Mickey D’s Happy Price?

by Sneha Goud – Michigan State – Graduate

Photograph was submitted by Natasha Raheja at Wave Mall in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India.

In another example of Western-style capitalism exerting its influence in the East, McDonald’s new marketing campaign for India tries to make a connection  between misogyny and pleasure.

The campaign’s slogan, “Har Chhoti Khushi Ka Celebration” is promoting the expansion of McDonald’s India ‘Happy Price Menu’ similar to the Dollar Menu in the United States with all items under Rs. 20.  According to a press release from McDonald’s India website, the new campaign aims to “highlight the fact that it offers value through its ‘Happy Price Menu’ for those who come to McDonald’s to celebrate the small pleasures of life be it a good parking space or having a chance to date girlfriend and ex-girlfriend together etc.”

Reading the official press release boggles the mind.  How is snagging a close parking place comparable to dating two women at the same time? The visual ad shows a man sitting next to a woman with another woman sits looking on.

More than being offended at this ad, I’m really puzzled.  So getting a deal on addictive, unhealthy food is like going on a date with another woman with the permission of your girlfriend?  In still-conservative India, the experience of cheating on one’s partner is to be aspired to? And even though I understand fast food restaurants in India are looked as novel examples of wealth, McDonald’s still seems like an unromantic meeting place.

In the press release, Marketing Director Arvind Singhal says of the new ad: “The

Indian consumers are value conscious and also need to perceive McDonald’s as an affordable eating out option.” So this ad is rewarding Indians “value conscious” taste in food and women.  Flattering.

As someone who has lived her entire life in America, this ad is not surprising because I see the visual of women being treated as objects every day – on billboards, commercials, and magazines.  At home, however, the traditional Indians values my parents taught went against the demeaning voice of advertising.  It’s sad to that in the quest for capitalism, companies like McDonald’s are influencing the cultural messages for young Indians.