#157 No Appetite for McDonald’s Humor in Italy
During the summer of 2019, Italians’ didn’t show much appetite for a meal from American fast food giant McDonald’s. The reason was a failed attempt at being funny in another, neighboring market – Austria. While McDonald’s promotions in the United States often focus on price and value, it has become common in other countries to lure customers to its stores with special promotion weeks that feature limited-time, unique menu items. In Austria, such campaigns included, for instance, the “Maennerwochen” (“Guys Weeks”) during which it offers burgers with extra bacon, meat, or cheese that particularly appeal to a male audience.. In addition, McDonald’s advertising in Austria is known for its often humorous plays on words. In July 2019, it was time again for such a special promotion. In rolling out their Italian-inspired, limited-time menu that included items such as Mozzarella sticks or the “Chicken Amore” sandwich with fresh basil, McDonald’s added to their billboard advertising what they thought was a funny slogan: “Fuer echte Mampfiosi”. What translates into “For real Mampfiosi” is a play on the German word “Mampf” (meaning “to chow down”) and mafiosi – of course referring to Italy’s infamous criminal organization. Italy’s social media-savvy Interior Minister Matteo Salvini quickly took up the cause on his Facebook page, lamenting the use of the common, unflattering stereotype by McDonald’s. Soon thereafter, the Italian Newspaper La Repubblica reported on the issue, and foreign media in various countries were fast to pick up the story. Faced with growing pressure from Italian consumers and the media, McDonald’s Austria reacted swiftly and took down the billboards. Their new slogan, “Fuer echte Amici” (“For true friends”) seems to be a much better fit for the Italian palate…
March 21, 2020 @ 3:15 pm
McDonald’s marketing mission among the world is very diverse and country-specific. To me, it appears they are doing a good job in evaluation of customer’s preferences as well as the way they are putting their advertising campaigns out there. Even though, I am personally not a huge fan of McDonald’s in general, I always have to smile about their humorous and very creative plays with words in Austrian campaigns.
I remember the “For Real Mampfiosi” – campaign and I thought it was not very appropriate, because someone would not necessarily connect the Mafia with something to eat and it represents also a more or less “negative” part of Italy. Therefore, I think Salvini’s reaction was justified and Mc Donald’s alternative “Für echte Amici” fits better, because as Austrians, we like the Italians as our neighbors. I am sure, Austria would not be so happy either, if there would be a campaign out there for Kaiserschmarrn at McDonald’s with a slogan like “How to survive in a basement” or something similar. I do not think it is a good advertising strategy to take advantage of a country’s negative example, even though it’s what they are famous for.
March 24, 2020 @ 8:53 pm
My first reaction when reading the slogan “für echte Mampfiosi” was laughing because I found it a creative and funny play on words. To me the word “mampfen” which relates to be very hungry and to eating greedily in combination with the legendary Italian criminal organization Mafia triggers associations with old-style Hollywood movies about the Mafia in the United States and the male characters typically representing those characters. I think it is a pity that McDonalds had to change the slogan because I do not see anything insulting in it. It is well known that Italy had and still has a problem with criminal Mafia structures, but it is also well known that the majority of Italians have nothing to do with it and moreover disapprove it. In addition, this slogan was created for a campaign dedicated to guys “Guys Weeks”. Therefore, I think one should leave the “Kirche im Dorf” as we use to say in Austria, which means we should not overestimate the problem. I am afraid that if we continue this route, it will ultimately kill creativity because we have to apply creativity censorship to avoid potentially hurting someone`s feelings.
I think – since we are all different with different biographies – naturally we will not approve or disapprove the same things. I think society should allow a certain grey zone to be allowed for plays on words or jokes, even if some groups feel offended.
March 31, 2020 @ 10:28 am
Well-thought-out marketing campaigns, like the one described in this very blog-entry, can truly cause a smile on many customers’ lips, make them think about it as well as lure them into shops or restaurants, in order to check out the advertised product. Creating a marketing-campaign can also turn out as a disaster when marketing people not doing their homework properly. It, moreover, should be common sense that the more south one goes, the prouder people get about their country and, especially, its history as well as culture.
