From the classic cheeseburger, to the egg Mcmuffins, Mcdonald’s is expanding their menu with the addition of products like hormone and antibiotic free chicken and kale salads. This menu expansion is in effort for the company to keep sales revenue constant through the 21st century consumer preference shift revolving around “healthy living”.
According to Ximena Diaz Lopez’s blog, McDonald’s is altering their brand image deceivingly in order to conform to consumer demands. This is exemplified with the addition of healthy food options such as oatmeal and salads to entice customers seeking healthy alternatives to still choose McDonald’s to eat at. However these “healthy” food additions at McDonald’s are in fact unhealthier than a burger. For example, a caesar salad from McDonald’s is higher in calories, fat and sodium than a Double Big Mac . Therefore, Ximena believes that “This marketing strategy is being used to increase sales but (is also) fundamentally dishonest.”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQy9vtNOs80
Although I believe that there is validity in Ximena’s statement with her claiming that McDonald’s strategy is being utilized to increase sales, I do not fully agree with the fact that she claims that McDonald’s is being dishonest. At most, I would classify McDonald’s’ marketing as borderline deceiving. Looking at the short commercial above, McDonald’s has not once claimed that their salad is healthy nor better in nutritional value that its burgers. It clearly presents a salad and associates it with being “seriously delicious” not “seriously healthy”. However, society deems salads as healthy, therefore one would assume that a salad from McDonald’s would be healthier than a Big Mac. Therefore, their marketing may not be ethically valid, however the object of McDonald’s is not to be an ethically sound company. After all, they are selling fast food which is detrimental to one’s health.
As such, McDonald’s goal is to maintain their high position and stable revenue in the market. Due to the 21st century fade of “healthy living”, McDonald’s experienced lower sales revenue compared to normal. 
Consequently, McDonald’s evolved its menu to cater towards the new consumer preference of “healthy living”. Personally, I believe that this was a clever way to differentiate McDonald’s from other fast food chains, while accommodating the wants of consumers. Moreover, this showcases the importance of product adaptation for the continual success of a company. Despite McDonald’s already have a strong stance in the market, the company had to adapt to accommodate evolving consumer wants in order to avoid extensive decrease in revenue sales.
Therefore, McDonald’s cleverly adapted their menu to accommodate the shift in consumer preference which allowed them to reignite their revenue sales. Thus, the company achieved their goal of regaining revenue sales through product adaption in an unethically marketed way.
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Image Source: https://i.cbc.ca/1.3432205.1454529000!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_620/mcdonalds-big-mac-salad.jpg
http://www.freeestufffinder.ca/coupons-mcdonalds-healthier-menu/
Blog Source:
https://blogs.ubc.ca/ximenadiazlopez/
Video Source:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v-rQy9vtNos80
