Fast food advertising

Along with automobiles, insurance, retail outlets, and consumer electronics, fast food is among the most heavily advertised sectors of the United States economy; spending over 4.6 billion dollars on advertising in 2012. A 2013 Ad Age compilation of the 25 largest U.S. advertisers ranked McDonald's as the fourth-largest advertiser (spending US$957,000,000 on measurable advertisements in 2012) and Subway as the nineteenth largest (US$516,000,000).

Fast food advertising campaigns have changed their intent over time. After hearing years of criticism of fast food diet's harmful effects, many modern campaigns stress the availability of healthy options. The rise in awareness of proper nutrition and obesity has decreased the income of these establishments, and their marketing campaigns attempt to rectify this. Even with Fast food companies, "change," in healthy meals and ingredients, many of the goods that are claimed and served are not what exclaimed when advertised.

Fast food restaurants often aim some of their advertising directly at the youth population.McDonald's Happy Meals, which include a toy often tied in with a newly released family film, is a significant example. Ronald McDonald, a clown advertising mascot introduced in 1963 and designed to appeal to young children, is another. In addition, in 1987 McDonald's incorporated a Play Place in their restaurants to further advertise to children,making their restaurants a more appealing environment for children. Additionally, from 1996 to 2006, Disney was an exclusive partner with McDonald's, linking their products together. They announced the end of this deal in May 2006, with some reports saying that Disney was worried about childhood obesity. Other than Disney, McDonald's has also been partnered with Nintendo since 1985, when the Nintendo Entertainment System was first introduced. In 1987, McDonald's also created a Nintendo play land in their restaurants where kids could play on Nintendo consoles while waiting for their food. During 2007, McDonald's began to provide WiFi from the Nintendo consoles; giving children the ability to play where ever they were. With also a target audience of children releasing these new films and incorporating toys, it uses the kids to reach out to their parents pockets because of their large investments in their children lives.

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