The marketing boys at McDonald’s must have been lovin’ it when they came up with what must have seemed to them like a great PR stunt back in March.
As part of their ongoing strategy to fatten up young people – no, sorry, that’s not true at all – as part of their ongoing strategy to increase their profits from young people, they came up with the brilliant idea of getting rappers to promote their burgers. Not in ads, you understand, but actually in their songs. Hard to believe, I know, but that’s what they had in mind.
And they were willing to pay for it. In a twist on the kind of product placement now commonplace in movies, they were hoping that some of hip-hop’s finest might be persuaded to mention the Big Mac in their rhymes. In return, they said, they would pay them up to $5 (£2.84) for every time it was played on the radio.
McDonald’s finally admitted this week that they have not had to pay out one red cent, let alone 50, to rappers in exchange for a tribute to the Big Mac.
“We have not identified the right opportunity, muthafucka,” said a spokesman (apart from the last bit, obviously), adding: “We have not yet identified the match that we’ve been looking for.”
Because it was never a great PR stunt. It was based on the idea that it would give McDonald’s some credibility among the youth market. But, being a predominantly white, suit-and-tie kind of corporation, they forgot to look at it from the rapper’s point of view. They forgot that it’s not cool for a rapper, whose career depends on “keeping it real” to sell his soul to a white multinational corporation. Even if it is their preferred breakfast, lunch and dinner of choice (and I’m reliably informed that the average US rapper keeps it real by maintaining a strict fast-food diet – particularly in the case of the late, great and self-evidently fat Notorious BIG).
So while it got them a lot of publicity at the time, it was a bad idea because they were never going to be able to follow through. And it doesn’t help that Mac rhymes with “whack” (which, as anyone remotely familiar with the lexicon of rap will tell you, means “crap”). Oh yes, and “heart attack”.
You have to wonder what planet some of these PR guys live on?
Is this writer joking or does he actually believe the stereotypes his article refers to? First off, many rappers have sold their name, music and likeness to “white” corporations for money and promotion. To say otherwise is ridiculous. This article seems juvenile in a way. It is very uneducated and lacks any significant or accurate quotes or references.
This seems highly spurious! McD was going to pay $5 for every time the song was played?? Think of the business model: If McD birthed this idea then watch out: they’re going to run the company into the dust. On the other hand, maybe this all comes out of the same watercloset as a certain alligator in New York.
What is really funny is that in the late 80’s Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock had a song “It Takes Two” and the standout line was;
“I like the Whopper, f**k the Big Mac”
Have to wonder if that counts as a mention, the album went platinum and was played to death on the radio. I would love to see the contract language that would prevent this type of line, or the morals clauses about misogyny, rape, theft, guns etc and how many lines or stanzas anything offensive to middle america would have to be placed away from the product name.
Since I agree with the Rob Base assessment of the burger standards, I might be biased against the Big Mac.
A bad idea that fortunately will never work.
American’s eating habits need to change. Part of that change is to stop bombarding us with ads for less then healthy foods.
I think the picture is a good parody.
didnt they do that with justin timberlake as well?