When shifting focus again to McDonald’s ads for their Italian-inspired food items in Austria, it was just a matter of time until Italians would recognize and complain about the campaign. From personal experiences, research and conversations with friends from Italy, I know that Italians are very proud of their country and the Mafia there is still active. Therefore, making fun of the identity and culture of Italians as well as the country’s structures led to that outrage. This example shows that if McDonald’s marketing employees did a better job on doing research on Italy when forging a marketing campaign, outrage and negative publicity could have easily been prevented.
April 7, 2020 @ 11:40 am
Further to my previous comment I would like to point out that I think the problem with the name McMampfiosi in Italy was that most Italians do not understand the German word “mampfen”. I think if they would understand it, they would find the name creation actually funny too. However, from the side of McDonalds they should have been more aware that jokes on words are usually only fully understood in the country where that language is spoken. In that sense, although I still think it is a creative idea, I would have recommended to the company to use a different name for selling the product in Italy.
April 20, 2020 @ 3:07 am
McDonald’s is one of the largest companies in the world. They have more than 37,850 restaurants worldwide in 120 countries serving more than 68 million customers each day. One of the challenges of being this size is managing marketing campaigns. Over the last few years we have seen some cases where major companies got in loads of trouble for offensive advertising campaigns or products like H&M for example. In many countries, McDonalds is known for their fun advertisements but in Austria, they pushed it too far by having a play on words about the ‘mafia’. In my opinion, the Italians had the right to be angry as McDonald’s has one million other options for marketing campaign slogans. I believe that they made the right decision by changing it and the new slogan is in much better taste. Moving forward I think that it is appropriate that their marketing department shift with the times as the world is becoming hypersensitive to comments that may come off as offensive. My suggestion is to have multiple marketing directors in each country that have to sign off on new ads in order to prevent this kind of thing from happening again.
April 20, 2020 @ 7:14 am
To me this slogan represents the two things; first the changing sensitivities of humor today and the impact of social media on today’s advertising strategy. I think that consumers can make a big deal out of their own interpretations because they have a voice now that is louder than ever before in the past due to social media. Also I believe because of this voice people have become more sensitive especially when it comes to humor. Play on words and marketing humor is always a good strategy because it signifies that there was careful thought put into place. I do agree however that the issue here is that the humor is based on a negative stereotype. Also companies must consider the cultural reception and humor that best fits their international marketing strategy so seemingly small play on words like this one will not come back to hurt them later. – Phillip
June 14, 2020 @ 9:47 am
McDonald’s is a famous brand in the world. And we all know that it will have a different meal in different countries. Because of the different cultures. Like in Indonesia, there is no pork in their McDonald’s. Because they are Muslim.
After reading this article I do not think that “funny slogan” is interesting. Because we can know in the article that the word “Mampf” is mean chow down like negative. Therefore, many people think that McDonald’s uses stereotypes for advertising. So, I believe that advertising is a very important reason for the business. If you want to sell something that your advertising needs to be well and suitable for the target. Just like the end of the article that it says they have a new slogan for Italian” Fuer Echte Amici”. That is meant for true friends. Thus, advertising really can lead the item to be well and suitable.
June 14, 2020 @ 1:15 pm
I recall seeing this poster in Vienna for the first time and feeling very puzzled by it, as I did not see irony in it. I feel like Austrians often go too far with their advertisements (as we saw in class as well) and cover them as jokes but then feel personal attacked when someone talks about Hitler or other bad taboo topics. This McDonald`s example just underlines my statement. It is sad that advertisement agencies play so much with stereotypes instead of creating new connections or tries to educate the mass. Especially in times of #BlackLivesMatter I feel like companies need to overthink their strategies and position themselves better and more inclusive than they have been before. Finally, I think this McDonald`s ad was not very flattering and should have been avoided from the beginning, because culture does not mean stereotype and fitting in just one box.
