McDonald's Ads Targeting Kids

Without a doubt, McDonald's is recognized all around the world as one of life's small pleasures that people of all ages enjoy everyday. It has great food and it's located in more than 119 countries. It has a very casual environment- almost as if you were home, and there's always something new on the menu. In other words, McDonald's is the place where you want to eat. In chapter 2 "Your trusted friends" from his book Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser makes the readers become aware of how McDonald's obtained such fame. Besides being a fast food restaurant, it has also become a well known brand for its world-wide advertisement.


Eric Schlosser talks about marketers using children as their main target for advertisement. Sociologist Vance Packard once described kids as "surrogate salesmen" because they can convince their parents to buy what they want by nagging. Years ago Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonald's corporation saw things weren't going well for his business and decided to give it a small twist. He was not only aiming at a family crowd but he now changed his marketing strategy and focused on kids. Ever since then, Kroc invented happy meals, built playgrouds, and made McDonald's look like a fantasy world where every kid would love to be in.


Today McDonald's still runs under the same strategy of making kid costumers their priority. Although McDonald's environment is for people of all ages, their way of attracting costumers is mostly through children. The bright colors, cartoon life sized stickers, and many other child-like decorations fascinates the kids and makes them want to keep going. A toy always comes along with the famous happy meal. As soon as you walk in, you will see a big poster announcing that kids are also able to celebrate their birthday at McDonald's. Along with that, they recieve goodie bags, a cake, and the room is decorated with balloons. Besides all the activities provided for children, the reason why kids are also able to distinguish McDonald's is through their logo. For example, Eric Schlosser states that "market research has found that children recognize a brand logo before they can recognize their own name". This is why there is always an over-sized McDonald's logo in the main entrance. This helps children who do not have the knowledge to read or write understand that once they see the logo they are entering McDonald's.