ITC Upholds Complaints Against “Misleading” McDonalds Ads

A recent series of commercials for McDonalds received 40 complaints from members of the public. The Independent Television Commission (ITC) upheld the complaints about the ads, which it said were misleading.

The campaign advertised a one-week McDonalds “buy one get one free” sales promotion. The series of commercials were run over three days; the first one showed a man going into McDonalds restaurants and ordering an unspecified item from the menu and getting another one free. The following two ads showed the man buying specific products from the McDonalds range and getting a second one for free.

Complainants believed that the ads, in particular the first one, were misleading as they gave the impression that the offer applied to the whole McDonald’s range, which wasn’t the case. The ITC upheld the complaints referring to the first ad, as it did not specify that the offer applied to specific products on specific days.

ITC: 020 7255 3000 www.itc.org.uk

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