Topic > Ethical Controversies in McDonald's Dead Dad Ad

Every day in the United States, 34.3% of children and adolescents consume a significant portion of their daily diet from fast food restaurants. One of the most famous fast food restaurants is McDonald's which feeds 45 million people around the world every day, more than the population of Spain. Despite McDonald's popularity, the franchise is still looking to expand. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In 2017, a specific advert was launched in the UK that caused a lot of controversy. This famous franchise took a risk and used emotions and pity to promote their product which had multiple negative reactions. It even got to the point that the ad had to be removed. McDonald's uses feelings of pity towards the boy due to the loss of his father to make the viewer feel sympathy that would make them lean towards the product since their product is the only thing that connects the boy to his father. However, this did not go as planned for McDonald's as the ad created a link from the viewer to the sadness franchise and this would reflect badly on their product because whenever a person thinks of McDonald's their mind goes to the heartbreaking advertisement. . The mother lists a long list of comparisons between the son and his father, the viewer should feel pity and sympathy for the boy the more the mother lists the qualities that the father has and that the son does not have. In the end, the only thing the son and father had in common was ordering at McDonald's. This caused a lot of controversy as it was offensive to people who have dead parents. Viewers believed the ad was insensitive and almost derisive towards children who have dead parents. Technical devices such as the song used by McDonalds should instantly trigger painful thoughts and emotions such as pity, loss and sadness, which is related to the main purpose of the advert which is to make the viewer feel sympathy for the child, thus it would push him to buy his product. Another example is the environment of the video, where the dull colors and cloudy weather reflect the mood of the boy in the video and his internal conflict about how he is not like his father. Even though McDonald's is an established brand, it is still looking to expand. Since it was founded, McDonalds already holds a reputation for influencing consumer opinions sometimes positively but other times negatively. In this ad they wanted to reflect their company in a specific way to viewers. In this specific way, “They wanted to highlight the role that McDonald's has played in the everyday lives of our customers, both in good times and in difficult times. As demonstrated by the negative reaction, many people did not agree with McDonald's way of thinking. Many different, mostly harmful, opinions have emerged from this announcement. A prime example of this could indirectly encourage an eating disorder. By proving that McDonalds is also there for you in difficult times, it encourages binge eating disorder (BED). Another example of how offensive it is that the only thing connecting a dead parent to a child is a hamburger. If a child with a dead parent comes across this ad, he or she may go to his or her guardian and begin to question his or her relationship with his or her parents, which could lead to depressive thoughts. The way McDonald's portrayed themselves in the ad wasn't wrong, however they executed it poorly and their message could have been expressed in a completely different way. While creating.