Burger King Ad in New ZealandMcdonald’s Ad in South India
What values are being conveyed?For the Mcdonalds Ad from India: In Indian culture fair skin is seen as being beautiful and there are many soaps and facial scrubs that are advertised for helping you get fair skin for example “Fair and Lovely” for women and “Fair and Handsome” for men. I don’t think this ad is directly playing into that perspective but it is understandable why some people may feel offended. I think the main purpose of this ad was to convey the Ronald Mcdonald mascot but it’s still unclear as to why they chose a baby.The Burger King Ad from New Zealand: Burger King is advertising a new Vietnamese sweet chili Burger and the ad shows people trying to eat the burger with giant red chopsticks. The ad doesn’t portray any values specifically but it relates to Asian people who eat food with chopsticks. There was a big outrage and Burger King had to take down the advertisement.
How are these values shared with their target audience?Mcdonalds Ad in India: As this is in South India, the values there are mainly focused on beauty and again that view that the fairer you are, the more beautiful. This does relate to their target audience as I am from South India and although I don’t believe in that view, I have seen many people who buy products to become fairer or want that feature. Burger King Ad: This ad comes from New Zealand so I don’t really understand what their target audience could share with this ad. Although some may see it as a crass form of humor.
Are certain stereotypes conveyed in any of the ads?Mcdonalds Ad: I don’t think any Indian stereotypes can be seen in this ad and when I first saw the image I didn’t realize it was from India.Burger King: I think there is a big stereotype of Asians in this ad as they are using chopsticks to eat the burger, although it makes no sense and the only reason for the chopsticks is because it’s a Vietnamese flavor. The biggest problem people had with the ad was that they were using chopsticks on the sole stereotype that the burger has an Asian flavour although chopsticks are used for asian foods.
