Fail McDonald's UK · 2017
Grief with a side of Filet-O-Fish
What happened
A UK TV spot showed a boy asking his mother about his dead father, and finding a connection in the fact that they both ordered the Filet-O-Fish. McDonald's pulled the ad and apologised after complaints, including from bereavement charities.
What went wrong
The emotional payoff put a product where the shared memory should be. Bereaved families read it as their grief being used as a conversion device.
The rule
Grief can appear in advertising, but the resolution cannot be your product. The moment the burger closes the emotional loop, it reads as exploitation.
Takeaway
If a bereavement charity would wince at the last five seconds, recut the last five seconds.