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Question marks hang over McDonald's

A shopper walks past a new outlet of US fast food giant McDonald's at a mall in Bangalore on Tuesday. McDonald's now has a network of 58 restaurants across India. The company's trademark golden arches are one of the three most recognizable images worldwide. PHOTO: AFP

The golden arches of McDonald's are among the three most recognizable images across the globe. From the third world through to the developed west, only Coca-Cola and the crucifix are better known.

Consider then just how far outside the box a group of advertising executives were thinking at the brainstorming session which came up with this one. Ronald McDonald should ditch his golden arches and opt instead for ... a great big question mark.

Leaked to a marketing magazine yesterday, news of the temporary rebranding -- which was due to be launched across the country on Friday -- left communications staff and advertising executives desperately trying to regain ground.

Locked in meetings at Mc-Donald's UK headquarters at east Finchley, north London, they emerged later to mount a vigorous defense of the new advertising campaign in which the iconic arches are replaced by a golden query, intended to signify a change in the brand from junk food to healthy eating.

No, it had nothing to do with recent figures which saw profits at its 770 British restaurants fall by 71 percent to ?23 million (US$41.18 million) last year. Neither did the box office hit Super Size Me, which charts the catastrophic effect on film director Morgan Spurlock of a month-long diet of only McDonald's food, have anything to do with the decision.

"The creative idea on the question mark is -- this is McDonald's, but not as you know it."

Amanda Pierce, McDonald's UK spokeswoman

"Look, these campaigns take a long while to plan so it is misleading to say we are responding to these things," said Amanda Pierce, a McDonald's UK spokeswoman.

"We've been in the UK for 30 years this October and a lot has changed. If you look at what people's favorite dish was 10 years ago it was a Sunday roast. Now it's chicken tikka masala. We have changed too, so the creative idea on the question mark is -- this is McDonald's, but not as you know it," she said.

John Hawkes, marketing director for McDonald's UK, said the idea was to offer "great tempting food that was surprising from McDonald's" -- an admission, perhaps, that the Big Macs, cheese burgers and fries of the past are the opposite of tempting?

Billboard posters to be unveiled on Friday will include close-up photographs of fresh salad and fruit pieces -- all nestling beside that ever-present question mark. A strapline reads: "McDonald's. But not as you know it."

The campaign is backed by booklets detailing new menus which will be sent to 17 million households in the UK.

Among the tempting treats on offer are the grilled chicken flatbread, six varieties of salad leaves and, for breakfast, low-fat carrot cake, porridge or a toasted bagel topped with cream cheese.

Over the past 12 months McDonald's has been working toward changing its image, including a recent announcement that it had reduced the size of its portions. The fast food giant is responding to international pressure to cut the fat content of its food as governments throughout the developed world respond to a threatened obesity epidemic.

Many believe the company is jumping before it is pushed into addressing its unhealthy image and its high fat, high salt products.

A British government white paper outlining measures to tackle obesity is expected soon, and the government is considering a range of measures, from advertising restrictions to the removal of fizzy drinks from school vending machines.

Opinion was divided on Tuesday on whether the question mark campaign will convince the public that McDonald's is putting its house in order or will go any way to banishing the most damaging image for the fast food giant from Super Size Me.

In the documentary Spurlock spends a month eating nothing but McDonald's for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Before the experiment begins he is declared fit and healthy; but his condition deteriorates rapidly, to the alarm of doctors.

Combined with the fast food diet, he takes little or no exercise to emulate the average American male, often walking just 3,000 steps a day.

Finally a specialist turns to him and urges him to stop the experiment. Spurlock's liver, the expert states, is "like pate."

Patrick Barwise, professor of management and marketing at the London Business School, said McDonald's was right to attempt to change its image.

"They do have an issue to address, particularly in this country. [Being health conscious] is becoming the norm and they have to tackle this," Barwise said.

But he warned: "Brands are organic things and you always have to question when you are trying to move them forward: are you doing too much or too little? The difficult thing is how they do this without losing credibility and making it look like they lack confidence."

Other experts in public relations were less equivocal. Eugen Beer, creative director of Kaizo, said the use of a question mark was beyond comprehension.

"One of the things about being a so-called master brand is that you have to have absolute certainty of what it is you are doing and what it is you are selling," Beer said.
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