A Japanese TV commercial for fastfood company McDonalds has Ronald MacDonald in an unexpected new guise, according to the British Guardian newspaper’s website.
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“She’s sexy, she’s stylish, she’s sophisticated – and somewhat surprisingly, she’s Ronald McDonald,” the paper said. The latest campaign, which has “a foxy female version, with shoulder-length straight auburn hair in place of Ronald’s frizzy mop, smoulders at the camera in a flowing yellow dress, and later a red and white striped bikini with thigh-length leggings and red high heels,” according to the paper, has been hailed as a great success.
The man behind the campaign insists he did not create a female Ronald McDonald – but merely appropriated his instantly recognisable outfit, the paper said. Hidekazu Sato, known by his nickname Kazoo, the associate creative director at Beacon Communications – a joint venture of Leo Burnett and Dentsu – said the costume was so recognisable it was a mnemonic – a design that people would instantly associate with McDonald’s.
“We devised the costume and took the red and white stripes and the yellow, which were recognised and converted them into a stylish dress,” Kazoo said via a translator. “We were assuming that even if we didn’t include the McDonald’s logo and even if the model was a beautiful caucasian just those colours of the mnemonic design would wake up people’s association with McDonald’s.”
“The important point is we didn’t change Ronald himself – we played around with his costume,” he said. “The customers are calling her the female Ronald but that was not our intention.”
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By GlobalDataMcDonald’s Japan refused the Guardian permission to show the full TV advert.