June 19, 2020 @ 11:54 am
With such a well-known and global brand, such escapades like this can happen.
In fact, I believe a lot of companies can learn some things from McDonald’s. Their campaigns are always very funny, (usually) appropriate and very well thought through! Also, this global player knows very well how to implement the correct strategies according to each culture. A positive example would be their menu adaptations to traditional dishes around the world (e.g. Asia – rice bowl).
Looking at this campaign, the company did not mean any harm and just wanted to use a funny wordplay. Obviously, every German speaker will be able to see the comical aspect of this campaign, but every other person will not understand the German humour behind it.
When you think about it form an Italian perspective, you will be able to understand the reactions. Italy is a beautiful country with amazing people, but Italy will always be associated with the Mafia and their bad crimes. This is a prejudice that will always be associated with Italy. This way of thinking is hardly changeable if the first thing we learn in school about Italy is how many criminally organisation there are and how they are called!
All in all, I understand the intended pun, but I also believe the company did not take other neighbouring cultures into consideration.
June 19, 2020 @ 1:28 pm
Obviously, this advertisement campaign of McDonald went wrong. As an outcome people are upset and McDonald has to deal with negative WOM, which leads to a bad reputation. When rolling out a campaign internationally, companies need to adapt their products to the local needs. Regarding language and communication, it is crucial to understand the language of the target market. Moreover, the right translation of words/phrases/slogans is another essential aspect when planning an advertisement campaign for a foreign market, because there are many differences in meanings in various languages. McDonald is well known for regional adaptations of their products. However, in my opinion the fast food chain doesn’t address the target group in the right way, especially in this example. I mean, the slogan “Für echte Mampfiosi” is quite funny in Austria, but Italians have another sense of humor. This is a reason why companies should do intense research about the target country and its culture.
June 25, 2020 @ 2:34 pm
This advertisement campaign of McDonalds was planned as a funny joke, but it turned out bad for them. They had to deal with a shitstorm on social media and a negative word-of-mouth. Due to the fact, that McDonalds is a very successful company I did not expect them to promote such a campaign. They should have thought about the impact of this advertisement as well as how they represent Italy. Furthermore, a market research about the country and their culture would have been a great idea for McDonalds, as they are outlining the criminality of Italy. In General, it is crucial to check the translation and the meaning of the advertisement before doing an internationally campaign. To sum up, I think McDonalds did not wanted to discriminate Italian people, but they should have thought about the advertisement before publishing it. In my opinion the slogan ‘Für echte Mampfiosi’ is not even funny in German.
June 25, 2020 @ 3:10 pm
In my opinion, McDonald’s is doing a great job in advertising its products allover the world, especially because it is orientated country specific. But despite this fact, I totally can understand, why the Italian people, and especially Salvini, felt offended because of the slogan „Für echte Mampfiosi“, because the Mafia in Italy is associated with negative thoughts. For us Austrians it is just might a funny joke, also because we know the word „mampfen“ and can link the two words toghether into a meaningful word. This is one thing, the people behind the idea did not think well through.
But from my point of view McDonalds safed itself with the change to the new slogan “Für echte Amici” and I think it did not harm McDonald’s much.
This is a great example to always think your campaign or whatever through and try to see it from any possible view.
June 26, 2020 @ 8:56 am
As McDonald´s is operating internationally, people of many different cultures are confronted with the company´s marketing activities. Even though McDonald´s might not use the slogan “Für echte Mampfiosi” in the Italian market, the attention of Italian customers is still caught with an advertisement that is this judgemental against their own culture. While some Italians might still think it is a fun way to advertise McDonald´s Italian product line, others could easily feel offended by a stereotype about their culture that is this openly communicated. I think it was the right move of McDonald´s to change the advert after the firm garnered many negative reviews and to apologise to the people that felt personally attacked in this way. However, in my opinion, McDonald´s should have omitted using this slogan, that is obviously a prejudice, already in the first run.
