McDonald’s ‘Go Full Summer’ ad cleared of being ‘paedophilic’ and showing ‘disturbing’ shots of kids
McDonald’s has had its ‘Go Full Summer’ commercial cleared by the ad watchdog, despite complaints labelling the ad “offensive”, “sexual”, “inappropriate” and “disturbing”.
When the ‘Go Full Summer’ campaign launched, Mumbrella commenters said the ad was “saddening” and “a disgrace”.
The ad – which features children running on the beach, swimming, climbing trees and enjoying time with their grandparents – was critiqued by a complainant for showing a “very young girl in the light blue shorts climb[ing] the inside of a door, consequently spreading her legs open”.
Another said the ad was “deeply disturbing in its suggestiveness”.
A number of complaints took issue with the relationship that was depicted between the different generations, and said the ad promoted paedophilia.
“It strongly suggests an older man in party mode can dominate very young girls in summer knickers and it will all be great fun. I have never in my life complained about an ad but this is deeply subtle promotion of pedophilia and suggesting it is great for very young girls. In one shot in the middle the older man even has frightening fake teeth but that all is OK as it is all so wonderful later,” another viewer said.
McDonald’s defended the ad and said it was “disappointed” to receive the complaints.
“Children and young people in our advertisements are always portrayed in a dignified and respectful manner that respects the integrity of the young actors involved. These advertisements are not open to obvious misrepresentation by our audiences, and are certainly not encouraging paedophilia or the sexualisation of children.
“This is not an advertisement which should alarm the Advertising Standards Board. If the Board were to uphold the complaint, it would set a precedent that brands cannot use young children to market their children’s swimwear collection, or use any young children in their marketing who are wearing swimwear – no matter how authentic the portrayal of the child is,” McDonald’s said.
The advertising watchdog found the ‘Go Full Summer’ ad wasn’t inappropriate or paedophillic and it didn’t focus on any particular body parts of the children featured in the ad.
“The overall tone is one of innocence and fun and the children are not sexualised.
“There was no suggestion in the advertisement that the man behaves inappropriately towards any of the children at any point,” the Board said.
Sanity prevails
Story of the year. These complainants probably get breathless every time someone eats a banana in a public place.
How sad and pathetic must you be when you see kids climbing trees, playing on the beach, and enjoying summer with their family, and all you take away are sexualised images of kids whose grandparents are clearly kiddy fiddlers. Get a life.
Normal balanced people: 1
Self-Assigned Moral Police Nutbags: 0
I wanted to give my two cents on this – but the previous commenters have nailed it… crazy it ever got investigated
Anyone who complained should never be allowed near children again as they have creepy weird repressed pedophilic thoughts the rest of us can’t imagine.
Normal balanced people: 1
Self-Assigned Moral Police Nutbags: 1,000,000
Agree with A drew, I can’t actually comprehend how anyone would arrive at these opinions without actually having those thoughts themselves?
My 65yr old father & father in law carry on with my daughter in a similar manner to old mate on the ad, I stand there with a beer and watch and smile as it’s one of the best moments life has to offer.
If you think otherwise, you’re fucked in the head.
Don’t we have other problems in the world?
What you said.
I have to question if the complaints were professional jealousy to try and undermine the agency who created the ad.
I thought the ad was lovely and reminded me of summers at the beach and conning Nan and Pa into buying me a Maccas soft serve, so well done to the people who created it.
100% agreed, if you are complaining that this ad sexualizes children, it is you and your filthy mind who is sexualizing them! Not McDonalds.
I hope the ASB laughed as they read these complaints, and at the same time felt sorry for the people who made them. Since when does the depiction of kids and families having fun have sexual, even pedophilic undertones? Unbelievable…
What on earth is in the minds of these people. Sigmund Freud would have considered these complainants as deeply disturbed by inner frustrations and anal fixations. Grandparents can and do have healthy close relationships with their grandchildren.
Are you serious? I love this ad – my kids love this ad. It’s nostalgic, warm and playful.
Whoever complained needs some expensive counseling.
Have to agree with everyone else. However I’m deeply disturbed that Bill Withers is allowing himself to be associated with Maccas. That’s the real disgrace here grumble grumble…
What a sad and lonely life they must lead if that’s what they take out of the Ad. It’s one of the very few Ads on TV at the moment that have a great feel good presence about it. Takes me back to the 70’s. More power to the advertising agency that came up with that.
The only offensive thing here is that the grandparents took them to McDonalds.
Right and good call watchdog, seriously how ridiculous, it is a lovely montage of a quintessential summer moments that is beautiful to watch.
Given all there is in the world right now to find abhorrant, I’m flabbergasted that some folks have the energy to hate this ad.
“offensive”, “sexual”, “inappropriate” and “disturbing”.“saddening” and “a disgrace” “subtle promotion of pedophilia” WTF? Am I watching the same ad as these complainants? Perhaps these people should be investigated?
How ridiculous that this is being labelled as anything but a nostalgic, warm advertisement about Grandparents sharing Summer with their Grandchildren on the beach! The fact that this even had to be investigated is a concern in itself.
