You know what they say. “Surf sells.” Apparently, anyway. In an interesting crossover, corporate giant McDonald’s dropped a commercial in Ireland complete with a surfing Happy Meal. Mr. Meal, or Happy if you prefer, slices an apple with his hands, then takes a slice out to surf. He sees a shark, then happens to pack the closeout barrel of his life only to find that the shark was just another Happy Meal in costume the whole time. Uh… heart warming?
Anyway, it’s no secret that McDonald’s has been losing ground with millenials and younger generations. The Happy Meal as a concept is simple. Hook kids on the brand by giving them a toy with their meal – the positive association at an early age will carry through to later years and build lifelong customers. But that strategy has proven ineffective as of late.
In an article for the Chicago Tribune titled “McDonald’s Happy Meal Problem”, Phil Rosenthal closes with an anecdote from his 8-year-old daughter. When deciding where to go for lunch, Rosenthal’s daughter says she’d go to McDonald’s if they had toys she liked, but they don’t. They chose Chipotle instead. Quality and choice, says Rosenthal, are the keys to success that McDonald’s continues to miss, and that has driven the success of so-called fast casual chains (think Chipotle, Five Guys, Panera, or Pei Wei).
Is the surfing Happy Meal entertaining? Slightly. Does it make me hungry for McDonald’s? Not really. And isn’t that the point?
