Matthew Van Vliet

Professor Blackburn

RC-1000

9 February 2019

McDonald’s: I’m Not Lovin’ It

This McDonald’s commercial takes the viewer through its “recommitment” to its

customers, showing the ways in which the company has “reformed” their menu to become more

healthy, sustainable, and adaptive to the needs of modern America. First, the advertisement

makes an emotional appeal to parents, being assured by the narrator that McDonald’s is changing

its meals to be more healthy for their children, attempting to seem trustworthy, that McDonald’s

is there for the ‘working parent’ of our modern days. Next, the advertisement transitions to

acknowledge and put to rest the possible reservations that some may have upon hearing that

McDonald’s is actively working to make its menu healthier. The audience is assured that

McDonald’s will still continue to have its specialties, such as their hamburgers and “world

famous” (McDonalds, “Commitment”) fries. While this transition occurs, the reforms of a new,

“healthier” McDonald’s are still pushed, to ensure that both new and old audiences are enticed

by their programming. The narrator then casts their gaze once again the promotion of healthy

children, and while they’re at it, a healthy earth, stating that McDonald’s is working to support

the children, “our future,”(McDonalds, “Commitment”) as the ad sentimentally puts it, showing

images of two high-achieving children, one with awards, the other with a robot. The ad then

shifts to its final message, stating that “simpler is better,”(McDonalds, “Commitment”) that

we’re all building a better McDonald’s. This advertisement works tirelessly to snare the family,
who much of the video is spent targeting, in order to ease any worries that parents have, due to

the company’s notoriously poor association with health.

This advertisement does much to play to our emotional sentimentality, or pathos.

Throughout the video, a gentle, compassionate guitar plays, whilst a man with a calm,

encouraging voice, doing everything in its power to gain your trust, tells the audience about how

it’s safe to eat McDonald’s food, as it’s only improving, and becoming more simple for parents

and their families to enjoy. This advertisement makes many appeals regarding family, with most

of the healthy reforms being said with a happy child or family residing in the background.

McDonald’s is aware that their food is quite popular among children, and the prospect of an

easy, quick meal is quite appealing to parents, so combatting any potential unease that parents

may have about feeding their children McDonald’s food by describing how they’ve changed as a

company to become healthier in order support the “modern family” would make their advertising

all the more effective. The advertisement shows the audience exactly who they’ve changed for,

trying to show that they’ve changed for every type of parent, including the “modern mom,” clad

in her pantsuit, implying that she’s a modern, working woman, the “discerning dad,” and “all

those parents who have a fresh perspective on parenting.” (McDonalds, “Commitment”) It is

important to note that to accomplish this goal of trying to draw in all parents, the race of each

parent is changed as each of the types of parents mentioned above is addressed, and only one

parent is shown at a time as not to directly alienate single-parent households.

Secondly, the advertisement uses warm, happy imagery throughout so it is perceived as

innocent and wholesome, making this seem to be a genuine effort by McDonald’s to show how

they’ve reformed and become healthier for all to enjoy. As a part of the imagery, a small farm

where a farmer cuts her kale to directly be used in McDonald’s salads is shown. In reality, it is
known that McDonald’s likely gets their vegetables from large, commercial farms that lack the

intimate touch portrayed in the video, as well as workers with stylized hair, makeup, that slowly

and effortlessly work their fields.

The entire purpose of the commercial is to make the audience feel comfortable and at

ease, so it is reasonable that few fallacies are identifiable throughout, as most have to do with

scaring or angering the audience. It is difficult to make an audience willingly give their trust if

they are being harassed with information or attacked through argument. The natural choice for an

advertisement based around comfort and trust would be the “overly sentimental appeal”, which is

utilised in the entirety of the commercial. Heartwarming moments between the major types of

people (or at least the major types of people desirable to the general audience that is being

catered to) McDonald’s wants to draw are shot and continuously revolved back to over the span

of the advertisement, parents spending time with their children, young friends “hanging out”

together, and an elderly couple just coming from the movie theatre are all shown in order to

create a false warm, intimate feeling to entice as many in these broad groups as possible.

This advertisement works hard to try and persuade others to eat their food mainly through

warmth and sentimentality, attempting to cater to values that are believed to be in all families,

while still managing to persuade even those who manage to resist these overly sentimental

aspects of the commercial by including health claims with the aim to boost their credibility. The

aim of this advertisement is to convince just about any people with doubts about the health risks

of consuming McDonald’s products, while focusing mainly on the concerns of parents by

tailoring a majority of the ad to show that McDonald’s has changed to be “simpler” (McDonalds,

“Commitment”) to fit their individual needs as parents, no matter who they are.
 Works Cited:

McDonald's. Commitment. ISpot.tv, 2016, www.ispot.tv/ad/AyZp/mcdonalds-commitment.