McDonalds lures rappers into ‘Big Mac rap’

STACEY TURNBULL STAFF WRITER STT722@CABRINI EDU

Earlier this year, the world renowned fast-food chain, McDonald’s, announced a new marketing scheme: to have hiphop artists rap about their most popular sandwich, the Big Mac.

The McDonald’s Corporation wants a hip-hop artist to incorporate the Big Mac into a song. It is going to be a part of the “I’m Lovin’It” campaign. The question is though, are people really “lovin’” this idea?

“I think it’s cheesy. I don’t know who they could get to represent them,” Meredith Kroener, a junior psychology major, said. That is just the problem McDonald’s is having. They can’t seem to find an artist willing to comply with what they are asking for.

The artist would propose the lyrics to the McDonald’s Corporation. From there, it would be reviewed and analyzed. If the lyrics aren’t approved, then it is back to the drawing board.

Check this out. Each time it’s played, they get $1 million. The offer on the table is for each time the song is played on radio airwaves, the artist will receive between $1 million and $5 million for the song. Money doesn’t seem to be a large enough excuse though. The artistic ability and choice of words used in their song wouldn’t really be theirs. It would be words they are being paid to say. McDonald’s would have the final say on the lyrics used in the song.

Marvin Strategies, the marketing firm hired by McDonalds, has used this strategy before. They had gotten “Seagram’s gin mentioned – for free- in five raps last year.” according to AdAge.com. They feel that this is the best way to go about product placement and to get the McDonald’s sandwich into people’s minds.

Product placement is when a company buys a space for a particular product on a TVshow or in a movie so it appears as a supporting prop. In this case the product placement is in what is called an “adversong.” Adversongs are songs that have advertisements in their lyrics. It is a very popular way of advertising when used with rap lyrics.

McDonald’s hoped to have the song out by this past summer but they had no idea that it would take so long to find someone willing to write and perform the lyrics.

The Big Mac is thought of as a typical fast food menu item. Two all beef patties, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, all on a sesame seed bun sounds delicious but why are they trying to force the Big Mac when the campaign they are still running, is about healthy eating. Courtney Storey, a junior finance major, said, “It goes against their new healthy attitude because they were just promoting salads and fruit. Now they want people to buy more Big Macs.”

If this song does get produced and sent out on to the radio, and depending how popular it becomes, there would most probably be a music video. “I can pic- ture it in my head. Ronald McDonald dancing in the background of a rap video,” Kroener said. Storey also feels that it would be a joke if the song becomes popular enough to become a rap video.

Storey said, “I see a bunch of girls dancing around about Big Macs who would never really touch a Big Mac.”

So will this song every really happen? It is all up in the air for now. The project has been post- poned. Maybe in the near future, a song dedicated to Big Macs will be blasting from speakers all around the world.

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