McDonald's pulls ad that 'exploited child bereavement'

schumi

schumi

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McDonald’s has pulled its new advert from TV screens and apologised for any upset caused after it was 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.”

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.”
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[video=youtube;S1XM4INk8l8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1XM4INk8l8[/video]

More at: https://www.theguardian.com/busines...ologises-over-ad-exploiting-child-bereavement
 
Jirre, being a marketing manager for those big companies must've moved up a few notches in the 'most stressful jobs' list in the last while:D
 
Quite scummy...

Next Nando's add

"Come in for chicken, whether your dads dead or not"
 
Seems like a lot of these marketing managers just lack common sense.

Some outrageous (pulled) ads have had a great affect on the company. Usually Nando's. But something like this is just plain bad, and bad news for McD's.
 
She said: “What [McDonald’s] have done is exploited childhood bereavement as a way to connect with young people and surviving parents alike – unsuccessfully.
Click to expand...

Shouldn't have added that word. Now I'm wondering which companies have successfully exploited kids' bereavement.
 
It seems to be a trend these days in advertising, emotional manipulation. That outsurance [i think] add of the dad skyping with the mom and daughter and they dying when a truck hits him, with the sad music and all, fck that add in particular
 
Bizkit87 said:
It seems to be a trend these days in advertising, emotional manipulation. That outsurance [i think] add of the dad skyping with the mom and daughter and they dying when a truck hits him, with the sad music and all, fck that add in particular
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Yup. That one is particularly distasteful.

Sometimes, on a slightly lesser fashion, an ad starts so emotional, only to advertise Whiskey or some other BS product (Whiskey is not BS)
 
schumi said:
[video=youtube;S1XM4INk8l8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1XM4INk8l8[/video]
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If being emotionally manipulative was a crime, all advertisers would now be in prison. This is no different IMO than them putting an advert on the TV saying that a Happy Meal (for a limited time obviously) comes with a free Pikachu toy.
 
Cray said:
First – and let’s just get this out of the way – the real reason this advert is offensive is because a Filet-O-Fish is no one’s favourite. And the chances of two people in one family even ordering one once, let alone it becoming their fast-food item of choice is nil.
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Apparently Filet-O-Fish only exists because Catholics.
 
Bizkit87 said:
It seems to be a trend these days in advertising, emotional manipulation. That outsurance [i think] add of the dad skyping with the mom and daughter and they dying when a truck hits him, with the sad music and all, fck that add in particular
Click to expand...

Remember when this was absurd?
[video=youtube;29xZ3vy0xys]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29xZ3vy0xys[/video]
 
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