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Is McDonald’s Racist? (Sweden)

 

Posted on March 14, 2008
David Do Van Minh

 

At first sight the new advertising campaign for McDonald’s in Sweden gives you quite a shock. It’s hard to believe one’s eyes, but there it stands, in bold print: “We don’t hire Turks, Greeks, Poles, Indians, Ethiopians, Vietnamese, Chinese and Peruvians”. Excuse me, are you serious?

But as usual, (as well as in life) it’s worth reading the fine print. Further down on the poster is written: “Nor Swedes, South Koreans, or Norwegians. We hire individuals. We don’t care what your surname is. Because ambition and determination have nothing to do with your nationality. McDonald’s is one of the most integrated companies in Sweden, with as many as ninety-five nationalities working for us. Join us at mcdonalds.se. »

The campaign has obviously sparked heated debates. Those who only read the beginning are of course shocked, whereas others are intrigued by it (and continue reading the rest of the message).

Commercially speaking the campaign has fulfilled its primary objective, which was to make people talk about McDonald’s. From a creative point of view I am not really convinced, where is the unique brand identity that McDonald’s has so intricately constructed for itself over the years? You could easily replace the brand McDonald’s here with any other brand and the ad would still make sense.

Why did McDonald’s in Sweden opt for such a campaign in the first place? Possibly to appease certain critics? What do you think?


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Comments

1. Friday 14 March 2008 attime 00:48, by Guilherme

About 10 - 15 years ago when I’ve always eaten a happy meal there was still the strong perception about Ronald and his friends. Their communication was more focussed on children which influenced their parents to go with them to mac donnalds. 15 years ago parents were also less concerned about what their children are realy eating, the discussions about obessity came much stronger to the fore in the last 5 years ( fast food nation was also something which made people start to think ) .. and therefore macdonnalds might be trying to reposition the brand. Well if you look on their offer.

1. Salad etc 2. Firstly they increased a lot of stuff which didnt fit to them like the cold rolls with chicken curry etc. and now they are narrowing their offer again ( it was just confusion ) 3. If you look at them at the stock exchange and consider inflation... they haven’t done that great in the last decade, maybe time to rethink their business-model and if they do so its also the right time to take corrective actions in their positioning.

2. Monday 1 June 2009 attime 11:16, by alias

Interestingly Mcdonalds is one of the few swedish companies that do hire emigrants, while discrimination on ethnic basis is wide spread in Sweden! the swedish hamburger chain MAX,like to serve swedish burgers from the hands of ethnic swedes!

3. Thursday 3 September 2009 attime 04:14,

Maybe this ad is NOT for selling hamburguers, so brand identity of the hamburguers was not the focus. This may have appeared in the employment section of a paper, where its message would be on point.

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