08 June 2010

A lite moment at a serious time

In the midst of our present kerfuffle, I thought you might enjoy something to make you smile - at least it make me smile. The young man is really a good actor to pull this one off.

McDonald's brand director in France says the ad simply looks at how French society is today.

We're very comfortable with the topic of homosexuality, there is obviously no problem with homosexuality in France today. The point was not to show someone who is troubled, especially a teenager. We know it can be difficult for some people, but we wouldn't have dared show someone who is struggling.
Do you know why there is no real problem with homosexuality in France? Very few fundamentalists mucking about. That's because during the "Revolution," the state became secular and no particular religious view is allowed to govern the country. Chalk one up for the French.

Lisa Howards, McDonalds's director of corporate media relations, told Media Matters that the Come as You Are campaign was made exclusively for France.

The ad you're referencing is one of a series of ads called Come as You Are, which recognized he diversity of McDonald's customers in France. This particular commercial was produced by McDonald's France and is running only in France. Each of our 117 markets around the world determines their own advertising and marketing.
That means we won't be seeing an ad like this in the US for years to come. Too bad.