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Sadly you’re right. Bad publicity is still publicity
This does not make me want mcd’s.
yeah this doesn’t effect me at all. there are enough other reasons not to buy it
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it’s shit now
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it’s expensive now
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service sucks now
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it’s american
Shit, there are at least 3 mcds within a few miles from my house, and I manage to just not eat there.
It’s shit NOW? it’s always been shit.
nah like eight years ago a jr chicken was tasty and a decent price. good value.
Just because it tasted good to you doesn’t mean it was actually good food. Most parmesan cheese in the US is largely wood pulp. Yum right?
I didn’t say it was good, and definitely didn’t say that it was healthy or quality. only that it was good value, and obviously in the context of fast food which is inherently neither healthy nor quality and so that does not need to be stated
What is a good value for a 5 gallon bucket of shit? Value is a grade of price AND quality.
Most pre grated shelf stable Parmesan cheese is cellulose.
We do get real cheese here.
Right, the “Shakey cheese” as my kid calls it.
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A hallmark of this era. Why please those you serve when you can instead infuriate them with a fraction of the effort and still turn a profit?
Maccas getting their grubby fingers in the rage economy 😒
Bad press for AI is good even if McDonald’s gets some sort boost from the controversy (I don’t think they will).
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I am familiar with the “there’s no such thing as bad publicity” adage, and you are definitely right that more people are having McDonald’s on the mind than if this fiasco hadn’t happened. That said, I don’t think McDonald’s can increase their brand awareness until life is discovered on other planets.
I pretty sure McDonald’s made the commercial purely for the “we used AI” stock market bump. It will have no effect on their sales and they know it and here’s why:
There’s hardly any actual food in the commercial. (Probably because the AI refused to make anything that wasn’t disgusting and nauseating. It’s called “AI slop” for a good reason.). The tried and true method of fast food ads is close ups of slow motion food porn.
Plus no one can afford to eat fast food anymore. The one nearest to me has like two people working in it and is a ghost town. 5 years ago it was fully staffed, 24/7 operating hours and you had to wait in line no matter what time it was. It was always crowded.
I think this represents a shift away from advertising to customers towards advertising to the stock market. Theoretically they could stop selling food and just use their IP as a speculation asset. The stock market is broken and you even don’t need to make a profit to keep your share price high. A literal infinite money glitch. Who knows what will happen when that comes crashing down but they don’t seem too worried about it. I’m worried though.
I still haven’t, nor the coke one.
You’re in a thread about McDonalds, so they get the benefit of you seeing the ad without paying for the extra impression.
Well, if it ain’t the ol’ Reverse Barbara Streisand Effect Method…
Even if wasn’t AI it was still a shitty ad for expensive, mediocre food.
That’s what I find crazy. People used to eat there all the time because it was so cheap. These days you’ll be lucky to find anything under $5 and most combos cost upwards of $15+. All my coworkers used to stop there for lunch between job sites but now they all just bring shit from home. If you are still eating there at this point my guess is you just like mediocre food. If beef prices weren’t so messed up right now I’d say it’d be cheaper just to make it at home.
If you want cheap food, Costco food court is where it’s at. 15 bucks (if that) for a large meal, a drink, and some kind of dessert.
some kind of dessert.
stop the hard sell buddy.
Probably get lunch and dinner for $15 at Costco Food Court. You would have more of an issue finding a place to sit and eat.
Jeez, you eat ten $1.50 hotdog and soda combos in one sitting?!
Lol.
Their other food is more expensive but it’s still quite cheap.
One day, when I’m feeling particularly rich, I might try a chicken bake or even a turkey sandwich. But as it stands, the $1.50 hotdog is the only thing there I consider relevant.
(Okay, okay… I begrudgingly buy pizza slices for my fancy-pants family members who turn their noses up at Costco’s awesome hotdogs. But still…!)
I read that the upper/middle class has started going to fast food more because they can’t afford the lunches/dinners they used to get.
Yeah their sales are being buoyed by six-figure income folks, who now see it as a value to eat there.
Prices are high everywhere, so while it’s way more expensive than it was, McDonald’s is still pretty much the cheapest option.
A large value meal costs ~$9, and there is a 20% discount for using the app at $15, so if 2 people go or you bring some home it’s ~$7. Every $60 you spend nets you free happy meal too.
