A new McDonald’s ad out of the UK spruiking the often maligned Filet-O-Fish has been slammed as insensitive and “bloody grim” after it parodied a son who was mourning his father’s death.
The somewhat macabre ad by Leo Burnett in the UK shows a mother and son reminiscing about their loss with constant reminders the son isn’t a patch on his dead dad. Check it out below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47EZG-D6M8U
As the mother and son stroll to their local McDonald’s the mother reveals her deceased husband was a snappy dresser, great at sport and a winner with the ladies – all things the grieving son is not.
On arrival at the restaurant, we discover the only similarity father and son had was an affection for Fillet-O-Fishes. “That was your dad’s favourite, too,” the mother explains.
The prime-time ad was first shown to an audience of millions during Britain’s Got Talent on Saturday evening and has since been pulled.
Shocked viewers raced to social media to register their disgust that death and bereavement was being used to flog hamburgers.
“I lost my father when I was a child and I find the latest McDonald’s advert disgusting and offensive. Shame on you!,” one man posted on Twitter.
“Who needs 2 parents when you have McNuggets… that was bloody grim,” said another.
“Not one to be easily offended, but new @McDonalds advert is cynical exploitation of a deeply emotional situation for brand promotion,” another said.
The Advertising Standards Authority in the UK has revealed it has received a number of complaints about the ad and it is now being investigated.
Grief Encounter, a UK bereavement charity, told the BBC that it had received “countless calls” from people who had been left distraught by the ad.
A McDonald’s spokesperson said: “We apologise for any upset this advert has caused. This was by no means an intention of ours and we regret some have interpreted it in a negative way.”