Such faux pas can happen to a global player like McDonald´s because a certain saying or slogan that is used in one country might mean something completely different in another market the company is also serving. Therefore, deep research needs to be done before a marketing campaign is rolled out and the use of stereotypes, that might offend some people, should generally be avoided.
June 26, 2020 @ 10:24 pm
It doesn’t surprise me that the McDonalds campaign “Fuer echte Mampfiosi” failed. Imagine the Italian McDonalds would have published a slogan like “For real fighters like Hitler”. I would have felt fooled by such a campaign. Some topics simply are called a taboo-topic especially when it comes to a negative historic subject. A true marketer should know that it is inappropriate to make jokes of other cultures, especially when it comes to a global brand like McDonalds. When you take a look into the various menu adaptions within every country, e.g. noodles in Asia, you can see that the company knows how to adapt to other cultures. Additionally, such a campaign might not only lead to negative headlines but also to a bad reputation which could cause the companies shutdown.
All in all, when doing business abroad it is essential that the company adapts to the local market and the local needs. It is essential to check a words meaning and the historical background before using it within a campaign which is about to go global.
June 27, 2020 @ 9:09 am
First of all, I would like to say that I think that MC Donald`s adapts it`s advertising campaigns as well as products very well to cultural differences worldwide. Just think of the “Hüttengaudi” weeks in Austria or the spicy/cheesy rice bowls in India. However, for me this advertising campaign with the statement “For real Mampfiosi” not seems that appropriate and well thought out for a global player like MC Donald`s. Without a doubt one can say that Italians are very proud of their country, their culture and also their history. One can almost say that this country is characterized by national arrogance. Therefore, it is in any way justified from Mr Salvini to claim that this statement personally attacks many Italians. Because who wants to be associated with the dark side of Italy? Furthermore, I totally agree with your opinion that it was right from MC Donald`s to change the advertising message. “For true Friends” sounds much more appealing to me as well and does not violate the Italian dignity in any way.
June 28, 2020 @ 1:59 pm
As McDonald’s local adaptions in Austria are often very successful I do also like the idea of a “Hüttengaudi” or something like that in general. However, concerning the “Für echt Mampfiosi” campaign I really cannot understand why they have chosen that slogan. In our heads, the Mafia is not connected with something positive at all but generally McDonald’s goes for positive associations.
Especially in times of social media it is more important than ever before to do not make mistakes like this. Once a fault like those billboards are recognized by the public it does not take hours until it is spread all over social media. When it comes to this point, it is very hard for a company to work against this wave of shitstorm as fast as it is flooding all platforms. Nearly impossible.
June 29, 2020 @ 8:27 am
First of all, I have to say that the marketing campaigns of McDonald’s are one of the best in Austria. With their humorous plays on words and creative visualization they immediately grab their customer’s attention. The slogan of their Italian-inspired, limited-time menu “Für echte Mampfiosi” what is translated “For real Mampfiosi”, in my opinion does not directly refer to Italy’s infamous criminal organization because the German word “Mampf” (meaning “to chow down”) clearly is in the foreground of the message. I am sure that McDonald’s didn’t want to be disrespectful or bring shame to Italy. We Austrians really appreciate our neighbouring country and wouldn’t interpret it in a negative way. However, if the Interior Minister Matteo Salvini was outraged by the campaign because all Italians are seen as followers of criminal structures – although Austrians would never associate it like this – McDonald’s is forced to change their marketing campaign slogan then. I do believe that as a marketer you have to take some risks if you want your advertisement to be extraordinary and something that raises people’s awareness. Taking into account that one does not attack cultures verbally aggressively, it is still important to allow creativity its freedom.
June 29, 2020 @ 3:18 pm
I totally love this kind of humour and McDonald’s is very good in creating good slogans and especially campaigns. In my opinion it is in advertising sometimes pretty hard, because you have to gain customer’s attention and therefore you have to be polarizing these days. There are so many competitors and we are overfilled of information.