Meanwhile a local place charges $20 for a burger and fries, no drink, before tip. The grocery store is up to $8.99 a pound for hamburger meat, so while it is still cheaper to make it yourself, by the time you include cooking ingredients it’s pretty comparable.
If you use the app, you can get a large Ice Tea and a Large Fries for $2.20 including tax. That’s all I ever get there, once a month or so. They gotta be losing money on that deal. I’m slowly putting them out of business. You’re welcome.
Those apps make money off of your data, not their food.
The first two paragraphs of the article confirm it’s AI generated. The only one denying it is the ad agency.
Yeah I heard a guy use McDonald’s in an illustration the other day, how people see the golden arches and everyone recognizes it, knows what to expect. The same food all over the country, similar food around the world. And it’s fast and cheap.
And I’m like… Right… Maybe once upon a time…
For fuck’s sake people…
Here’s the ad: https://www.adforum.com/creative-work/ad/player/34728882/its-the-most-terrible-time-of-the-year/mcdonalds
The ad was a weird take. I think it’s a mixture of the message and the uncanny Ai. Even if the ad wasn’t Ai, it’d be a really odd ad.
Most definitely AI.
Pass
Yeah, pretty much all of that hit my uncanny valley instincts. It was definitely, significantly edited after generation, but the clips themselves were…not right.
Holy shit that whole thing was off-putting even without considering where it came from.
“This wasn’t an AI trick,” she said. “It was a film.”
Nah. It really was an AI trick.
Not a trick, actually. The trick was poisoning the water of some community, and making their utilities go up for this bullshit.
The ad was just as synthetic as their food. Glad they pulled it though, it was really off to watch…
That is an unusually adept use of symbolism for a brand
Seven weeks just for slop that didn’t convert a single customer.
What a wholrsome message, I wonder why it flopped?
“Screw Christmas, Screw your family, come to McDonalds. We also made this with AI you stupid bitch”
Ngl I think the concept is kinda funny.
Gross, out of all the options to “hide out” in MD would be my last choice. It’s loud, smelly, sticky, and their bathrooms are dirty. That’s a bad ad. Way to really miss your target audience mark.
I live in Japan and I actually kinda miss going there because it’s pretty good here. Fast, cheap, friendly service, pretty clean and has cool happy meals for my kids. Unfortunately, my family has been boycotting US companies.
I used to watch a lot of travel streams and it’s amazing how much nicer the American chains are in other countries lol.
KFC in South Korea was the worst KFC I’ve had in my life… but it wasn’t the worst experience.
Ah lol, well Korean fried chicken is legendary, so that’s not surprising that KFC is not so good/popular there.
Your first mistake was watching streams.
It definitely wasn’t my first mistake, but yes, and an expensive one.
I see that your AI enabled smart phone accidentally autocorrected fortunately, to unfortunately. Let the US crumble and enjoy the show.
Exactly. We Jews know that the place to hide out on Christmas is a Chinese restaurant.
That’s the home base where you guys control everything?
It’s where they hide the space laser control panel.
The launch code is “Kung pao chicken“
Now I’m wondering if their meat is real. Time for me to switch to “Amburgers and Woot Beer” (A&W).
I’m sure McDs and Coke could push out terrible AI ads for the next decade and it wouldn’t dampen their sales long term. An initial slump until everyone got over it, maybe. They’re global brands that have gotten too damn big to fail.
Honestly not so sure. Cooking at home is cheaper and more accessible than ever with all the recipes available free of charge. Not to mention the global economic slump with aging and (hopefully) declining populations, less people are in a hurry to get to work.
McDonalds was able to get to where it was by offering fast and cheap food because it was more efficient, but that might not last forever. It’s only 1 profit minmaxing douchebag away from ruining its reputation with one bad price raise, and trust is easier to gain the first time.
Their reputation is already in the shitter for helping the Trump campaign team get him reelected.
One is left wondering why they even advertise.
For coke I imagine it’s the desire to remain continuously culturally relevant so it remains - the - fizzy sugar water in everyone’s minds. (How effective that actually is I have no idea and I suspect, neither do they).
McDs meanwhile has lost revenue (in part attributed to their price hikes amongst other factors ) and is probably hoping to drive up sales.
I think if the last place I could go for comfort was McDonalds I would blow my fucking brains out.
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Charlie’s take is extremely funny, and the response letter from the marketing company over the backlash is so absurd. Worth a watch
