A look at McDonalds Advertisements

If we want to see how advertisements have changed, we can't go wrong by looking at McDonalds.

McDonalds has always been at the cutting edge of marketing. For the last fifty years, McDonalds has followed one major advertising strategy – be the fun, friendly place for families. This approach was set in place by its founder, Ray Kroc.

Advertising, in the beginning years, was mainly print, and was done by franchisees. McDonalds branched out into television advertising in 1967, spending $3 million of franchee’s money on a national TV campaign. The following year, McDonalds hired an advertising agency, D’Arcy, from their home town, St Louis. This company introduced the “Big Mac.” In 1969 the D’Arcy left to concentrate on advertising Standard Oil. This shows how McDonalds was already in the big league of products.

The ad below was produced in 1971. It is pushing, through humour, how Clean McDonalds is.

And here's another one from 1970 -  humour again, but this time it's educating us about what is in a McDonalds burger.