News Comment
McDonald’s has apologised for any upset caused by its new TV advert, which has been accused of exploiting childhood bereavement.
The advert, first screened last week, shows a boy asking his mother about his dead father. As she tells him what his dad was like, the boy looks sad as they do not seem to have much in common. His face lights up once they arrive at a McDonald’s and, as he eats a Filet-o-Fish, his mother says: “That was your dad’s favourite too.”
Last month, Pepsi withdrew an advertising campaign featuring Kendall Jenner after the company was accused of co-opting the imagery of protest movements to sell its products.
The image of Jenner approaching police appeared to reference the widely shared photograph of Ieshia Evans, a black woman who stood up to riot police during a Black Lives Matter protest following the fatal shooting of Alton Sterling by police in 2016.
This type of advertising exploits anything and everything which is sacred. It is a feature of consumerism and Capitalism to use aspects of life that falsely lure people into buying products and services, even if it means exploiting death, the loss of relatives or even police brutality of a minority community. McDonald’s is a seasoned multi corporate company that has used every kind of advertisement in it’s skill set to sell foodstuffs and rake in enormous profit.
In her book ‘No Logo’, Naomi Klein identified a range of underground tools that marketers use to get the consumer to do things – tools that we cannot hope to identify unless we are insiders within the advertising industry. In other words, companies are attempting to recruit friends and peers to sell products– not simply influencing them to believe a product is desirable and telling us about it, but by actually paying people to use their status and relationships with others to flog their products to their peers.
In other words companies like McDonald’s exploit human relationships to sell burgers and chips, regardless what effect this has on the health and wellbeing of people in society.
Indeed for companies like McDonald’s, it is all about the ‘almighty dollar’.
ظهر الفساد في البر والبحر بما كسبت ايدي الناس ليذيقهم بعض الذي عملوا لعلهم يرجعون
“Corruption has appeared throughout the land and sea by (reason of) what the hands of people have earned so He may let them taste part of (the consequence of) what they have done that perhaps they will return (to righteousness)” {al-Rum, 30:41}
News Article : McDonald’s apologises over ad ‘exploiting child bereavement’
McDonald’s has apologised for any upset caused by its new TV advert, which has been accused of exploiting childhood bereavement, but refused to stop it from being broadcast.
The advert, first screened last week, shows a boy asking his mother about his dead father. As she tells him what his dad was like, the boy looks sad as they do not seem to have much in common. His face lights up once they arrive at a McDonald’s and, as he eats a Filet-o-Fish, his mother says: “That was your dad’s favourite too.”
Shelley Gilbert, a psychotherapist who founded the children’s bereavement charity Grief Encounter, said it had received a lot of phone calls from concerned parents.
She said: “What [McDonald’s] have done is exploited childhood bereavement as a way to connect with young people and surviving parents alike – unsuccessfully.
“One in 29 children are bereaved of a parent or sibling by the time they are 16 years of age, so this storyline will resonate with a huge number of children and surviving parents.
“We have already received countless phone calls this morning, with parents telling us their bereaved children have been upset by the advert and alienated by McDonald’s as a brand that wants to emotionally manipulate its customers.”
The Advertising Standards Authority said it had received about 100 complaints by Monday, with more coming in. A spokesman said: “Complainants have objected that it is inappropriate and insensitive to use bereavement and grief to sell fast food. Some complainants have referenced the proximity to Father’s Day.
“We’re carefully assessing the complaints but no decision has been reached on whether there are grounds to launch an investigation.”
There was also criticism on social media, including from many people who said they had lost someone as a child.
A McDonald’s spokeswoman said: “We apologise for any upset this advert has caused. This was by no means an intention of ours.”
However, she confirmed that the campaign, created by the London advertising agency Leo Burnett, would continue to be aired.
Last month, Pepsi withdrew an advertising campaign featuring Kendall Jenner after the company was accused of co-opting the imagery of protest movements to sell its products.
The soft-drink multinational’s video featured the reality-TV star and model Jenner joining a protest but then defusing a standoff with police by handing an officer a can of Pepsi.
The image of Jenner approaching police appeared to reference the widely shared photograph of Ieshia Evans, a black woman who stood up to riot police during a Black Lives Matter protest following the fatal shooting of Alton Sterling by police in 2016.
