Today's quote of the day comes from the blog The Daily (Ad) Biz, in a post about McDonald's leaping onto "the corporate social responsibility bandwagon": Fonzie’s strapping on his skis as we speak.
The post referenced a McDonald's ad touting the company's fair hiring practices (click on the image below for a larger version). The Biz was critical of McDonald's chest-pounding (as was AdRants), calling it "tangental to the product offering" with "trit
e copy that is kinda familiar." As such, the McDonald's ad was further proof that the entire notion of corporate responsibility has "jumped the shark."
In this case, I think McDonald's is damned if it does, damned if it doesn't. Tell the world that you strive to employ a diverse workforce, and they criticize you for being self-congratulatory. Don't say anything, however, and they'll assume you're not socially conscious. At least by spending money on your message, you're showing the world that you think diversity matters. Is McDonald's doing it for selfish reasons? Maybe. But I'll take selfish aspirational ads over selfish misanthropic ads any day.
But back to that quote for a minute. Whether or not I completely agree with the sentiment of the post, "Fonzie’s strapping on his skis as we speak" is a fine turn of phrase. So, to you, The Biz, I say: "Ayyyyyyyyyyyy!" And if you know anything about The Fonz, you'll know that's high praise indeed.
If you're completely lost, here's some info on The Fonz and the origin of the phrase "jump the shark." BONUS COVERAGE: click here to learn whether your favorite TV show has jumped a shark of its own.
Monday, March 10, 2008
SBB to The Daily (Ad) Biz: "Ayyyyyyyyyyyyyy!"
Stumble it!
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1 comment:
Thanks for the shout-out. Every once in a while I come up with something memorable.
I agree with your assessment of McDonald's position, they are a in a tough spot and damned if they do and damned if they don't.
I can't decide if CSR is something that is getting played out because everyone is doing it (and it is therefore not breakthrough) or if it has become a cost of doing business these days. Hopefully the latter, though the originality of the advertising might suffer.
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