Bite The Power! Examining the Ethics of McDonald’s Advertising Practices & Aiding Change

Understanding the Industry

The fast food industry is bustling, bringing approximately hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue annually. Alongside financial prosperity, the industry continuously shapes the societal understanding of American culture. McDonald’s, in particular, is one of those fast food restaurants that everyone knows, whether that is due to its delicious foods or global imprint, no one can get enough of the famous restaurant.

Since opening its doors in 1955, the chain has become a top competitor and dominating force in the industry due to its franchise-worthy menu and ability to adapt to consumer needs and societal changes. The company's success has led to 38,000 locations in 120 countries worldwide, with millions of employees (Corporate McDonald’s Home, n.d.).

Forbes's 2022 annual report on McDonald’s notes nearly $23.2 billion in revenue, $53.9 billion in assets, and 7.5$ billion in profits, making it the most successful fast food franchise in the world.

How the Industry Appeals to Audiences

McDonald’s ability to leverage basic business principles, specifically advertising, has undoubtedly led the brand to be the fast food giant it is today.

Understanding advertising principles can help transform any mundane business into a successful million-dollar company. More so, examining how we distinguish companies that sell similar products, using McDonald’s and Wendy’s as examples: both companies deliver quick, convenient, and tasty food to their audience. They both sell burgers, sides, soft drinks, and desserts. However, they stand out from one another due to their ability to distinguish themselves from their competitors by advertising their brand messages to their desired audiences. While most popular brands understand the strength of advertising, McDonald's has transformed an average burger restaurant into a global icon with the help of advertising and other business tools.

The Problem

Unfortunately, this superpower (in the eyes of small businesses looking to grow) has led the organization to face scrutiny for its lack of ethical advertising demonstrated toward prospects and current consumers.

The company has been accused of disproportionately advertising to Black and Brown communities, in comparison to White ones, and exhibiting predatory behavior by advertising to children and adolescent audiences, essentially causing many people to examine the ethicality of how McDonald’s reaches their target audience.

Historically, McDonald’s has been able to appeal to communities of color by relating to them culturally, previously demonstrated by McDonald’s early advertising practices that display an abundance of ethnic dialects or language used by particular communities. While McDonald’s has toned this down over time, they continuously incorporate many references to one's cultural identity by using the language of the community or incorporating cultural icons to sell a product and appeal to the desired audience. Despite advertising practices demonstrating that people tend to buy more into something that represents them, McDonald’s struggles to show people of color simply being people. Instead, the organization defaults to displaying performative marketing strategies, often implementing stereotypes that are proven to be harmful and inauthentic.

UConn Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health found that fast food marketers direct most of their advertising toward Black and Brown communities, in which “unhealthy food represented 86 percent of food advertising spent on black-targeted television programming, and 82 percent of advertising spending on Spanish-language television” (Combined Reports, para. 2, 2019). Additionally, In 2019, McDonald’s was one the “top advertisers that accounted for one-half of all ad spending on Black-target TV,” which has increased by more than 50% since 2017. Similarly, McDonald’s has remained a top Spanish-language TV advertiser, allocating nearly 10% of ad spend to Hispanic audiences (Harris et al, p 33-41, 2021).

Unfortunately, systematic racism has structured how we view health dating back to slavery when Black slaves could only eat the scraps of food from their White masters. Although we live in a modern society where slavery no longer exists, the same systematic barriers still apply through the infiltration of food insecure places or food deserts that primarily affect Black and Brown people living in low-income communities. These disparities are well reflected and reinforced within our food industry to the point where companies and advertisers determine what people receive ads geared towards healthier food options versus those who do not. Fast food and junk food organizations reinforce these narratives by over-appealing to these communities, further perpetuating the standard of unhealthy eating habits.

In addition to minority audiences, McDonald’s has faced backlash for their ads that target children and adolescent audiences. Despite legalities on what organizations can and can't advertise to children, the fast food industry has little to no restrictions on how they allude children to their food.

For decades, McDonald’s has tried to appeal to children through numerous efforts by sending McDonald's mascot, Ronald McDonald, to promote the restaurant in U.S. schools, or most infamously, promoting the Happy Meal, where kids receive a free game or toy, relevant to current youth trends with the purchase of the Happy Meal.

