Absurdly Driven looks at the world of business with a skeptical eye and a firmly rooted tongue in cheek.
If there’s one thing McDonald’s wants you to think right now, it’s that it isn’t, you know, McDonald’s.
Not the old McDonald’s, that is.
Not the old, slightly worn, very predictable McDonald’s where the ice-cream machines rarely seemed to work.
The burger chain is trying all sorts of peculiar things to change its image.
It’s using, gasp, fresh beef. Or even no beef at all in its McVegan Burger.
But its latest foray into the unknown has a rather charming air about it.
McDonald’s, you see, is venturing into the area of, well, pretentiousness.
You might think it unlikely or even a touch potty when I tell you that this is an ad campaign promoting the Big Mac x Bacon Limited Edition Collaboration in Canada.
But take a look and see if you find it refreshingly winning.
Here’s the Big Mac holding up a mirror to society, which, some might say, it’s been doing for a long time.
And here it is celebrating its sheer greatness.
And then there’s the sense of exalted meaning that courses through every bite of a pickle-filled Big Mac.
What about the sense of existential harmony that pervades your Big Mac-eating experience?
Perhaps these ads feel faintly silly.
For me, however, they show a certain courage and a willingness to shake previous negativity and rise to something slightly better. Or, at least, different.
There’s actually nothing special about this alleged collaboration at all. Anyone can ask for bacon to be added to their Big Mac.
But the attempts at wit offer a little confidence.
What’s most important for McDonald’s now — if it wants customers to reassess what they feel about a brand that’s being constantly challenged by fresher, younger competitors — is to revamp its products to create a true sense of surprise.
The problem, of course, is that McDonald’s is a huge company.
Making the winds of change blow across the whole McDonald’s world will take a lot of doing.
And a serious injection of, um, greatness.