quote:
Originally posted by Ronn_Bman:
Muslims hate America and American things?
Capitalism or not, can anyone argue with this picture?
No one was making them stand in line, but still, a line for McDonald's that was 7 miles long?
Um, not being sarcastic here, but aren't you maybe being a bit naive, Ron_B?
The power of advertising is incredibly strong. I don't quite know how McDonalds gets known in the Middle East - perhaps someone can enlighten me? (As far as I know, it's only repressive regimes such as in Iraq and Afghanistan that don't allow advertising. Actually, I have a certain degree of sympathy with this one...)
It's obviously an advertising thing - desire for the brand and what the brand represents (which will have been carefully crafted by at huge cost by the ad agencies). You don't queue up for something you've never heard of and can't relate to, do you?
McDonalds is one of the most advertising savvy corps in the business. You can bet your boots they publicised the opening, having researched their market with the utmost care. They will have used the advertising channels most suited to penetrating the culture and crafted the ads to provoke desire.
The way advertising works is that you find out as much as you can about your target audience, find out what they most want, and most aspire to, and then pitch your product accordingly. Advertising by the big brands has nothing much to do with actual product. It is to do with selling a lifestyle, with selling aspirations. You create the desire for the product through extremely clever advertising, then you produce the product.
Let's face it, the actual product really is nothing to write home about, for anyone that still has a palate (after years of processed crap, many people lose their ability to discriminate between food products). A tasteless bun containing a round 'meat product' and some icky bits of salad and a sliver of processed cheese. Just packed with vitamins and minerals. Ooh, yummy yum yums, not.
Advertising = brainwashing. God am I glad I got rid of my TV. No longer am I bombarded by adverts selling 'lifestyle options' and umpteen brands of things I don't need, don't want and don't give a stuff about, frankly. Although we don't get as much of that here as you guys do. Not yet, at any rate.....