I'm lovin' it!

So McDonalds. Not too long ago, I was fascinated by their protein platter. It was, I thought, the most blatant attempt to profit from the public's current demonization of carbs. Things have only gone downhill from there. Now McDonalds is offering a whole array of healthy choices, from salads to apple slices. I really have to doubt the effectiveness of this strategy; frankly, if you were really concerned about eating healthy, I don't think you would be at McDonalds in the first place, regardless of their new salads. Unless you were protesting or something. Yet on the their commercials, they feature slim people of vibrant health, scarfing down their burgers and fries as if they were some sort of youth elixirs. And this brings me to my main beef (heh) with McDonalds.

First off, I should say that I can't fault McDonalds for their success. Their low prices and pure value have earned them their obscenely high burger sales tally. Nor can I claim that I don't enjoy their food, because I do. Unlike their commercials. Which are just bad. You'd think a company of that size would have at least one person with the decency to shut down their most recent ad campaign. You probably know the one I'm talking about. It's clearly aimed at the hip 20somethings demographic, and features awful rap beats in the background with the unforgivable catchphrase I'm lovin' it!. As if leaving out the pronounciation of the 'g' will convince people under 30 that they do indeed love it. I've also seen a commercial targetting younger kids, informing them that they have the power to choose the contents of their happy meal. Of course, I suspect that the only reason any kid would end up with the apple slices instead of the fries would be if their parents chose for them. So what this promise of empowerment really means is that parents now have the option of forcing their kids to eat the apples instead of the fries.

Things weren't always this bad. The ironic thing in all of this is that the old McDonalds advertisements used to be so good. I'm talking about the days when Ronald freely roamed the air, accompanied by the likes of the Hamburglar. Now this guy could sell the burgers. If he didn't steal and eat them first, of course. His pure enthusiasm and gusto were infectious. Sure, some people claimed he was a bad example for kids, what with apparently being a convicted criminal and all, but I think charisma made up for that. And let's not forget Grimace, another pinnacle of McDonalds old advertising platform. I'm not quite sure what he was, but there was no doubt that he accurately portrayed the potential negative consequences of packing away too many burgers and fries. And they replace these food folks with a bunch of rap beats? I'm definitely not lovin' it. All the same, hope still exists for the future. I did see one McDonalds commercial with a line about MacGyver. Now if they could get Richard Dean Anderson on their commercials, explaining what you could invent with a medium coke and a quarter-pounder, my faith would be restored. And it shouldn't be too hard. I've heard Richard hasn't been too busy lately.

This is another quote that comes to me all the way from overseas. Apparently, the scourge of the rap beats has infiltrated even the Japanese market. Fortunately, my contact there was able to get the word out, and together maybe we can get through to McDonalds muddled marketting managers. But I'll tell you this: having such great quotes repeatedly sent to me? I'm lovin' it!.

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