McDonald’s Propaganda
After browsing through the Mind Over Media website, I came across the McDonald’s propaganda that is featured in my presentation. Once I analyzed the image, I instantly felt very strong emotions toward it which I knew would make for a good presentation. Personally, I hate this advertisement because it is just an oversimplification of obesity and is making fun of people who are overweight.
I thought about what causes this advertisement to be so powerful and it was the fact that it serves us a “Us-Them” mentality. It is as if people who eat at McDonald’s are all overweight, when that is simply false. I eat at McDonald’s and other fast-food places on occasion, and I know a lot of my friends do as well, and we are not overweight. People eat at McDonald’s when they are in a rush and do not have time to meal prep at home, or sometimes people eat there and other fast-food places because they can’t afford other things. It is insensitive to create an advertisement like this as if people who eat fast-food are less than people who choose not to. In addition to this, when you compare a McDonald’s burger to a regular burger, they are not all that different from one another. Of course, if you eat a lot of McFlurries or drink sugary sodas, you will start to gain weight, but that is the same for any restaurant. Another reason why this advertisement is so harmful is because it elicits shame. If someone frequents McDonald’s, it might make them feel bad about themselves and internalize this ad, when their choices might be limited as to where to eat.
The main reasons why this advertisement is so effective is the strong emotions it elicits, its oversimplification of information, and its attacking on a group of people. These three qualities combined make it a very harmful piece of propaganda. It is grouping together people who eat at McDonald’s and people who are overweight, even though McDonald’s is not really that terrible for you, as long as you are taking care of yourself otherwise.
