McDonald's Smileless Happy Meals - Strong or Stolen? EP6

Episode 6 Transcript

Welcome to the Marketing Combat Podcast. I am Jason Donnelly and the man, the myth, the legend, the man introducing the show today, Chris Kubbernus. That's me. Every single weekday we battle it out for five minutes.

for your pleasure. We take a marketing topic that is hot right now and someone is for it and someone is against it. We don't know which is which. We're gonna just mix it up and see what does that person wanna take, what do I wanna take. And this week we're talking about, this day, sorry not this week, we're talking about McDonald's Smileless Happy Meals in the UK for Mental Health Awareness Week. Is it a great ad or is it stolen from Burger King? And I'm gonna take the position against.

this advertisement and Jason's gonna take it four. So Jason, sorry buddy to put you in the hot seat, but you're for this happy, or smile less happy meals, so why don't you kick off the debate. What is your take on this ad and why is it great? Got it. I actually do think it's a great ad because mental health awareness is something that we need to talk about. If it's reminiscent of a Burger King ad, so be it. I don't think it's a blatant copy.

But at the end of the day, the more that we're talking about it, especially with kids these days, the more important. I feel like it's such a, like a taboo subject. It's getting closer and closer every day that people are like, it's okay to be sad. It's okay to have feelings. It's okay to be whatever the thing is. So I think as long as we're talking about it, I'm happy with it.

I feel like it's definitely reminiscent of that Burger King ad, but like, does it really matter? At the end of the day, I think it's just important that we're talking about it, especially in a happy meal with kids and making sure that they know it's okay to be sad. It's okay to feel whatever feelings they feel. What was the Burger King ad? Like I'm, maybe I'm not as hip and cool as the other kids out there, but what was the Burger King ad? don't remember. The Burger King one was...

They also have Happy Meals. I don't know if we're allowed to say that, but they had the same boxes, but they were just all different feelings. So was like sadness, happiness, anger, upset, whatever those feelings are. And it just said, I feel this. So it was all different colors, different boxes, different everything. Okay. So this is why I think it's a crappy ad and why I think it's just marketing.

BS again, and this is what pisses me off about the industry is like we put our like some strategist and some creative agency, they have mental health awareness and they feel like kids need to talk about this sort of thing and they don't realize that actually, a happy meal is a childhood memory of getting something, getting a happy meal.

a happy part of my memory is getting a happy meal. And now they're just like polluting that with, it's not necessarily a happy meal anymore. It's about mental health awareness. And it's like kids don't give a shit about mental health. They don't give a shit about mental health awareness. They just give a shit about getting their happy meal, getting a toy and getting that nice burger and the nice fries and enjoying their day. And actually like.

It's supposed to be a thing where you forget about your mental health problems, not remember those mental health issues. And yes, kids might have those issues, but what is the point of trying to like drum it up in a space in your, or a place in your life where you're supposed to be happy? You're supposed to be like, okay, forget all your troubles. Here's a happy meal. Enjoy it. Now we're like throwing this on the kids and be like, but maybe you're not always happy. Maybe we should talk about those things. And it's like, come on.

Really? Is that where we are with the culture right now that we need to like impose on kids like, you might have some issues and let's talk about those issues instead of just here's your Happy Meal, enjoy it. Sorry. I am just... I wonder... You wanted me to be against it. I didn't want anything. This is just what you decided. I hear you completely. But, Jesus. Yeah, like I think at the end of the day, Happy Meals are Happy Meals and this is for a week. A week campaign.

week W -E -A -K, a week campaign, a week long campaign to say, it's okay to campaign, it's a week -ass No, it's not. It's just saying it's okay to have feelings. And now back to your regularly scheduled happy meal box. But at the end of the day, I think that the more the merrier, maybe. But the more that we can get out there that it's okay to have feelings and talk about your feelings, the better. Because we're losing too many kids, we're losing too many people to sadness and stress and anger and all that instead of just saying, hey,

It's okay to talk about it. And if you need help, talk to us. That's all I'm saying. On a fucking happy meal? Yes, on a fucking happy meal, because it's okay to not be happy all the time.

It's just the wrong, and it's for a week. It's like, it's just the wrong for, like, nope, this ain't gonna make a blip on anybody's life when it comes Then why are we talking about it, Chris? I Because it's an ad land. Our creative, you know, hubris, some ad agency is like, this is a great, and also, you know, McDonald's buying that crap. It's like, they don't even understand their own product. They don't even understand, like, you're supposed to be a happy meal.

It's not supposed to be a, let's talk about your feelings meal. Let's, let's cut the crap here. This is only for somebody to check off some CSR box that, did we do something good for mental health this year? Okay. Yes. Yes. Remember we did a week. We changed the box. There was no smiley face on it. Actually we saved money on printing. Amazing. Well, marketing combat today. Jason is for children.

and their emotional well -being, and Chris is against it. What do you think? Tell us in the comments. am. All right, so yeah, great ad or not great ad, Jason was for it. He thought it was good to recognize the feelings of children. I also think it's a ripoff. That wasn't the spot you're supposed to take. He's changing his position. I'm not changing anything except that. Okay, he thinks it's a ripoff. I don't think it's a great ad. think it's adults adulting and thinking that this matters.

and pandering and I think it's a CSR initiative that's gone awry and McDonald's is forgetting their place in the world these days, which is they are supposed to bring happiness. How many kids are like, man, I can't wait to get some McDonald's in my life. It's going to like, you know, cure all of those mental health issues. But I'm against it. Jason was for it. We'd love to know your opinion. If you're watching this episode from wherever you are in the world, maybe you're having a happy meal, maybe you're not. Keep listening. We got more coming. We got more videos all the time. Subscribe.

all those buttons that you can just mash the keyboard. We're gonna try to make them five minutes from now on. No we're not. We're gonna try. See you guys on the next episode. Goodbye. Thanks for tuning in.