A Brief History and Global Expansion
According to a story in The Wall Street Journal, McDonald’s Corporation will hire a third party to review its diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. After its shareholders agreed to a civil rights audit, SOC Investment Group asked McDonald’s to investigate the effect of the business’s civil rights policy on all activities through a shareholder proposal. Civil rights audits examine how companies treat employees based on ethnicity, gender, and other factors.
By offering guidance to retirement companies, SOC recommended that McDonald’s solicit input from both suppliers and consumers. Before making the information available to the public, the assessment will help McDonald’s identify the causes of problems such as racial discrimination. According to the SOC, Richard and Maurice McDonald created the American multinational corporation, McDonald’s Corp, in 1940.
Businessman Ray Kroc assisted in their development efforts by developing the McDonald’s system. However, some people blame it for the extraordinary success of McDonald’s. With more than 35,000 locations in approximately 120 countries and nearly 70 million customers daily, McDonald’s has experienced significant global expansion since the 1950s. According to Dividend Monk, McDonald’s has had approximately $28 billion in annual revenues over the past ten years.
The Journal reported that about 274 million McDonald’s common stock supported the audit.
Shareholding Figures
From preliminary calculations, the annual McDonald’s shareholding figure saw an estimated 217 million shares challenged and approximately 6 million discharged. SOC Investment Group requested the audit after McDonald’s received intense criticism for the way it handled race-related issues. Publicly, the leadership of the multinational fast-food chain has stated that inclusion and diversity are essential to its principles.
They are committed to providing their staff, franchisees, and suppliers with opportunities for success. According to a statement from the company, they are proud of the progress and will continue to focus on actions that have a meaningful impact. In one case, a McDonald’s advertisement in Japan in 2016 told the story of a teenage girl who visited a McDonald’s restaurant and became interested enough to apply for a job.
Throughout the commercial, she works and makes progress at her new job, acquiring the skills and confidence to recruit new personnel. McDonald’s uses manga to depict characters and set scenes. It is a comic-based storytelling style that originated in Japan and has gained popularity globally in the last few decades. Manga is enjoyed by people of all ages and genders. McDonald’s utilizes manga as a means to effectively communicate with a wide client base and capitalize on visual elements that resonate with Japanese culture.
Creating Relatable Profiles for Readers
By using attention-grabbing techniques, McDonald’s aims to attract diverse groups of potential customers. Their target market includes busy professionals, families, and children. To reach such a diverse audience, separate advertisements often focus on specific target demographics. In this case, teenagers, particularly those seeking employment, are the audience McDonald’s wants to target.
McDonald’s provides job options that align with the image they portray of young individuals. By doing so, they create a profile that readers of their material can relate to and aspire to emulate. This approach aligns with Angela Goddard’s perspective, which suggests that advertisements imply “types of people,” even if they don’t explicitly identify their target market. McDonald’s draws on their understanding of Japanese cultural norms and work ethics, incorporating them into their campaigns.
Japan is known for its strong work ethic, emphasizing loyalty, cooperation, and respect for superiors. Japanese employees are renowned for their loyalty to their workplaces and their ambition to see their companies succeed. In the advertisement, McDonald’s explicitly presents itself as a business that provides young people in Japan with opportunities to enter the labor market.
This aligns with Japan’s core principles and can be seen as another attention-seeking tactic. By tailoring their campaigns to resonate with Japanese culture, McDonald’s effectively communicates with their target audience.
Incorporating the Concept of “Losing Face”
They emphasize the relevance of work and work ethics, which are critical cultural elements in Japan. Additionally, McDonald’s may intentionally focus on their designated advertising audience, the youth who are preparing to enter the job market. The advertisement portrays several significant Japanese work ethic values, such as loyalty, teamwork, mentoring, and personal growth.
The concept McDonald’s aims to convey is that they provide an environment where individuals can learn valuable moral lessons and grow as employees. McDonald’s may have shifted from their more conventional advertising strategy of promoting a product to promoting an idea. In this context, paralanguage serves as a subtle marketing tactic that supports a fundamental element of the Japanese work ethic.
Another aspect McDonald’s considered was the concept of “losing face.” Losing face, which relates to avoiding embarrassment at all costs, is a core element in Japanese culture, both at the individual and group levels. By giving employees a second chance after making mistakes, McDonald’s presents the idea that errors provide growth opportunities. Individuals and teams can learn from their mistakes.
McDonald’s strategically uses its knowledge of losing face and the value of teamwork in the workplace as a persuasive tool. In the commercial, the young woman initially lacks confidence in her abilities and repeatedly makes mistakes, such as dropping French fries and forgetting client orders.
Paralanguage as a Metaphor in Advertising
Her body language, such as covering her face with her palms to hide embarrassment, reflects these aspects. Once again, paralanguage serves as a powerful metaphor in advertising. McDonald’s commercials emphasize ideas rather than solely focusing on their food products. The message is that McDonald’s provides young people with an opportunity to enter the workforce and climb the corporate ladder.
McDonald’s has set aspirational goals to increase the representation of women and underrepresented talent in leadership positions. They have implemented strategies and programs to foster an inclusive environment that values diversity as an advantage. The company has also made strides in increasing leadership diversity and achieving pay parity in international markets.
Additionally, McDonald’s is dedicated to actively fostering an inclusive environment where diversity is embraced as an advantage. This commitment permeates the entire McDonald’s system and is reflected in its global appeal, diverse menu offerings, efficient service, and commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. McDonald’s has developed strategies and programs to create an inclusive environment where diversity is valued.
Bibliography
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- Racoma, B. (2019). McDonald’s International Strategy: Adapting Around the World. Professional Translation Services and Interpreting Solutions.
- Sjöstrand, F. (2017). McCulture it: how McDonald’s adapt their advertising strategies. Engelska Online III (31-60).