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Can McDonald’s break our resolution?

Posted in Advertising, Marketing, Direct Marketing, Mel Varley, Latest reporters' blogs January 3rd, 2008 by Melinda Varley

Out of the top ten most popular New Year resolutions, fitness and dieting are rated number two and three respectively. So why are the fast food companies trying to talk us out of keeping them?

January is quite fondly also known as the sober month – it’s the time of rest after the months of drinking, eating and partying are finally over and most of us (not me) will declare a detox.

That being said, it must be the most unprofitable time of year for the fast food companies such as McDonald’s and Burger King, and they’ve made it obvious by trying to lure us back in.

Earlier this week both McDonald’s and Burger King launched 2-4-1 voucher campaigns through press, online and viral campaigns. Yesterday being most peoples’ first day back in the office, the vouchers were spread around like wildfire and managed to lure two of our 13 employees out at lunch.

Are these campaigns an attempt for continued business in a notoriously slow month for the fast food industry or are they setting us up for something else?

For example, McDonald’s has recently launched a new menu called the ‘Spicy Menu’. Once you go to the restaurant to cash in your Big Mac voucher you are then lured back in for another visit the following week to try the new menu. Very smart.

Burger King on the other hand is still promoting its new breakfast menu, both in-store and on the radio. Giving away the vouchers is sure to make even more people aware of this and lure them back to try it out. It also has a number of new products out in the coming weeks and a new television campaign launching in mid-February.

Fast food companies are smart at their marketing and are continuously launching various campaigns and products every few weeks to keep us coming back. But will the fact that diet and fitness keeps topping our New Year resolutions’ list and the emergence of many more organic and health food stores and products finally deter us from our fast food habits in 2008?

The Australian press reported today that two thirds of Australians do not think fast food tastes so good that they couldn’t give it up.

The study, by global marketing research group Synovate, asked more than 9000 people in 13 countries what they thought about fast food, dieting and obesity.

It found that the Britons were the most fast-food obsessed, with 45 per cent agreeing with the statement that they liked “the taste of fast food too much to give it up”.

They were closely followed by Americans and Canadians, while nearly a third of Australians found fast food irresistible. Perhaps everyone should have tuned into Half Ton Mum this week for some dieting inspiration – will we ever give up the junk?