But, the other side is, that McDonald’s as a worldwide company has not just to think of their customers in Austria and beeing funny here, they also have to think of all customers, in this case of the Italians. And “Mafiosi” just stands for a negative aspect of Italy and every culture must respected and as well not reduced for some negative aspects.
Anyway, my personal opinion is, that they did a very well job in advertising, by creating this campaign, but also after all in managing and reacting after this “bad press” from Salvini and changing the slogan for the campaign immediately.
In comparison, the new Slogan “Fuer echte Amici” is very bad and they should think about a better advertising mixture which is not so aggressive like “Mampfiosi”, but also not so boring like “Fuer echte Amici”.
June 29, 2020 @ 9:22 pm
In my opinion, McDonalds implements its marketing activities very well and for the most part also takes cultural differences and food preferences into account. I have to admit that I enjoy viewing all McDonalds advertisements, whether TV advertisements or posters and that they are doing a great job in advertising.
I also had to laugh when I first saw this ad. But after thinking about it and looking at it through the eyes of someone of the Italian culture, I think it is quite inappropriate.
First, I wouldn’t want to link the mafia to McDonalds. Because when you hear the word “Mafia”, you have something negative in mind. And I don’t think that McDonalds wants to be linked to something negative.
I am not sure if the responsible people at McDonalds really don’t know much about the Italian culture or if they just ignored it.
It’s a good example that you have to think through your advertising campaign first. Understanding cultural differences is a very important point in creating a campaign.
But I think McDonalds solved the problem well with changing the claim to “Für echte Amici”.
November 8, 2020 @ 4:15 pm
From my perspective, I think the slogan is funny, and that is because I am not Italian, and I am not familiar with their culture. I’m not saying that people can make fun of anything that other people might think is inappropriate just because they are not familiar with the culture. I am saying that people should spend time on understanding other cultures and not offending others. McDonald is a big scale and worldwide company, and they have lots of stores in Italy definitely. Understanding the difference between cultures is extremely important for not only local companies but also global companies. People have a wide range of language acceptance. Some might just laugh and let it go, but some can not shrug it off easily, and they might be hurt by those single words. In my opinion, McDonald should ask local consultants before they release the advertisement to ensure this advertisement will not offend any culture and any individual.
January 16, 2021 @ 5:14 pm
To me, this seems like the perfect example of cross-cultural advertising gone wrong and it proves a very important point: Even if your ad campaign isn’t meant to cross borders and is targeting one country only, you still need to consider that it may end up reaching an unintended audience. Thanks to social media, images can spread fast. In addition, Austria is a popular travel destination for Italians. It was only a matter of time until the campaign would gain international attention, in my opinion.
Even though I love myself a good pun, I think that in this case, McDonald’s demonstrated a lack of taste. In films, series and music, mafia is being romanticized. In reality, however, it causes fear and economical damage.
I commend McDonald’s on reacting promptly and replacing the word “Mampfiosi” with “Amici”. Generally, though, companies should always be careful when using stereotypes for advertising purposes. It wasn’t even the first time, McDonald’s received backlash, by the way. I remember back in 2013, they compared their burger to an “Extrawurstsemmel”. That comparison didn’t do well as consumer’s consciousness to buy local is ever growing. Many took their anger on social media, exclaiming that they’d pick a local butcher over an international food chain any day.
June 16, 2021 @ 2:29 pm
As a former McDonald’s employee having gained some insight behind the scenes of their marketing campaigns, I do on the one hand side understand why their advertisements are always rather sassy. Austrians simply respond to this kind of humor and using this knowledge for their campaigns certainly works well for McDonald’s.
However, accept that the word play “Mampfiosi” does hurt the Italian national pride. Austrians wouldn’t like being compared to “Hitler” or being positioned as “Lederhosen” wearing mountain people in an Italian advertisement either.
