Now, I’m not normally one to succumb to the influences of television advertising. There are a number of reasons for this. First, there have been a number of years where I’ve not had a television, and then secondly, when I have, there’s Sky plus, everything is normally watched on a delay, so the adverts can be fast forwarded through.
However football is normally watched live, and Sky do like to cram as many adverts as inhumanly possible into the half time break. Plus, with there being an episode of NCIS on one channel or another at any time of the night or day, it quite often goes on as background noise, along with all the adverts in that.
Now the advert that managed to seep through into my consciousness was one for McDonalds. It’s the one that is celebrating fifty years of the Big Mac. So we get treated to a variety of seventies, eighties, nineties and noughties flashbacks of random Muppets trying out Big Macs. There’s nothing from the late sixties, as although the Big Mac has been around since then, Maccy D’s has only been in the UK since the early seventies.
There isn’t any reason why the advert should work, as it suggests that their clientele over the years had been somewhat less than bright. So what is it that did work?
Well it’s the mention of a Grand Big Mac. Obviously the paragons of healthy eating have slipped a bit with this one, a Big Mac, but twice the size. I mean, what could possibly go wrong with that?
To be honest, I’m not a massive Maccy D’s fan. I quite like their breakfast double sausage Mcmuffin, and Mcflurry’s – what can go wrong with a tub of ice cream for ninety nine pence – but their normal burgers just seem insubstantial. A Big Mac has always felt that way as well. An extra piece of bread doesn’t make up for two pieces of meat that you can see through.
Despite of all that, the advertising was telling me I had to try a Grand Big Mac.
As soon as I opened the box I started to regret the decision that had been so massively influenced by the television advertising.
Yes it was bigger, but the burgers were still see through, and if anything looked as if the Big Mac burgers had been further stretched out to fit the bigger buns. Then there was the fact that the whole thing looked like it had been thrown together by a chimpanzee with Parkinson’s disease.
There was more cheese outside of the bun than inside, and shredded lettuce filled every little corner of the box. It tasted just like Big Macs always do – just meh! Only there was more of it. I didn’t feel like it filled me up any more than a normal one ever did. It just cost more.
Next time I get an urge to get something based on an advert, I’m setting a reminder to give myself a slap first.
Don’t do it.