Is McDonald’s Subtly Shifting Its Marketing Strategy?

Food photography, when it comes to advertising, often focuses on making the food look as beautiful as possible by using a variety of tricks. However, McDonald’s USA is instead flooding its Twitter account of visuals of imperfect food.

The Ugly Appeal

Business Insider first reported the trend, by sharing a few recent tweets from McDonalds that indicated a subtle shift in their advertising strategy.

Time to rise and sizzle. Click for the full eggsperience. #whatsforbreakfast #egg #mcdonalds #eggmcmuffin pic.twitter.com/Ef0QJPap7C

— McDonald's (@McDonalds) February 23, 2016

In this brief video, for instance, the egg cracks leaving a messy trail on either side of the pan.

Real butter means: #LYMI 😍 #mcmuffin #love #valentine pic.twitter.com/oofxNvtZFr

— McDonald's (@McDonalds) February 14, 2016

In this one, the focus is on ‘real butter’ melting into a McMuffin – while it does look delicious, there’s nothing overly artistic about it.

Let’s roll. 🎉 #mardigras #cuties pic.twitter.com/X4dFSTKIj2

— McDonald's (@McDonalds) February 9, 2016

Finally, this one captures some oranges (widely agreed to be extremely healthy) rolling around. The oranges don’t seem extra shiny or juicy; simply regular oranges you’ll find at your neighbourhood grocer.

Why The Shift?

Of late, McDonalds has been trying to promote themselves as a healthier brand; last year they launched organic burgers in Germany while even more recently they launched a kale salad – which ironically apparently had more calories than the Big Mac.

McDonalds understands that the demand for healthier, fresher food is growing and so are perhaps trying to align themselves with that demand. By showing food being freshly prepared (like the eggs) or healthier foods (like the oranges), is it possible they’re subtly trying to change their image? What do you think?