Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Do you feel guilty when you eat fast foods?

3/2/11

Apparently Arby’s thinks you do.

In their new campaign launched on March 1, they address this insight by highlighting the fact that their food puts people in a good mood. (McWilliams, 2011)

Hmm. That raises two questions, is this an effective consumer insight, and does this strategy address it properly?

And, finally does this execution convey either of those things? What do you think?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gzz0wY2Vobk&feature=related



McWilliams, J. (2011, March 1) Arby’s launches new advertising campaign. ajc.com. Retrieved March 2, 2011, from http://www.ajc.com/business/arbys-launches-new-advertising-857140.html

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I tried posting this once before & got an error message - so if you get it twice, I apologize.

I think this commercial's execution is terrible - the song is cheesy, not catchy, and annoying. The TSA joke sounds like something my ignorant uncle would say at a family dinner, and this commercial makes me think that I may lose brain cells by eating at arby's. I'm pretty sure their idea was "dumb people eat at arby's."

i don't think that this combats the feeling of guilt that people feel when they eat fast food. instead, i think it supports it! yes, we all feel good when we eat fast food. but we regret it later. everyone knows that. that's the whole point. it tastes good now but it makes us fat later.

major fail, Arby's.

Anna P

Anonymous said...

Nikke Gant...

It's a humorous commercial that I think would get a response from a young audience. What I think is lacking is they don't really answer the question of why consumers would feel guilty and as a result never gave convincing support(i.e people feel guilty eating fast foods because they think it's not healthy - Support: Arby's is a feel good food with low calories that taste delicious).

I think the commercial does a good job of making sure the viewer enjoys the spot, but the real question is how will the food itself convince the consumer to buy it? I think the strategy lacks real support. One of the other things I noticed is no one is eating the sandwich - so is it really good?

I think the execution conveys a fun time watching it but does not effectively convince consumers to buy.

Anonymous said...

Christina Adair-

I understand Arby's was trying to reach everyone to eat at their fast food chain by showing different sets of demographics in one commercial, or opposite demographics coming together for Arby’s; However, it was ineffective because I don't believe it grabbed even one person's attention. The commercial was trying to do too much with too many different sets of people in such a short period of time.

I think they should have found niche markets and produced a few different commercials. For instance, people feel guilty when eating at fast foods for numerous reasons; Whether the food has too many calories, food isn't organic, food isn’t healthy, the animals were cruelly treated before execution, food is too greasy, the chains establishment is dirty, not enough of a food selection, negative brand image, etc., etc., Pick any reason and make a positive about why Arby’s is better and pick and show it to a demographic that cares. Does the sandwich have fewer calories? Are their better food choices at Arby's than another fast food joint? Are people getting more bang for their buck at Arby's than somewhere else? Does Arby’s look cleaner and have better aesthetics’- thus making people feel better about the place they eat in?

The commercial failed to show why Arby's put's people in a better mood than other fast food restaurants. It's almost like they don't know why so they want to force-feed a song down your throat in the hopes if you repeat it enough you might put that sandwich in your mouth.

Anonymous said...

I do not feel guilty about eating fast food.
If I eat fast food, it's because I am so busy. (I'm too busy to feel tasty and guilty!)
For me, fast food's benefits are that it is fast ,cheap and so-so tasty.

Will telling people who feel guilty about eating fast food that it will put them in a good mood overcome that guilt, and get them to eat it more often?
Ummmm, it's difficult to say, because I don't know what makes them feel guilty.
Is it too many calories, or a bad atmosphere for kids?

If they want to overcome the guilt of consumers, they had better talk about more their original benefits.
(For example, healthy, good employee, and clean ,etc...)

When I watch the commercial it does not make me believe that eating Arby's will put me in a good mood
When I watched that last night (first time, yeah!), I already ate my dinner.
It was so late that I couldn't put in a good mood.
Maybe over 10:00 PM

Tomo

Anonymous said...

Personally I don't like the commercial and I don't like the song.
Also I don't like to eat fast foods.

I think the target of the commercial are women and men with or without children, age between 25-55 mid high income who like fast food and care about health.

The commercial maybe has an effective consumer insight and address it properly since underlines the concept that doing things that make happy it is good for the life and for the health too.

Johanna

Unknown said...

I do not like anything about this ad. Would love to know which media agency agreed on this!

I think we all eat burgers from time to time (hence I don't like fast food)my parents, friends, grandma etc. They might be targeting women and men between 20-30 years of age but a good commercial burger should be for everyone.

Obesity is a very sensitive/emotional issue in the US - the question is how to deliver the message? They should have done something similar to McDonald's (chipotle burger). Every time I see this ad I feel like ordering one of these delicious healthy, Angus burger(well delivered message). Arby's ad is absolutely not going to increase their $/traffic.

Chadi

Ayesha said...

I think the song is quite catchy but could get very annoying after watching the commercial a few times and it would definitely not make me want to eat at Arby's or even choose it over any of the other fast food restaurants.

I don't think they address the consumer insight accurately because this would definitely not make me feel less guilty about eating fast food. Especially because the sandwich they chose to show at the end was HUGE and stuffed with cheese and meat. They could have addressed this better by emphasising the "health benefits" if there are any or by having men and women, with amazing bodies, eating this as part of their healthy lifestyle.

I think the only thing it addresses is that anyone and everyone can eat at Arby's - no matter what gender, race, income bracket, where you work or what your interests are.

Ayesha

Anonymous said...

I really don't like the campaign. The song is sticky but I don't understand how this kind of food get into a good mood. I think the target is for people who like Arby's because this ad don't get new costumer, well, not me. maybe it's because I hate Arby's.

Andreina