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  1. #1
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    I guess Ronald's hair is kind of nappy, but still...

    Why does McDonald's spend so much on advertising seemingly targeted to black audiences? There's the "hip-hop" commercials, the old commercials with the little black girl giving a Father's Day speech at school, the "A Sista Needs To Eat" train & bus ads, and now...I just saw a commercial featuring four computer animated sistahs sitting around going "hm, girl" and "yes, honey-chile" over some *salad*. Huh?

    Anybody have any insight on this? I can't fathom why McD's would target us in their advertising so much...


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  2. #2
    Sunchild is offline Active Nappturality Member
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    Man get out of my head!

    I was trying to gather my thoughts on this topic for a blog entry, aftering seeing their new animated commercial for this new salad.

    The conspiracy theorist in me is saying they are trying to get Blacks to eat more of their cheap no good food to kill us off faster....

    Im playing, but Im really not. :icon_eek13:

  3. #3
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    Originally posted by afrikankween@May 10 2005, 06:26 PM
    Man get out of my head!

    I was trying to gather my thoughts on this topic for a blog entry, aftering seeing their new animated commercial for this new salad.

    The conspiracy theorist in me is saying they are trying to get Blacks to eat more of their cheap no good food to kill us off faster....

    Im playing, but Im really not. :icon_eek13:
    [snapback]842502[/snapback]
    I had that thought for a minute....

    The thing that tweaks me most about the ads is that they're always just a little *off* in their depiction of black culture...like in the ad where the guy looks at the sandwich and says "I'd hit it!" Uh...waitasec...is that supposed to be serious?


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  4. #4
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    LOL @ 'i'd hit it' :lol: do they really SAY that!!?? :lol: :lol: :lol:

    in essence, i agree w/kween. if you do just a LITTLE bit of thinking about the availability of fresh food, good groceries, and nutritional choices in primarily black and/or urban areas, as compared with the amount of fast food, junk food, bodegas, and substandard supermarkets with rotting vegetables, it reads like straight up nutritional genocide.

    check out http://b-healthy.org/ for an activism/educational program all about educating youth about nutrition; and do a google for 'food justice' to find out more about the sociological impact of bad nutrition and targeted marketing, and what some people are doing to impact change.

    on the other hand, and before i get all 'conspiracy brother' on you, mc donalds is just trying to make a buck, like any good Evil Predatory Multinational Corporation ought to. they know that we eat awfully, historically; they know that america as a whole eats awfully but that black folks spend more on just about everything than our white counterparts; we're a choice market.

    queue up the hiphop!! let's all 'hit' that big mac, sistagurl, mmmhhmmmm, yeah my man!! right on and get down on a salad my damie! (and other assorted badly contextualized slang) :rolleyes:
    & that's all i have to say about that. ;)

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  5. #5
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    I did a bit of research, and of course I couldn't find an article that said, "this is how and why we market to black people," especially with a company like McDonald's. But here's a link to what I found, which gives some information about the Chief Marketing Officer of McD's being black.

    McDonalds' Black Marketing Executives

    I also remember that Burrell Communications, a Chicago-based ad agency, does the ads that McD's aims specifically at black target markets. McD's also has a hispanic agency that does all of the ads aimed at that market.

    Here's the text of an article I found on Lexis Nexis re: rap music used in company jingles; there's a mention of McDonald's. Kinda related to the "how" question of the McD's marketing.

    Copyright 2005 Newsquest Media Group
    All rights reserved
    Data in Image
    The Herald (Glasgow)

    March 30, 2005

    SECTION: FEATURES; Pg. 14

    LENGTH: 839 words

    HEADLINE: Who's going to take the rap for it?

    BYLINE: BETH PEARSON

    BODY:


    QUACK. Stack. Track.

    Black. Attack. Spore sac. Dental plaque.

    Those rappers who agree to mention Big Macs in their lyrics as part of a McDonald's marketing campaign won't be short of rhymes.

