MacDonalds: Moral Undermining with Advertising

I have recently noticed an increasing trend in MacDonalds advertisements. It started with an ad that showed a number of youths hitting tennis balls in a street with golf clubs. Yes, it's all fun and good, but you have to ask if such behavior is really lawful. Even a speeding tennis ball is capable of property damage, yet the ad portrays this dangerous activity as fun and wholesome and the way for people to bond.

But that was small fry compared to the ad currently running. It's a monolog from a young man talking about some new burger that involves double meat, double cheese, and double tomato...double everything. The boy describes the burger as "the perfect melding of two" and compares this to his relationship with his girlfriend, who sits next to him, scowling. Then he says something along the lines of, "except the burger only cost me a buck...which is where the similarities end. I'm cool with that."

When I first heard the ad (or at least, the first time my ears were aware of it, because I tend to tune out the TV) I mistyped a line in my paper, I was so shocked. Is this what it's come to, then? A non-stop comparison of reason against wealth? Do the editors of this ad honestly think that's funny or clever? It's symbolic to me. Americans, according to the message of this ad, has devalued the relationship between a man and a woman to the point where one of the couple honestly considers giving up the other for--of all things--a hamburger. It's a crying shame.

This is by far the most morally daring ad I've seen on TV (except for some movies), and it's only MacDonalds that advertises in this fashion. But supposing it catches on? "Your Chevy truck can haul much more than your wife, and it has a guarantee, and you can give it back for another one every two years if you want." "The Swiffer Wet mop is much cleaner than your husband. Who needs him?" "This cell phone lets you talk to whoever you want...so unlike your boyfriend." It's so self-absorbed, it's sickening.

What will we come to? Think about it.