Advertising Genius
I would guess there is at least one McDonald’s French Fry in the majority of the cars in America. Maybe one is laying squished under the car seat, or in the crevice next to the front seat, molding because you can’t reach it with either vacuum hose or fingers.
What is the draw?
I really believe that if I didn’t have kids I would rarely visit McDonald’s. But those advertisers know their stuff. They know that parents have a hard time saying “no” to their children’s food delights. They know how to entice our little kiddos, what with the bright yellow arches, catchy commercial music and depictions of children having a blast with Ronald. It seems you can’t have a commercial break on Nick Jr. that doesn’t have a McDonald’s commercial in it.
Count Dooku and Obi-Wan learned very young about McDonald’s. We were so surprised one day while driving past some big golden arches to hear our then four and three year old boys humming, “Bah da bah, bah, baaaaah!” The theme music at the time on their commercials.
I got thinking about the evil genius today (perhaps evil is a bit harsh, but really, even with their “healthy” selections, is there really anything healthy about McDonald’s? Not in my opinion. I’ve worked there) because as we took a day trip, there were excited exclamations of , “McDonalds!” and “A play place!!” and “Can we go der after our trip?” and “Happy Meals!”
I’m seriously considering banning Nick Jr. and all of it’s kid targeted commercials over here.
EDWARD YOUR A HAMSOME GUY ALL IM ASKING IS FOR BELLA TO HAVE THE BABY AND PUT...
That’s why my kids only watch Noggin or PBS. Or movies. I hate commercials so much; I limit them as much as I can!
Yeah, when my kids were small, we never had cable tv, only PBS. I was glad not to have all that advertising.
Although McDonald’s was popular without it. It’s the kids toys in the happy meal and play areas that do it. They rarely actually ate their food!
Yup, I’m starting to get annoyed with commercials. We used to have a cable package with Noggin - I LOVED its lack of commercials. But we needed to downgrade, so nowdays we either watch Nick Jr. or PBS. But more Nick Jr. than not, really. And with EVERY commercial, it’s “MOM!! I want one of those, it’s so cooooool!”
Right. Because every kid needs a race track that only does a simple loop. Can we say, “Bored of it in five minutes or less??”
Thankfully, I’ve avoided McDonalds. Hate them. Well, everything but their breakfast foods, which I have a soft spot for. ;) But alas, other fast food chains are an easy substitute. We may not have McDonalds fries in our car, but I’m positive we at least have some Burger King fries somewhere in there.
I’m so with you on this post…we don’t have cable at the moment, but can totally relate to the McDonalds commercials on Nick Jr….a little Dora, a lot of Ronald…aaah! Hooray for PBS!
The other thing that gets me about McDonalds is…they make it seem so reasonable to get the goofy Happy Meal. You think…oh, that’s not a bad price and hey the kids get a toy that will entertain them on the ride home so I don’t go nuts…then you realize…you have now paid $4.99 (or whatever the price is these days) for a stupid plastic toy that you are going to detest by the time you get home.
Now…it’s time for me to go looking for that wayward french fry!
Yes, yes, yes… The Golden Arches…Evil…
I think when I have kids I’ll give them brand new toys at dinner every now and then at the dinners I make. That way McDonald’s won’t have such appeal. Haha. Maybe it could work. Who knows…
P.S. That would be nice if you could design a layout for my blogsite. Thank you very mucho! Love you! :)
I read somewhere (maybe reader’s digest-I don’t remember, sorry) that like 40% or so of Mcy-D’s sales are happy meals. That advertising must really be working! I like Chase’s idea to make your own dinners more appealing. :-)
I cleaned out my car yesterday, along with vacuuming under all the seats and all that jazz. I didn’t find any fries, miraculously, but I did find about a dozen tootsie roll wrappers, and one mint so seriously stuck to the floor that I can NOT get it off.
There is no McDonald’s close to us, but we do have a Wendy’s. So, anytime I’m out with my four year old, and he sees Wendy’s, he’ll ask if we’re getting chicken nuggets and fries. Ugh.
I was just thinking along these lines this morning. My boy is 2 weeks shy of 1 year old, but in the mornings while I’m getting ready for the day in my bathroom, he hangs out on my bed watching Diego, Dora, and Wonder Pets. I can already see the wonder in his eyes when certain commercials come on and I just watch him and think to myself that maybe we’ll just stick to DVDs until he’s 15 or so LOL
Yep, it’s amazing how young and how quickly they pick that stuff up! We don’t have many commercials with our DVR and Noggin, but they still know what McDonald’s is. Good luck with your ban :)
We don’t have cable so I guess I haven’t seen the flood of commercials. I think all of my kids first experience of putting commercial with real life has been McDonald’s. They can spot those golden arches from a very long ways off. It’s not so tempting to go there anymore though cuz they don’t have free fry sauce anymore and I hate squeezing out ketchup onto my fries.
PBS…that’s the only thing my daughter is allowed to watch. Besides the Chuck E. Cheese commercial, there’s not much. Oh…wait, I take that back…McDonald’s DOES support Sesame Street. But still, once a day, I can handle that.
As for McD’s? Well, I think that we created a little monster last week when grandma was here. She was here for a full week and I bit my lip the whole time she spoiled Libby. She only gets to see her two or three times a year, so…ya know. Anyway, we went to McD’s TWICE…so this week I have had to tell her NO every day!