    The fast-food company plans to pay hip hop stars between Dollars1Dollars5 (53p-[pounds]2.6 per radio play for songs that name-check the company's trademark burger in a way that promotes the brand.

    As novel as this marketing manoeuvre is, we should not be surprised. McDonald's seems immensely proud of its clean, green advertisements of salads and bagels for the middle classes, but its core market remains junk food. A company that simultaneously pursues two diametrically-opposed images needs stealth marketing, and this is it.

    Rap tracks are on the radio one minute and gone the next, while name-checks lodge themselves in the memory of rap fans rather than pervade the public domain. The introduction of a middle-man in baggy jeans reduces corporate responsibility:

    it's not brainwashing kids, just an artist giving fans an informal personal endorsement of a product, for a fee.

    Nor is it shocking that rap music is the chosen medium. It has for nearly two decades demonstrated its ability to boost sales of products through lyrical endorsement. This began in 1986 with Run DMC's My Adidas, which was naive by today's standards - the group just liked the sneakers - but nevertheless set in motion a now well-established pattern of unsolicited endorsement = sales increase = business deal.

    We've seen sales of Courvoisier rocket following Busta Rhymes's Pass the Courvoisier - his management company struck a deal with the drink's producer, Allied Domecq, after the sales stats came in. After Nelly dedicated the song Air Force Ones to his favourite pair of Nikes, he got his own shoe.

    Maven Strategies, the marketing company McDonald's has hired to execute the plan, apparently managed to get Seagram's gin mentioned in five rap tracks last year. Given that it was first voluntarily endorsed by Snoop Dogg in 2001, however, the success rate may be down to the legitimising effect of peer endorsement rather than the promise of payment and complementary gin.

    At least, one hopes this is the case. Rap music has become an increasingly commercial enterprise over the past decade or so and, while this has somewhat monotonised the quality and content of the music, it at least brought the genre to a wider audience. As well as doing deals with sports, drinks and food companies, rap stars have launched their own businesses, from mogul Damon Dash's Armadale vodka and Roc-AWear clothing line to Nelly's vitamin-fortified Pimp Juice (not to mention his Vokal men's clothing line, Apple Bottoms women's line and company, Derrty Entertainment) .

    The deal offered by McDonald's may seem nothing more than the logical progression of rap music's relationship with the business world, but it isn't.

    It's one thing to plug products you personally endorse then reap the rewards; quite another to write rhymes-to-order that require company approval before the pay starts rolling in.

    Where product placement occurs in film and television, the product is secondary to the action. In rap songs, however, the words are everything.

    Hitherto, the tacit policy has been that lyrics are written on request only for other artists and that products are only mentioned if the rapper likes or uses them. Sell lyrics and you sell your identity. Sell your identity and you sell the countercultural heart of rap.

    Some say it has already been destroyed during the gradual transition from the political concerns of Public Enemy to the material indulgence of P Diddy. Yet that is justifiable, to some extent. Rap differs from other genres of music in that it operates in real-time, generally favouring events over themes and action over emotion. Politics was happening when Public Enemy addressed racism and this defined hip hop as a counter-cultural force. Then consumerism came along and P Diddy began listing his cars, women and choice of brandy.

    The problem is that consumerism has no counter-culture and even if it did, it's not clear that rappers would want to be a part of it. Aspiration, after all, is about belonging, not differentiation (having said that, there is something amusingly ironic about the prospect of aspirational rappers choosing to work for McDonald's and name-checking burgers instead of top-of-the-range Bentleys) .

    It's a long time since any mainstream rapper echoed the Run DMC lyric "Calvin Klein's no friend of mine" and, crucially, the closer rap veers towards corporate - establishment - endorsement, the more it risks negating itself. The clearest example of this so far, though it will easily be eclipsed by the McDonald's cash-for-rhymes fiasco, if it comes to fruition, was when KRS-One performed a version of Gil Scott Heron's The Revolution Will Not Be Televised for a Nike commercial. In seconds, the foundations of hip hop were inverted.