I have never found myself admiring a Maccas ad before, but this one struck me as brilliant – actually quite a moving evocation of carefree summer holidays with the grandparents. I thought to myself, that’s going to win all the awards and stand as a career highlight for the creative minds behind it.
The claims that it “promotes paedophilia” were beyond ridiculous, a sad indictment of our times – when the default assumption is that all men are sexual predators. It calls to mind that incident a year or two ago when a man was at the beach with his daughter (granddaughter?) who got changed out of her togs in the open – only to find the police arriving in response to a report that something indecent was unfolding.
As said above, some people really need to get a life. If you’re a child sex abuse survivor, seek professional help – don’t project your issues onto everything you see. It’s making the world a sad, sad place.
Totally.
I kept waiting for the scandalous scenes… then the ad ended.
I sometimes wonder if people complain about these things because seeing children makes THEM think in that way. That’s the more disturbing thing IMHO
Utterly ridiculous! Anyone that thinks kids having fun and playing freely (which includes climbing walls and swinging from doors) is in some way sexually suggestive needs to have their head checked.
Is that Wilbur Wilde playing the creepy grandfather?
Thou shalt not think any male over the age of thirty that plays with a child is a paedophile; some people are just nice.
LMAO
The world has gone mad – I hope no one takes this seriously.
The people making the complaints are sick. Lock them up.
In the ad’s narrative, the only “romantic” implication was the younger boy’s crush on the older (awesome) girl. Several shots implying he thought she was just about the greatest thing the universe had ever brought forth. Not a word about that of course.
I was astonished to hear that people found the ad inappropriate. It’s innocence is its greatest appeal.
Glad to see the ad was cleared. It was a wonderful campaign from a company whose ads are usually ho-hum.
Remember when Summers used to be carefree? That’s what this ad evoked for me.
When are we going to stop taking notice of a couple of nutters complaining? Surely there needs to be an overhaul where a certain number of objections needs to be received before an enquiry is triggered? It was probably less than a handful of complaint from a population of 24million that pushes this into news.
Enough already.
It seems they do. Hence why this is news.
SMH
I saw this ad for the first time several months ago. I thought it was very well made, reminded me of my childhood in the 80’s. The thought of anything about it being offensive didnt even cross my mind. I actually thought how well they caught the essence of summer from the childhood memory perspective.
There is no innocence.
There is no beauty.
There is no joy.
There is only
Corruption,
Loathing,
Wrath,
Filth.
For some people, anyway.
In regards to this ad… . I watched it first before reading the negative things.. I didn’t see anything sexy, weird or anything else.. What sick unbalanced people are you to even think that way.. My only issue in this ad is that Maccas isn’t that healthy ?? though I do still eat it occasionally.. This ad looks like fun and I wished I had summers like that
There may have been an overreaction, but (speaking as someone who works with videographers) this is video is odd.
1. Nearly all the shots – not just the beach, but also the rainforest – focus on the lower half of children’s bodies and their rear. Nearly all the children featured this way are girls.
2. The shot with the boy and girl in the water is odd, both in its content and its duration (significantly longer than most other shots). It does not look like a “fun” situation. He is leaning back from her, bobbing his head away at least three times. His choice of costume is also odd (transparent white sleeveless vest – not the usual thing Australian kids wear in summer let alone in the pool). They must have had a vast amount of footage: why use this shot?
I am surprised this was the final edit. I would have asked for a recut, with less “angled up” shots and more gender balance.
Spot on 🙂
Oh dear…
If only the financial industry was scrutinized this much.
The edit was just below the line of question, just. But either way Maccas wins in all publicity outcomes, a beacon of kids innocence and a re-edit, or a beacon of childhood should be treasured and stays as is.
It’s a nice time of life – kids are young enough to enjoy their fun, slightly goofy grandparents. By the time they turn 12 they’ll be asking granddad to put the fake teeth away. Anyone who reads anything sinister into this ad needs to be investigated by the watchdog.
Yes, I would have made the same requests at the rough-cut stage. More faces please. Kids crazy faces are also much more emotive than leg shots.
It’s a great concept – kids and in particular girls in physical activity is great.
It is possible for the directors and the client to look at each clip and switch them around a bit. This could have avoided the creeps creeping out.
Still, glad it is not being censored.
I now I have to back and listen to that album; I’d forgotten about the brilliance of Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip =)
100% agreed. But you need to learn to spell sexualising. It has an s not a z.
The only offensive thing about this ad is that it’s for McDonalds. Talk about the dream factory!
Here’s a thought maybe Macca’s made the complaints to get people talking about the ad … not a bad way to advertise lol
arrr wake up australia , lets gather all these pathetic whinging ,moaning sexually frustrated people who see sexual overtones at every thing they see and ship them of to some distant island never to return . i was sexually abused at 5yrs old and it was not by a person of my grandads age he was about 15years old.
as for the add , it was summer and brought back memories of great times at the beach with family , good clean fun but unlucky for me maccas didnt exsist at that time of my life
After working in an organisation that took complaint calls regarding TV advertisement, nothing surprises me anymore in regards to what people make up in their heads. It’s scary. We are devolving as a species.
There are some obviously quite bitter, twisted and sick people in this world to think such an innocuous video of children was sexually suggestive.
I love my kids, oh shit now I am a paedophile!!!