I would suggest that McDonald’s Austria’s marketing team does better research next time to create a slogan with more “amore” to their neighboring countries.
June 17, 2021 @ 7:49 pm
In my opinion, McDonald’s acted the right way by putting down the advertisement after all. The Italians are a very proud and traditional state – proud of their people, country, culture and history. With the advertisement regarding to the less wanted association of Italy and the mafia, of course the Italians felt personally attact. Nevertheless I do believe that Austria, or McDonald’s Marketing team in Austria did not attact them on purpose. Taking into account that Italy is the Number 1 holiday destination for most Austrians, this must have happened accidently or the fact that it could be associated negatively was being blinded out by the humerous aspects of the advertisement. The Advertisement could have really damaged the image Italy aims to promote – la dolce vita, together with all the family! McDonald’s turned it around to promote positively and more appealing – also to the Italians.
June 20, 2021 @ 8:37 pm
McDonalds always surprises with original and amusing slogans as well as jingles that get stuck in my head. To me, over all their campaigns do work for the specific target groups that they try to reach in those themed weeks. Even though I have to say, that the slogan “for real mampfiosi” was an inaproriate message, as it is only funny in other countries than Italy- and to them very offensive. No country would be happy if they see their “flaws” or “negative aspects” in any way used as a promotion. All in all I can say, that McDonalds should stick with “Huettengaudi” or other slogans that are appropriate for the world-wide-media, as McDonalds is a world-wide-known business.
June 28, 2021 @ 9:17 am
When doing global business as McDonalds does, a company is asked to take on extensive responsibility when it comes to adapt its products and its communication as well. But when it’s up to decide on the communication strategy for one specific market, it’s not satisfying to only consider those local requirements. McDonalds tried their best to attract Austrian customers but did not recognize that they might upset another customer group, the Italians. As the Austrian market is well-known for humorous advertising campaigns, it wasn’t actually a big deal for the people in Austria. But especially in times, where awareness for equality and the reduction of stereotypes is rising, it should be obvious that linking a whole country like Italy to only a few “real Mafiosi” won’t bring any positive response for the company.
June 30, 2021 @ 5:48 pm
McDonald’s is such a big company that in my opinion it is a surprise that no escapade like this happened before. As the campaigns from McDonalds are usually very well thought out, they made a huge mistake in this one. Sometimes, advertisements simply go to far which is what also happened in this case. It is not funny at all to play with stereotypes in times like these. To me, it was surprising that McDonald’s did such a mistake as they normally take care of different cultures. They adapt their menu to the habits of the countries, in Muslim countries for example they do not serve any pork. I think in this case the company just did not think that far that this advertisement is inappropriate.
July 4, 2021 @ 4:09 pm
I appreciated reading this blog post, because in my opinion, it shows that the meaning of language and words is interpreted and associated differently in different countries. Whenever it comes to pun, especially when words from other languages are used, it should be double-checked which relevance these words have for other countries. While Austrians mostly know the so-called “Mafia” from movies and not from real life, some Italians may have really experienced organized crime by this organization. The latest news of the release of the mafia boss Giovanni Brusca shocked Italy (source: https://orf.at/stories/3215548/) which furthermore shows how strong importance of this criminal organization is for this country. So even if the pun sounds funny to an Austrian, when using a foreign language the meaning should always be researched carefully and preferably checked by native speakers, to avoid intercultural misunderstandings.
July 11, 2021 @ 10:55 pm
When I first saw this ad, I wasn’t really thinking about how Italians might be insulted through this. But in general, I think that McDonalds did a quite good job with this advertisement for the Austrian target group as people there are very humorous. So, the intention was only to attract the Austrian customers by being equal with the Austrian humor, without even thinking about how our Italian neighbors might feel when seeing this ad. So, Minister Matteo Salvinis reaction to this is understandable. Also, maybe because Italians are proud of their food, drinks, and culture and maybe not of the criminal organization. So here you can really see that the slogan “act local think global” is still quite important.