A McDonald’s advertisement in a foreign country is going viral after people realized just how different it is from advertisements here.
On Wednesday, McDonald’s Japan released a cute and wholesome ad on social media that showed an anime family happily enjoying a meal from McDonald’s while spending quality time together.
特別じゃない、しあわせな時間。 pic.twitter.com/P7Og6hbMsx
— マクドナルド (@McDonaldsJapan) September 20, 2023
This simple advertisement immediately went viral internationally, especially among Americans.
On the surface, it is hard to see why such a simple ad made such waves.
One journalist, however, had an answer: Westerners have forgotten what it means for a company to have messaging that appeals to the human experience. Instead of that, we’re subjected to divisive, politically-charged virtue signaling.
The reason this ad blew up is because it’s alien to us, for the West is no longer capable of producing basic messaging that speaks to the core of being human.
— Jonathan Wong (@WGthink) September 21, 2023
Compare this Japanese advertisement to an ad released by McDonald’s in 2020 that featured a black transgender activist who goes by the name of Imara Jones saying, “Black trans women have a very simple message: Stop killing us.”
“Black trans women have a very simple message: stop killing us” – @imarajoneshttps://t.co/KLsZbLzH7i pic.twitter.com/F7IGLPlAK4
— McDonald’s (@McDonalds) June 29, 2020
The theme of the bizarre advertisement, as well as the timing, suggests that this was McDonald’s way of pandering to the woke left in the wake of the death of George Floyd.
It is unclear how McDonald’s thought that this ad would help bring in more customers or sell more food, especially with how politically divided the nation was and still is.
Can you get my order right once before we get into social issues? Or fries that don’t appear to have been swept off the floor.
— Uncommon sense (@uncommoncents70) June 30, 2020
can i just get a 20 piece Mcnugget please?
— Eridani Specialist IS BACK! (@NewAndImprovedI) September 14, 2020
With this in mind, I think it is correct to say that the Japanese anime ad appeals to Westerners because it is wholesome and unifying, compared to the divisive political “ads” that companies in the West produce today.
Should McDonald’s change its strategy toward American consumers?
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Frankly, advertisements in the West are no longer advertisements, but rather vehicles for leftist propaganda.
This is not to say that McDonald’s or any major company should be holding the conservative line in the culture wars.
It is a fast-food company, and its first priority should be making good food, not creating divisive political messaging.
The Japanese McDonald’s has realized this. The American company should take a lesson from this.
