McDonald's advertising

"I'm lovin' it" redirects here. For the Justin Timberlake single, see I'm Lovin' It.

See also: List of McDonald's ad programs

Template:Infobox McDonald's McDonald's has for decades maintained an extensive advertising campaign. In addition to the usual media (television, radio, and newspaper), the company makes significant use of billboards and signage, sponsors sporting events ranging from Little League to the Olympic Games, and makes coolers of orange drink with their logo available for local events of all kinds. Nonetheless, television has always played a central role in the company's advertising strategy.

To date, McDonald's has used 23 different slogans in United States advertising, as well as a few other slogans for select countries and regions. At times, it has run into trouble with its campaigns.

History

There have been many McDonald's advertising campaigns and slogans over the years. The company is one of the most prevalent fast food advertisers. McDonald's Canada's corporate website states that the commercial campaigns have always focused on the "overall McDonald's experience", rather than just product. The purpose of the image has always been "portraying warmth and a real slice of every day life." Its TV ads, showing various people engaging in popular activities, usually reflect the season and time period. Finally, they have never in their advertising history used negative or comparison ads pertaining to any of their competitors; the ads have always focused on McDonalds alone.

Controversies

See also: McDonald's legal cases

In 1996, the British adult comic magazine Viz accused McDonald's of plagiarizing the name and format of its longstanding Top Tips feature, in which readers offer sarcastic tips. McDonald's had created an advertising campaign of the same name, which suggested the Top Tips (and then the alternative — save money by going to McDonald's). Some of the similarities were almost word-for-word:

"Save a fortune on laundry bills. Give your dirty shirts to Oxfam. They will wash and iron them, and then you can buy them back for 50p." — Viz Top Tip, published May 1989.

"Save a fortune on laundry bills. Give your dirty shirts to a second-hand shop. They will wash and iron them, and then you can buy them back for 50p." — McDonald's advert, 1996.

The case was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum, which was donated to the charity Comic Relief. However, many Viz readers believed that the comic had given permission for their use, leading to Top Tips submissions such as: "Geordie magazine editors. Continue paying your mortgage and buying expensive train sets ... by simply licensing the Top Tips concept to a multinational burger corporation."

In 2003, a ruling by the UK Advertising Standards Authority determined that the corporation had acted in breach of the codes of practice in describing how its french fries were prepared. A McDonald's print ad stated that "after selecting certain potatoes" "we peel them, slice them, fry them and that's it." It showed a picture of a potato in a McDonald's fries box. In fact the product was sliced, pre-fried, sometimes had dextrose added, was then frozen, shipped, and re-fried and then had salt added.

Current campaign

i'm lovin' it is an international branding campaign by McDonald's Corporation. It was created by Heye & Partner, a longtime McDonald's agency based in Unterhaching, Germany, near Munich, and a member of the DDB Worldwide Communications Group, Inc. It was the company's first global advertising campaign and was launched in Munich, Germany on September 2, 2003, under the German title ich liebe es. The English part of the campaign was launched in the UK on September 25, 2003 and in the USA on September 29, 2003 with the music of Tom Batoy and Franco Tortora (Mona Davis Music) and vocals by Justin Timberlake, in which the slogan appears. In 2007, after a public casting call which received 15,000 submissions, McDonald's selected 24 people to appear as part of the campaign. Images of those chosen, who had submitted a story and digital photograph which "captured ... themes of inspiration, passion and fun," appeared on McDonald's paper bags and cups worldwide.

In Spring 2008, McDonald's underwent the first phase of their new image and slogan: 'What we're made of.' This was to promote how McDonald's products are made. Packaging was tweaked a little to feature this new slogan. In Fall 2008, McDonald's introduced new packaging, eliminating the previous design stated above with new, inspirational messages, the "I'm lovin it" slogan. (appearing only once on most packages). McDonald's also updated their menu boards with darker, yet warmer colors, more realistic photos of the products featured on plates and the drinks in glasses. In 2009 they expect to have all of this nationwide.

Translations

Title	Language	Countries	Literal meaning
i’m lovin’ it	English	United States, Canada, Denmark, Guam, Japan, Australia, Austria, Sint Maarten, United Kingdom, Hong Kong, The Bahamas, New Zealand, Ireland, Austria, Belgium, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Andorra, Thailand, Luxembourg, Italy, Serbia, South Korea, France, Hungary, Kazakstan, Russia, People's Republic of China, Indonesia, Sweden, Greece, Czech Republic, Poland, Monaco, Brunei, Yemen, Morocco, Northern Mariana Islands, Iceland, Israel, Slovenia, Kuwait, New Caledonia, Oman, Bulgaria, Norway, Bahrain, Latvia, United Arab Emirates, Estonia, Romania, Malta, Slovakia, South Africa, Qatar, Croatia, Samoa, Fiji, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, India, Jordan, Dominican Republic, Belarus, Cyprus, Macedonia, Isle of Man, Suriname, Moldova, Lebanon, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Georgia, San Marino, Gibraltar, Azerbaijan, American Samoa, Mauritius, Montenegro, Portugal, Spain, Austria, Switzerland, Finland	I am loving it.
simplified Chinese: 我就喜欢; traditional Chinese: 我就喜歡; pinyin: wǒ jiù xǐhuān	Chinese	China, Taiwan, United States, Singapore, Malaysia	I just like (it).
ich liebe es	German	Germany	I love it.
أنا أحبه (ana uħibbuhu) as well as اكيد بحبه (akid behibuhu)	Arabic	Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Template:Country data Arabia	I love it. / Of course I love it.
c’est tout ce que j’aime	French	France	It's everything that I love.
c’est ça que j’m	Canadian French	Canada	It's that which I love. (j'm = j'aime.)
J’m	Canadian French	Canada	I love. (Written with golden arches for the m.)
love ko ‘to	Taglish	Philippines	I love this. ('to = ito)
me encanta	Spanish	Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, Uruguay, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Peru, United States, Venezuela	I love it. (lit. It enchants me.)
me encanta todo eso	Spanish	Chile	I love all that. (lit. All that enchants me.)
amo muito tudo isso	Portuguese	Brazil	I love all this a lot.
is breá liom é	Irish	Ireland	It's great with me
işte bunu seviyorum	Turkish	Turkey	This is what I love.
вот что я люблю	Russian	Russia	That is what I love.
я це люблю	Ukrainian	Ukraine	I love this.
man tas patīk	Latvian	Latvia	I like it.

Promotional partners

Cross promotions

• NASCAR
  Starting in 2008, McDonald's sponsored Elliott Sadler's #19 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series entry for 6 events (in the U.S.). Over time McDonald's has sponsored numerous NASCAR cars including Bill Elliott's car, Jimmy Spencer, Andy Houston, and Kasey Kahne. McDonald's racing not only sponsors NASCAR cars but also sponsors other racing series/divisions, including the #02 McDonald's car of Graham Rahal in the IndyCar Series.
  • Bobby Hamilton, Jr.'s #35 car Busch Series
  • Kasey Kahnes #9 Dodge car in the NEXTEL Cup Series
  • Bill Elliott
  • Hut Stricklin #23 Winston Cup (now Sprint Cup) car
  • Jimmy Spencer
  • Andy Houston

• IndyCar Series
  • Graham Rahal's #02 car

Celebrity spokespersons

• Michael Jordan
• Kobe Bryant
• Charles Barkley
• Venus Williams
• Destiny's Child (2004-2005)
• Justin Timberlake (2003)
• Ashanti (2003)

See also

• Burger King advertising
• Fast food advertising
• McDonaldland
• Ronald McDonald