for 50p." — McDonald's advert, 1996.
The case was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum, which was donated to the charity Comic Relief. However, many Viz readers believed that the comic had given permission for their use, leading to Top Tips submissions such as: "Geordie magazine editors. Continue paying your mortgage and buying expensive train sets ... by simply licensing the Top Tips concept to a multinational burger corporation."
The banners from the ad campaign.
In 2003, a ruling by the UK Advertising Standards Authority determined that the corporation had acted in breach of the codes of practice in describing how its french fries were prepared.[5] A McDonald's print ad stated that "after selecting certain potatoes" "we peel them, slice them, fry them and that's it." It showed a picture of a potato in a McDonald's fries box. In fact the product was sliced, pre-fried, sometimes had dextrose added, was then frozen, shipped, and re-fried and then had salt added.
"I'd Hit It" banner ad controversy
I'd Hit It is the name of a McDonald's banner ad, part of the i'm lovin' it campaign. The phrase, which is slang for "I would have sex with him/her," proved controversial.
i'm lovin' it is an international branding campaign by McDonald's Corporation. It was created by Heye & Partner, a longtime McDonald's agency based in Unterhaching, Germany, near Munich, and a member of the DDB Worldwide Communications Group, Inc. It was the company's first global advertising campaign and was launched in Munich, Germany on September 2, 2003, under the German title ich liebe es. The English part of the campaign was launched on September 29, 2003 with the music of Tom Batoy and Franco Tortora (Mona Davis Music) and vocals by Justin Timberlake, in which the slogan appears. In 2007, after a public casting call which received 15,000 submissions, McDonald's selected 24 people to appear as part of the campaign.[6] Images of those chosen, who had submitted a story and digital photograph which "capture[d] ... themes of inspiration, passion and fun," appear on McDonald's paper bags and cups worldwide.
Good time, great taste (that's why this is our place) (1988)
There's nothing quite like a McDonald's (1980s)
You Deserve A Break Today (1989)
Food, folks and fun (1990)
McDonald's today (1991)
What you want is what you get (1992)
Do you believe in magic? (1993)
Have you had your break today? (1995)
My McDonald's (1997)
Did somebody say McDonald's? (1997)
McDonald's - It can happen (1999)
We love to see/make you smile (2000)
Put a smile on (2000)
Make every time a good time (2002)
Smile (2002)
I'm lovin' it (2003-present)
It's what I eat and what I do (2005, combined with 2003 slogan to make It's what I eat and what I do...I'm lovin' it.)
What we're made of (2008-present)
Slogans, mottoes and jingles
Jingles
Perhaps the best-known slogan was "You deserve a break today" (a song sometimes incorrectly attributed to a young Barry Manilow[8])in fact, written by jingle singer/songwriter Kenny Karen. In the accompanying TV commercial, there was almost no mention of food. Instead, the ad featured an all-male McDonald's cleaning crew, singing after-hours about their individual tasks, and emphasizing that "at McDonald's it's clean!" just before launching into the almost operatic chorus: "You deserve a break today / So get up and get away / To McDonald's!"
Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun
”
McDonald's menu song (1988)-
The McDonald's $1,000,000 Menu Song was an instant-win promotion created as part of an advertising campaign, which ran from 1988 to early 1989. As the name suggests, the song, which was a remake of Reunion's 1974 hit single "Life Is a Rock (But the Radio Rolled Me)", incorporates all of the items (at that time) on the McDonald's menu: sandwiches, other lunch/dinner items, breakfast items, dessert items, and drinks, in that order.
Flexi discs containing the song were attached to advertising sheets. On most versions of the recording, the singers were not able to recite the song perfectly from start to finish; when the singers made a mistake, the record was over. If the singer was able to complete the song, the record was a $1,000,000 instant winner.
80,000,000 records were distributed, and only one of them was a winner -- it is unknown whether the contest was ever resolved.[9]