    Those left despairing realised that, when artforms go bankrupt, it's not about how much money is in the bank.


  6. #6
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    I agree with the theories that have already been posted.

    Also...

    There's the idea that anything that's depicted as "black" or "urban" in the media is considered "cool" by the masses. IMO, Mickey-D's is just using the easiest gimmic(sp?) they can find to make money.
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  7. #7
    charli is offline Active Nappturality Member
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    McDonalds targets us because, as a group, we care the least about the quality of food that we eat. Yeah, blanket generalization, but so what, it's true.

    I mean, look at when people start any type of home cooking thread on this board and the stuff they post about with fond memories.

    Pork smothered, fat laden comfort food full of starches devoid of vegetables that are not either
    A) cooked with pork (i.e. greens and ham hocks)
    B) drenched in sugar (i.e. candied yams)

    Who else are they gonna target? We don't (categorically) read nutrition labels on food boxes, we think eating organic and healthy is bougie.

    Look at other ethnic cultures in this country. Latino, Asian, Native American... they have histories of farming of home cooking wholesome food. Black people in THIS country, what do we have a history of? Eating scraps from the slave master's table.

    I hate it. When a cousin of mine was little (this is how you KNOW when you deal with some folks) couldn't eat pancakes without drenching them in syrup. Thought the only way to cook eggs was fried, constantly ate egg mcmuffins for breakfast and quarter pounders for dinner.

    Please don't say it was because of options.

    Because where we live (northern california), where THEY live, I mean tons and tons of farmer's markets, whole foods grocery stores, trader joe's, organic food stores, vegetable markets, I mean tons of this stuff. They even have farmers markets in the hood so people really don't have an excuse. You don't have to drive out to the burbs to get to one.

    It wasn't money because that was before the dollar menu and at that time they were getting HELLA money in food stamps and MickeyD's doesn't take food stamps. So it wasn't about the money.

    It was just piss poor choices.

    Then we blame genetics for diet related diseases.

    They target us because we'll eat that ish. Without question.

    Wanna hear something funny?

    I've been a vegetarian for years. You know how some people LOVE to make fun of veggies, oh what you eat tofu ice cream? Anyhow, there was some type of 'scandal' where it was reported that McDonalds was putting soy in their hamburgers.

    Do you know negroes had the nerve to get all irate and ish?

    I mean, come on, soy? I mean that's a hell of a lot better than what they USUALLY make their burgers with. Did you know McD's is the largest consumer of beef in the country? Did you know that labs that make fragrances (as in perfumes) make the additives that give their burgers and fries (and other foods) their flavor and scent?

    Soy would have been one hell of an improvement, I tell you.
    gigglezk- she comes over to np to air her dirty laundry but then can't handle it when we tell her her draws stank

    AnaisKarim- There really are gender differences and there is nothing wrong with that as long as we recognize them and don't get continually blindsided by the constant quest for equality in every little thing. I feel my worth is equal to a man, but my function doesn't have to mirror his.

    AnaisKarim- Hardheadedness and the inability to learn from the mistakes of others are two of the things that are causing quite a bit of grief for black women in the US today. We too often look for the one exception to the rule to justify making poor choices.

    utamu- I love how talk of sexual openness turns into women needing to be willing to do any and everything to please their man (against her own preferences) because god forbid he'll cheat. We can't proclaim the era of sexual freedom and tolerance while telling women they need to be held hostage by a man's sexuality.

  8. #8
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    Once again I find myself agreeing with Charli.

    Though I will say this: Other cultures' current food habits aren't necessarily healthier than ours. Diabetes is running rampant in the reservations, as well as in Latino communities.

    And just because Chinese or Thai food (just to name two Asian cultures) has veggies in it doesn't mean it's healthier. Yeah, you're probably getting more fiber than that Big Mac, but you're also getting some fat too. That's something I had to learn the hard way because I LOVE Asian food in general. Nowadays the only Asian food I pick up on a regular basis (once a week...I've cut down) is sushi.

