I'm not Lov'n It

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBuKuA9nHsw

In the following commercial, McDonalds depicts a scene in which a father and his recently graduated son are at McDonalds; As the father orders food, his son is speaking on the phone with another male friend, who audience may suspect to actually be his boyfriend by the way in which the main character speaks softly to his “friend” on the receiving line. They discuss their class photo but the call is cut short because the father comes back to the table with the food. The father then remarks, (, in reference to the class photo,) “Too bad your class is all boys, you could get all the girls.” His son smiles and a calm moment follows, leaving the audience to believe that the son will soon tell his father that he is actually gay. As the camera reels out, the scene reveals a relaxing, sunlit McDonalds while inspiring music plays in the background. The commercial then closes with McDonald’s French logo, “Commez vous commes êtes” (Come as you are).

Although this scene raises gay awareness and creates a heartfelt sensation, it presents McDonalds in quite a skewed fashion. Rather than being a welcoming place for serious discussions and sexual diversity, McDonalds is usually a better atmosphere for hungry families looking for a quick meal or screaming children who would rather play at the McDonalds PlayPlace than take a bite of their not-so-Happy Meals. As the screen pans out, the audience is shown a clean, kid-free McDonalds with an employee walking through the restaurant to check on customers. Does this really happen? I think no

In addition to creating a false atmosphere for McDonalds, this commercial fails to advertise any part of the food that the restaurant offers OR the cheap prices at which consumers can buy meals – the two typical selling points for McDonalds. While this scene certainly raises awareness for sexual diversity, it does little to advertise the restaurant because it creates a false and misleading atmosphere and fails to mention the services offered.