McDonald's Advertisements, Then and Now
In the 1950s and 60s, McDonald's did not have the stigma it does now. Instead of associating the fast food chain with childhood obesity, factory farms, and the dramatic results of Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me, consumers thought of McDonald's as an affordable restaurant, as a place to enjoy a family dinner or a night out. As this advertisement from the early 1960's shows, McDonald's draws from a conventional notion of the American family in order to depict the restaurant as a hot spot for community and social excitement.
The background of the advertisement shows a night sky dotted with stars, over which is stated in large text the phrase, "Let's Eat Out!" Directly to the left of the text are the well-known Golden Arches. The interplay between the night sky, the text, and the Arches suggests that McDonald's is the optimal place for dinner. The use of first-person plural attributes the phrase to the family seen in the black car in the middle of the ad, and the exclamation point indicates they are excited at the prospect of going to McDonald's. Since the phrase is not directly attributed to the family, however, the excitement can also be attributed to the viewer of the ad--that is, the image works to excite the viewer and to persuade the viewer that he or she, like the family, can also visit McDonald's.
The family represents a conventional, middle-class American family: a husband and wife in the front and three children in the back. They are the "Every Family," for the 1960s, at least. They have apparently just pulled in to the McDonald's parking lot from the gray road, which takes up the lower third of the image. The large presence of the road implies that the restaurant is in a convenient location easily accessible by car. Moreover, other cars filled with people line the spaces in front of the restaurant and directly beneath the famous Golden Arches. The ad thus depicts McDonald's as popular, busy, and full of excitement. The restaurant offers not only a place for the family to enjoy dinner together but also to connect and socialize with other families and groups of people. In other words, McDonald's is not a place to eat in isolation or to pop in and out as quickly as possible--a night out at McDonald's is a social event.
This retro McDonald's advertisement provides a stark contrast to the McDonald's we know today. McDonald's still draws from its ease and convenience, but that emphasis on community and sociality no longer plays a significant role in advertisements or in our modern perception of the chain. The more recent ad below speaks to the "new" McDonald's: it's everywhere, it's always open, it's a place to grab some food as quickly as possible, and it's a bit dirty (after all, they've turned a bus stop into a mock McDonald's). The target audience has shifted from middle-class families to lower-class individuals who does not own a car. This ad certainly does not depict McDonald's as a restaurant at which to spend the night out. But perhaps it still does it's job. McDonald's, anyone?
The background of the advertisement shows a night sky dotted with stars, over which is stated in large text the phrase, "Let's Eat Out!" Directly to the left of the text are the well-known Golden Arches. The interplay between the night sky, the text, and the Arches suggests that McDonald's is the optimal place for dinner. The use of first-person plural attributes the phrase to the family seen in the black car in the middle of the ad, and the exclamation point indicates they are excited at the prospect of going to McDonald's. Since the phrase is not directly attributed to the family, however, the excitement can also be attributed to the viewer of the ad--that is, the image works to excite the viewer and to persuade the viewer that he or she, like the family, can also visit McDonald's.
The family represents a conventional, middle-class American family: a husband and wife in the front and three children in the back. They are the "Every Family," for the 1960s, at least. They have apparently just pulled in to the McDonald's parking lot from the gray road, which takes up the lower third of the image. The large presence of the road implies that the restaurant is in a convenient location easily accessible by car. Moreover, other cars filled with people line the spaces in front of the restaurant and directly beneath the famous Golden Arches. The ad thus depicts McDonald's as popular, busy, and full of excitement. The restaurant offers not only a place for the family to enjoy dinner together but also to connect and socialize with other families and groups of people. In other words, McDonald's is not a place to eat in isolation or to pop in and out as quickly as possible--a night out at McDonald's is a social event.
This retro McDonald's advertisement provides a stark contrast to the McDonald's we know today. McDonald's still draws from its ease and convenience, but that emphasis on community and sociality no longer plays a significant role in advertisements or in our modern perception of the chain. The more recent ad below speaks to the "new" McDonald's: it's everywhere, it's always open, it's a place to grab some food as quickly as possible, and it's a bit dirty (after all, they've turned a bus stop into a mock McDonald's). The target audience has shifted from middle-class families to lower-class individuals who does not own a car. This ad certainly does not depict McDonald's as a restaurant at which to spend the night out. But perhaps it still does it's job. McDonald's, anyone?