    Okay, I have to say one more thing: I am PAST SICK AND TIRED of black folks always calling something an attempt at genocide. At what point do people stop being victims and start taking responsibility for their own lives? (Maybe for some of us it&#39;ll be after that first heart attack. <_< )
    Hello, 2021. Glad to see you. Hope you're bringing us goodness and light this year!

  9. #9
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    I gotta agree with Charli on this. I see what she is talking about first hand. My mother and I try to be very health conscious about our food. Only fresh or frozen veggies. No can veggies. As much fruit as possible. Whole wheat bread, baked or sauteed food, etc. My oldest sister is the worse culprit when it comes to hating this food. She thinks we&#39;re bougie for trying to eat healthy and is always eating chips, candy, junk food, etc. I mean one time she brought white bread and can veggies and red meat and my mother flipped. My sister thought she was going crazy and just couldn&#39;t understand why my mother was getting so upset, especially when the food that she brought was cheaper than all the stuff that we normally buy. I mean we&#39;ve tried to tell her how beneficial healthy eating is and it&#39;s like she just doesn&#39;t give a damn. Give her junk food, her McD&#39;s, her Pepsi. Nevermind the fact that she is overweight, doesn&#39;t have health insurance, has blood pressure that is high, ankles that are always swollen, and an 11 year old daugther who weighs more than me and is a bigger dress size than me. It&#39;s sickening! :angry: Black people have choices and when it&#39;s comes to our diet and health we make the most f***ed up choices. When some of us try to make the right choices, we&#39;re called bougie. WTF! I didn&#39;t know that taking care of my health was such an uppity thing to do. Black people need to stop blaming everyone else for our bad health decisions and just be more proactive and positive about our health. It&#39;s that simple. <_<

  10. #10
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    20 years ago the Black community (spearheaded by Jackson/PUSH I believe) were complaining about under representation in the commercial media. The community was upset because we spent money at McDonald’s but weren’t “equally” represented in there advertising… how times change.

    I don’t think McDonald’s is the problem… I think we have become lazy and gluttonous. I tell my daughter all the time that we used to brag about having McDonald’s for dinner… “I got McDonald’s”… it was a treat. But we have moved to Micky D’s as a mainstay… gross.

    People act like it’s child abuse if your child doesn’t eat McDonald’s at least weekly. And people justify their poor choices when McDonald’s is just giving the people what they will want.

    As for soul food… shoot I think I would be better off if I had continued to eat food my great-grandmother prepared.

    Yeah most veggies were cooked with pork but for flavor (1 or 2 ham hocks for a gallon sized pot of greens)… We had candied sweets, corn bread with butter, fried chicken and fish… but it wasn’t until the community became prosperous that we (like other cultures) went WAY over board.

    Example… a stick of butter was set out on the table… but that butter had to last the whole week, shoot I’ve seen folks put almost a half a stick in a bowl of grits nowdays, back then Granny would have gotten my tail for “wasting” food and being greedy… One chicken or good size fish was fried but that was for 5 people now that is a “serving” for 2 or 3 people… shoot I’ve been to folks houses where all they ate was chicken and bread.

    Mac and cheese, dressing, chicken and dumplings, cobbler, were special treats for holidays, birthdays, etc… when you had a lot of folks coming to the house. Most times we had jell-o or some type of fruit for desert, if a cake or pie was made on Sunday it was expected to last ALL week with 5 people eating on it.

    Weekly we ate soups and stews loaded with veggies, beans and rice… We ate salad before every meal, and meals were rounded out with at least 3 veggies beets, cucumbers, greens, tomatos, okra, corn, carrots etc… Truth be told we couldn’t afford as much meat as is common today.

    I think the problem is that most people don’t cook anymore… when you cook you know what you are putting into the pot and how much on the plate… I think that we associate cooking with poverty and “the old way” and eating out as a sign of how far we have come… and it is killing us ~W
    GET INSPI(RED)

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