McDonald’s gets grilled about McDonald’s Gets Grilled at Mumbrella360
The team behind the much talked about McDonald’s Gets Grilled documentary will discuss the unusual process of how the show came to be commissioned in a session at Mumbrella360.
The programme was broadcast on the Seven Network and featured a group of six Australian consumers who went behind the scenes to address myths around the provenance of McDonald’s food.
Unusually, the show – which was made by independent production house WTFN – was funded by McDonald’s. However, it did not have editorial control.
The process is one of the most high profile examples yet of brand funded content airing on free to air television in Australia.
Mark Lollback, chief marketing officer for McDonald’s, Mat Baxter, CEO of media agency UM which was behind the idea and Daryl Talbot, managing director WTFN and the show’s executive producer will share the case study. They will be joined by Alistair Henderson national strategy director at media agency OMD, which does media planning and buying for McDonald’s.
The session will be moderated by Encore managing editor Brooke Hemphill
Mumbrella360 takes place on June 6 and 7 and the Hilton Hotel in Sydney. Tickets are available on the Mumbrella360 website.
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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Alistair Henderson
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Daryl Talbot
Mark Lollback
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Will McDonald’s be funding the session?
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To suggest McDees ‘did not have editorial control’ is logic defying and implausible. Although they may not have had total control of the final edit, at the very least I’m sure the breif for this was tighter than a frogs bum. And if the outcome was not on brief, heads would have rolled.
I hope these guys get asked the tough questions.
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So let’s get this straight. The good people at UM thought “let’s charge McDonalds do a warts-n-all documentary about the McDonald’s myths. They’ll have no editorial so if the kangaroo-roadkill substitution myth turns out to be true we can include it in the doco. Ha, ha, ha, ha,ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha ,ha! I say fry these guys at 360 degrees for at least an hour.
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I watched just a few minutes of this show and was not surprised to learn that at the end of the manufacturing line for fries they are sprayed with a sugar water mix.
I was surprised this bit, and ensuing questioning by the “consumer”, was aired on the show.
Not something I’d be too proud of.
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People have known about the sugar-water treatment for ages I thought.
That’s why they’re so delicious. The sugar allows them to add even MORE salt than they’d otherwise get away with. And sugar screws with your receptors, making you feel even more hungry… making those fries even more moreish.
But I have no sympathy for anyone who eats at Macca’s and bitches about the food not being pure as the driven snow. It’s fucking junk food, so don’t complain. You want proper food? Don’t eat there. Or HJ’s. Or KFC.
On topic, I guess if the doco was completely uncritical, you mightn’t believe it. Chuck in the least offensive food-nasty, and maybe you can make it feel legit.
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Brave men putting their head above the parapet as being responsible for this show.
Not exactly a high point in the evolution of brand funded content.
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