McDonald's "You Better Don't" (lost "Defend Your Chicken Selects" commercial from fast food franchise; 2004)
The logo for the McDonald's brand.
Status: Lost
In 2004, Mcdonald's aired commercials from August to October to promote their Chicken Selects called "Defend your chicken select". The commercials follow random people trying to defend their chicken select by either saying no or confronting people. One commercial, however, was pulled almost immediately after it aired due to its offensive and racist remarks to black people.
Background
This commercials follows the same as the rest but this time it's an young black woman entering a plane. A person, believed to be an flight attendant, is collecting trash. The flight attendant reaches for the woman's chicken, thinking it's trash, before the woman responds with "you better don't", before it ends.[1] The commercial received negative attention and believed that whoever wrote this went for an stereotypical black-American dialect. A reddit user who saw this commercial, u/Senor_Buttons, claims that he and his roommate were more confused with the phrase then offensive.[2] Others on the other hand saw this commercial offensive and were completely or mildly mad. One user when discussing what is the worst Mcdonald's commercial describes about an language that disrespects black people if not versed, quote:
Historically, the African Diaspora has created its own language based on the language of the enslaver. Commonly called creole, in the late 20th century America, the term Ebonics became fashionable. There are linguistic patterns that are valid, though non-standard. “…better don't…” violates the rules of creole/ebonics and standard English. Only someone (think white person with no black friends) not versed in creole would disrespect black people like that.[3]
Availability
After the negative reception, the commercial was pulled and never aired again. Even though people and users talk about the commercial and how bad it was, no photos or footage of this commercial exists.
As of 2024, the commercial has not resurfaced online in any form.
See Also
- The Incredibles (found full version of McDonald's Happy Meal commercial for Pixar animated film; 2004)
- McDonald's "Archy Dancing" advertisement (lost commercial from fast food franchise; early 1960s)
- McDonald's (found "New Slang" commercial from fast food restaurant; 2002)
- McDonald's (partially lost early Japanese TV commercials for fast food chain; 1973-1976)
- Mcjuniorclub TV (partially found Nickelodeon Netherlands/McDonald's live-action short series; 2008)
- Ronald McDonald and the Adventure Machine (found McDonald's animated video; 1987)
- YumChums (partially lost British McDonald's TV commercials; 2004)
- Valerie's Family Fire Prevention (partially found McDonald's sponsored TV ads; 1987)