Original Advertisement: McDonald’s “You Can’t Run From Us Forever”

This was a fairly recent advertisement released by the fast-food giant chain McDonald’s. As is the common trend nowadays, there is a trend of moving away from the traditional more convenient diets that may consist of fast-food junk meals to a more health-conscious one, like the Paleo diet which sees total eradication of processed foods from one’s diet. Indeed, now many see fast-food chain meals like McDonald’s to be a sort of guilty pleasure meal to only be eaten once in a while, instead of regularly.  However, the movement away from regularly eating junk food is not one without reason. A long list of studies has continuously shown and prove how terrible junk food truly is for our health in the long-run. Eating excessive amounts of processed foods are related to health risks relating to cardiovascular health. “Despite the trend toward calorie counting, green eating, and plant-based diets, we at McDonald’s will track you down—and we will feed you,” said Terri Hickey, McDonald’s senior manager of global corporate communications, adding that those who think they aren’t susceptible to the restaurant’s offerings calling out that these groups of people would inevitable one day find themselves hungry with only the convenience of a McDonald’s meal as the option between having food and starving.

Subverted Advertisement:

The main thing that I wanted to jam from the original advertisement was inspired by the slogan of the ad as well as the statement made by the company representative of the fact that convenience will triumph over efforts to be more health-conscious. I believe the phrase “You Can’t Run From Us Forever” is perfect to summarize the fact that those loyal customers of the chain who may not be able to run away from the side effects of their diet in the future, with obesity in the center, as I believe that is the most common problem for many individuals who are in a primarily junk-food diet. I looked up for possible health risks that have rise/ may give rise to this unhealthy diet. From this culture jam ad, I do not wish to shame anyone in any way that has adopted/conformed to this diet. It is sometimes the most convenient meal to have, and also among the cheapest one, too. Switching to a healthier diet is often costlier than purchasing a $5 burger. However, it is important that with this in mind, the health risks are also highlighted in order to raise awareness. In this case, McDonald’s is trying to raise more attention to them in the face of the decline of appeal of this type of meal. However, I believe it is important for the media to be transparent about the things they are advocating for, just as a cigarette box is required to have disclaimers of side effects that may give rise to its use, albeit even that also comes with its own problems. We need to be more aware of what we are putting in our body, even though the technology is advancing and health care system and services seem to be improving, it is still ridiculously expensive and out of reach for many of us. Minimizing the problem at its root, with highlighting a healthier diet, will help eliminate possible problems that may arise in later days.

References:

The Onion (2019). https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainment/humor/mcdonalds-appealing-to-health-conscious-consumers-with-new-you-cant-run-from-us-forever-ad-campaign/ar-AAHqTUV