Gotta Love McDonald’s PR
Posted on May 7, 2009
Filed Under Daily | 18 Comments
When my sister handed me this flier from McDonald’s and said, “Look what I got in the mail today,” I was totally uninterested because A) You couldn’t pay me enough to eat fast food and B) I’m not a coffee or iced coffee drinker.
But before I could tell her how much I didn’t care that McDonald’s mailed her coupons, she goes, “Turn it over.”
And that’s when I saw THIS and was all, “WHAT THE HELL?”
If you’re reading me from South Asia, or happen to have parents from that part of the world, then you totally get why this is post-worthy.
For those of you that are all, Cool, thanks for being inclusive all sarcastic under your breath, let me explain.
“Taste ki baat hai” translates to “It’s all about the taste” in Urdu or Hindi. My family speaks both — but that’s not the point.
The point is, HOW THE HELL DOES MCDONALD’S KNOW THAT?
According to my mom, they’re very up to date on their demographic research (she also thinks the wildly popular “Slumdog Millionaire” has something to do with it) but now I’m totally freaked out. I’ve decided to donate the “My Mom is From India” shirt I don’t have always wear, and I’m going to start talking gibberish any time I leave my house. That way, if McDonald’s spies are watching me, they’ll be all, “She appears to be speaking a new language that involves exaggerated arm movements and eye twitches. Write that down, Jerry. We need to report this to headquarters, STAT.”
I do realize that the mail was addressed to my sister, but since I spend a good deal of time at my mom’s place I feel totally vulnerable to the fast-food giant’s blatant exploitation of me and my culture.
I know some of you are thinking, “What’s the big deal? In China, McDonald’s advertises in Chinese.”
BUT THAT’S BECAUSE EVERYONE IN CHINA SPEAKS CHINESE!
It’s a lot harder to know which language is spoken at a particular address in America.
Over here, we’re like a bunch of mixed breeds just running around waiting for more immigrants to jump the border so we can have babies with them because according to Fox News (who’s always right, btw) anyone with brown skin who is also bilingual is trying to annihilate the Aryan race.
Well, let me tell you something, Fox. If McDonald’s keeps up this kind of advertising, President Obama better grab a hammer and start building that boarder fence himself.
I have a feeling that this kind of marketing ploy is going to get McDonald’s a lot more of what it wants…
No, not Indian customers, ya’ll –
Illegal workers!
Comments
18 Responses to “Gotta Love McDonald’s PR”
Oh, wow! That’s really, really strange… How’d they know??
Hahaha! I have no idea how they’d know that but because my last name seems spanish, we get ads in spanish
(Btw, my family is not even on the south american continent!)
Undercover republican eh?
Mcdonalds must have mailed those out to anyone with Indian/Pakistani sounding names in their database or something!
oh yea some companies are using this as one of their latest marketing gimmicks. Some of the big hotels in the world are actually studying their guests’ profile so much so that when you land at say a london airport, the hotel limo that picks you up has the driver of your nationality and plays your local language music….. !
Surprising in a welcome way… or plain freaky…?
DUDE! That’s the freakiest thing I’ve seen all year (so far)!
Vah! Kaisa Mazah Hai America Main!
We only get ads in English and I live near brown central!
this is so spooky. i currently reside in Pakistan and this is what they do here of course but it’s freaky to see this in the states.
At first glance i am like whats Sabrina holding?! such effort seems too much for individuals…it’s uncanny!
Yup, I got one this morning just for having the correct sounding name. I live in Brooklyn, never go to McDonalds, and don’t think I’ve ever gotten fliers from them before. I wish I could, but I can’t speak Hindi or Urdu. So WTF. For kicks, maybe we should conjure up headlines for all the different races that live in the USA? I think that would get offensive fast! Thanks for this post, and the photos really help translate the stupidity of this PR idea.
Now that’s targetted advertising
I’ve heard of tapping into a demographic but c’mon!
That’s kinda freaky.
If they send you one for a $1 Halal (spelling?)burger, I’d call headquarters..lol.
Hi,
I got the same exact flier in my mom’s name. I was also wondering how did they send me that flier and actually expect me to know the language. It really is scary how much info they know about me.
McDonald’s doesn’t believe I can speak/read Chinese. I get all my flyers in English. It’ll BS.
Wow, this is fun. About the Slumdog thing a point that may interest you – Zakir Hussain won the Grammy and A R Rahman won an Oscar. When the journo’s asked Zakir Hussain about this, he said that it wasn’t a big deal!! Why? Because once upon a time, The Academy and Grammy awards were both big advertising revenue generating programs, but advertising this time around in USA has suffered due to the recession, hence the ads, the awards catered to the next big market – Indians. The demographic advertising probably stems from this too.!!! “Indian’s save well, so lets get the Indians to spend!!!”
I wonder how they know, lol, that is creepy. I think the government sell names to advertising companies. I saw it on “Watchdog” haha
*** No, not Indian customers, ya’ll –
Illegal workers! ***
Finding market demographics is incredibly simple – all you have done is brought something online that is related to India, and that company sold their list to McDonalds.
This is a very old trick. I am sure there is an equivalent in Spanish too.
Also, McDonald has checkered past with Hindus – beef lard in french fries, so they are reaching out again.
It is Border, not “boarder”. but thanks for derailing the stereotype about subcontinent kids and spelling bee competitions.
Thanks for the spell check, Fanaa:) I actually lost a spelling bee in second grade because I spelled “lawyer” wrong. I guess you’re right — not all of us can be spelling bee champs;)
lmao that’s hilarious! i guess mcdonald’s is really getting into it.
Hi! I was surfing and found your blog post… nice! I love your blog.
Cheers! Sandra. R.