In 2009, I saw a Mcdonalds Commercial that made my heart smile, flutter, break and then smile again. It opens with two kids, a boy and a girl, meeting serendipitously through their mothers, who are long lost friends. The young girl shows her newfound friend a new way of eating French fries by dipping them in a chocolate sundae and she proceeds to grab his hand and lead him towards the McDonald’s playplace. The commercial then flash forwards into the future where both of the kids are now grown-up with the girl still holding the guy’s hand and leading him to the playplace. She the introduces him to her husband and child. The commercial ends with the guy dipping his fries in chocolate and the girl smiling. All of this is bound together by a wonderful musical score (c/o the Eraserheads) and a soulful voiceover by the guy recounting his first love.
It made my heart smile and broke it at the same time. It was a rollercoaster of emotions. The beauty of an undying great love is almost unmatchable.
What I found most fascinating about this commercial is that it kept the human experience at the forefront of the story while the product is only a means or a venue to share this experience. If we analyze the commercial, Mcdonald’s is only incidental and that there is a story behind the product placement. It also deals with memories and how the littlest things can open a deluge of recollections in one’s mind. It focuses on a small event and shows how it affected both parties greatly despite distance and time. It shows how memory transcends these boundaries and how it establishes who we are.
It also idealized love; which is rare in our cynical times. It depicts how that first love is pure and incorruptible; how it lives on in memory. It shows a love that does not manifest envy (although I won’t deny that the guy probably felt envy) but rather was content with the declaration of love. It raises love on a pedestal where it has no strings, no conditions and no rules. Such is the stuff that timeless stories are made of.
It’s a shame that somethings can change so much in two years; not everything can trancend time.
A couple of days ago, I saw a Mcdonalds Commercial which made my heart smile, flutter and then break horrendously. It opens with two kids, a boy and a girl (6 or 7 years old, would be my guess), sitting in a playground, talking. The young girl asks her friend: “Girlfriend mo na ba ako?” and the young boy replies with “Ayoko nga” and tells his friend that girlfriends have the tendency to want too many things. The girl pouts and says “Gusto ko lang naman ng McDo fries eh”. The young boy’s eyes lights up as he checks his pockets and as the commercial closes we see them holding hands while the girl clutches a small bag of Mcdonald’s french fries.
Yes, it made my heart smile. The beauty of a young love is almost unmatchable.
As I sat on my chair, however, the smile quickly turns to a frown as I realized how the short commercial commercialized love. It did not talk about how love factors into a relationship, rather, it simply created a business deal: I’ll give you fries and in return, we’re boyfriend and girlfriend. It’s Simple and heartbreaking; How 25 pesos bought something as priceless as a person’s affections. The young boy already foreshadows this with his statement: “Demanding ang mga girlfriend. Gusto ganito. Gusto ganyan.” as if a relationship is forged only by one’s ability to match the wants of their partner. Is our world truly that cynical; that such words can come out of such young people and the audience will just smile and laugh and never for a moment feel a sense of loss?
It reinforces negative gender stereotypes: Opportunistic males and Materialistic females by showcasing these traits in young children. If you take a look at how the boys eyes light up upon hearing that the girl only want Mcdo Fries depict men as opportunistic vipers (although, in this case, a very cute one) waiting to strike at easy prey. If holding hands is one of the more basic manifestations of physical intimacy then this commercial shows the beginnings of stereotypical man doing anything just to get inside a woman’s pants. The girl, on the other hand, reflects the notion that material gifts are actually needed to placate their wants. Upon being told by the young boy of the supposed materialistic nature of girlfriends, the young girl doesn’t challenge this notion but merely lowers expectations instead. In the end, the female is still depicted as a person who is persuaded by gifts. It’s a slippery slope when it comes to stereotypes and I’m afraid we are starting to actually slide on this one.
Perhaps, I think too much. After all, this is just a commercial.
However, if we don’t think about the messages we are sending then we are doomed to create a cycle of ignorance in our society. If we don’t believe that little things make an impact, then just how big does the problem have to be before we start acting? I’m not saying that this is the only commercial that is guilty of stereotyping and commercializing love (there are worst offenders) but because this commercial is cute and sweet, it is all the more dangerous.
The devil is always in the details and it is best that we keep this in our memories, so that we never forget and our children can still hear of the ideal (and therefore learn to hope) before the world disappoints them.