Unfortunately, this has led people to develop an uneasy attitude about the brand and how they prey upon children who cannot comprehend nutrition and healthy decision-making.

McDonald’s has worked to combat the narrative that they display unethical behavior towards children by limiting the caloric amount for all Happy Meal pairings and incorporating health-conscious side options within the Happy Meal, like apple slices. McDonald's has also tried to reduce the amount of sodium, fats, and other factors that promote diabetes, heart disease, and liver issues in Happy Meals. Yet, many people feel that the organization fails to do enough and that the problem lies within the products being entirely unhealthy.

According to a blog titled “McDonald’s Manipulative Use of Toys to Sell Happy Meals: A Huckster in Clown’s Clothing,” every Happy Meal configuration is “too high in calories–that is, it provides more than a third of an average child’s recommended 1,300 calories per day” and with the addition of a soft drink onto these meals, there are about two times as much of sugar that the U.S. The Department of Agriculture recommends a child consume in an entire day, similar to issues pertaining to the amount of sodium in a meal (Jacobson, 2010, para. 10).

To summarize, McDonald’s has gained the unfortunate reputation of targeting and preying on vulnerable communities who either cannot make healthy decisions due to their age, cannot make healthy decisions due to systematic racism, or both. Despite people of color and children being one of McDonald’s top audiences, the organization fails to understand how to pursue its audience ethically.

Aiding Change

So, why should McDonald’s, a billion-dollar corporation that continues to thrive, even care about these issues?

One reason the organization should care about is the recent emergence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) which has made it crucial for all organizations to recognize their position, power, and impact in society. For McDonald’s to continue to see long-term results for years to come, the organization must understand how it plays a part in perpetuating ongoing harmful stereotypes and narratives that prevent our society from becoming a better place for all humans to live in.

I believe there are four small and easy solutions that McDonald’s can do now to prevent further harm:

Increase Diversity Training

Hold frequent DEI seminars throughout the fiscal year to help increase marketing employees understanding of what harmful race-based marketing/predatory marketing looks like.

Create an “Ethical Standards & Guidelines for Marketing & Advertising to People of Color” Guidebook for Employees to Reference

Help employees create mindful content by providing a guidebook on messages that have the potential to be perceived as harmful to audiences of color.

Add Healthier Options

In a world where dehydrated veggies taste like potato chips anything is possible!

Trial Run – Only Add Toys to Happy Meals That Include A Healthy Side

Kids only get a toy if they eat those apples!

McDonald’s is undoubtedly a powerful and gratifying force, but in the words of the Spider-Man film, “with great power comes great responsibility,” it is now time for the organization to take responsibility for the role it plays in society and adopt more ethical advertising practices towards people of color and children.

Works Cited

Forbes Magazine. (n.d.). McDonald's | MCD Stock Price, company Overview & News. Forbes. Retrieved April 4, 2023, from https://www.forbes.com/companies/mcdonalds/?sh=a760b131ac7d

Harris, J. L., Fleming-Milici, F., Phaneuf, L., Jensen, M., Choi, Y. Y., McCann, M., & Mancini, S. (2021). (rep.). Fast food advertising: Billion in spending, continued high exposure by youth. Retrieved February 18, 2023, from

https://media.ruddcenter.uconn.edu/PDFs/FACTS2021.pdf.

Jacobson, M. (2021, February 1).

McDonald's manipulative use of toys to sell happy meals: A huckster in clown's clothing. MomsRising. Retrieved March 20, 2023, from https://www.momsrising.org/blog/mcdonalds-manipulative-use-of-toys-to-sell-happy-meals-a-huckster-in-clowns-clothing

McDonald's. (n.d.). Who we are. Home. Retrieved April 4, 2023, from https://corporate-qa.mcdonalds.com/corpmcd/our-company/who-we-are.html

Reports, C. (2019, January 18). Food Ads Target Black and Hispanic youth with unhealthy products. UConn Today. Retrieved March 31, 2023, from https://today.uconn.edu/2019/01/ads-targeting-black-hispanic-youth-almost-exclusively-promote-unhealthy-food-drinks/