McDonald's Panders To The Laid-Off Working Class Dad Market
A father and daughter sit in awkward silence at what appears to be a McDonald's somewhere in the American midwest definitely Canada. As a rowdy group of hockey player kids rustle in from the snow, the little girl asks her strong but silent parent if he's ever wished she was a boy, "A boy...?" he says, trailing off. Then he looks at his McDonald's premium coffee cup, 'cause he don't need any fancy Starbucks, twisting the lid as he searches for the right answer. "A boy? I just want my fucking job and house back, sweetie. Get over yourself."
That commercial is straight out of 1987! It's like McDonald's keeps a special file cabinet full of bad economy "McDonald's brings families together in hard times" commercial scripts.
Posted by Lindsay at 10:15 AM in Ad Wizards, Commercials
Tags: McDonald's | The Economy
it's like my childhood, except my father actually told me right out, "damn straight, you should've been a boy."
Score = 13
mine, too. Only I took him up on the operation. I will miss those boobs though.
Score = 12
Okay, so I know this commercial is lame, and maybe I'm just overly emotional, but...I'm gonna go call my dad now.
Score = 5
Is that a maple leaf in the M at the end? Is that supposed to be Canada? I guess that would explain all the hockey...and snow?
Score = 7
yep. that's our (Canadian) McDonald's. sorry about that :) i guess we got shipped the late-80's commercials.
Score = 11
i love the girl's joey potter acting, how her face can't help but screw itself up as it gags on that ridiculous question. is she tapping on a lid from pent up anxiety over her question or is just incidental? also, premium coffee = profound acceptance of what you've got?
i could watch this over and over, is what i'm saying
Score = 6
Yeah, y'all just been Canada-roll'd. You can tell because of the tiny maple leaf, the obligatory hockey reference and the subtle reference to Canada's policy of shaming fathers who don't provide an heir to the line. The only way to avoid being ostracized is if that little girl makes the national team and wins a gold at Vancouver '10. Whatever McD's, you ain't no Timmy Ho's.
Score = 16
This father clearly DOES wish she'd been born a boy, otherwise he wouldn't have given her a name that could easily be shortened to "Sam."
Score = 6
Ah, that soothing acoustic guitar. Makes me forget all about my hermaphrodite children...
Score = 9
My Canadianism is showing, but this commercial makes me want a donut. This is a Tim Horton's ad with a big ugly M stamped on the end.
Score = 4
I thought it was pretty cute, though.
Score = 1
Sooooo.....McNuggets?
Isn't part of advertising that you should say the products name, or maybe show the product for more than half an awkward second?
Score = -1
really, people are still making this argument. are you telling me that just because they didn't shove a product down your throat with flashing colors and a jingle it isn't a successful commercial? all you have to do is raise awareness of your brand.
Score = 0
No, I'm not. Trust me, I love a good ambiguous advertisement. Good being the keyword. You can't just make a short film and say at the end "Buy Mennen" you know?
Score = -2
I get it. Boys remind him of his childhood - running into/out of a McD's into the snow to play hockey and goof around. Now he's trapped. He's an adult. He drinks PREMIUM COFFEE from McDonald's. Life can't get any worse. Then he thinks to himself - "why fuck up my kid's life the way she fucked up mine? I'll lie my ass off to her!".
McDonald's Coffee: grow your old ass up, be a man, and lie to your children.
Score = 6
I was the first-born. And when my little sister came along, both my parents threw their arms in the air and shouted "Thank you sweet Lord it's not another damn boy!"
Score = 4
I say this is the first of a set of commercials. Next one
"Dad, I think I might be bisexual" then
"Dad, I'm a lesbian", then
"Dad, I'm going through with the surgery"
Score = 0
Last comment I promise
This commercial should end with "If you were a boy....I wouldn't be able to touch you the way I do"
Score = 6
Ha, the dad is a semi well known Canadian TV actor (is there any other kind?). He's been in a Law and Order knock off and a cable cops and serial killers miniseries. You probably don't have the pleasure of seeing the cream of Canadian drama south of the border. I think this guy generally specializes in playing asshole detectives. Maybe he's so down because he's been reduced to anti-intellectual fast food commercials.
Score = 1
Should I be ashamed that I recognized the guy, too? Don't know him by name, but I'll chalk it up to the countless hours of Law & Order that I've watched in my life.
Score = 0
What the fuck does that even mean? "I'd have no body to call my little girl?" This ad makes me irrationally angry.
Score = 2
What's that America midwest strikethrough shit all about, Lindsay? You got a problem with the American midwest? Who's my little girl?
Score = 7
Yeah, I got a little midwest-y-chest-puffed-defensive too, when I first read the strike-through ... and then as I watched the commercial, with the desolate winter and the hockey... I thought, "ok maybe that's why this was pegged for the midwest?...fair enough" and then it cut to the girl's nervous foot-tapping--adorn with the rubber-toed utilitarian (or "sensible", according to everyone's midwestern Mom) winter boots... I was like, "OH, OKAY...that makes sense." Cause had this been set in the American east, she wouldn't be caught dead without her UGGs! (UGH.)
In the end... I saw that little red leaf and-- silly canadians ...we're not so different, you and me! We should all get together over some McDonald's premium coffee...bring your boots! and gender identity issues?
I'm lovin' it! da da da da-daaa
Score = 0
Ad Wizard :"Here's the pitch: A depressing, awkward conversation between an unemployed blue collar worker and his 'questioning' daughter set in the most desolate McDonalds in North America."
McDonalds CMO: "I'm loving it! When do we start shooting?"
Score = 2
"No, honey. Boy, girl...I actually don't want kids at all anymore"
Score = 3
I miss Gabe.
Score = -3
dis is dum. fo reel get a job or sumthin an stop bein stopid
Score = -4
When that dad was staring at those boys, and the girl was watching him stare at the boys, all I could think of was Happiness.
Score = 1
Do I have to go to a Canadian McDonald's to get this "premium coffee," or can I get it here in the states? Either way, I think life just got a whole lot better.
Score = 1
Why do you assume he's laid-off or unemployed? It has to be the weekend otherwise Sam would be at school...
Score = 1