McDonalds and Disney

Discuss the relationship between McDonalds and Disney as discussed in Fast Food Nation, and compare with similar relationships in Merchants of Cool

The McDonald’s Corporation is very similar to the Walt Disney Company, whose founders, Ray Kroc and Walt Disney had very similar paths to success. Even the McDonald’s corporate headquarters seem like a small Disneyworld. Both entrepreneurs had the same vision of America and were masterful salesmen. Early on, Ray Kroc saw an opportunity for profit in the Disneyland production, and he asked Disney if he could open a McDonalds in the new Disneyland. This request was rejected by Disney, because McDonald was not yet popular enough. With their similarities in customers and policies, both companies were waiting for the marketing strategy now known as synergy to be pioneered by Walt Disney himself. When, in 1996, a ten-year global marketing agreement was signed by the two corporations, a fast food company was linked with a Hollywood studio, granting McDonald’s exclusive rights to Disney’s output of films. Disney characters were depicted on McDonald’s merchandise, and McDonalds began to open stores at Disney’s theme parks. “It is about the integration of [the] two brands, long-term”.

In the Merchants of Cool two companies are similarly benefiting from each other, by helping each other in attracting the same group of customers. When Sprite changed its marketing strategy, and began advertising for teenagers, it caught on to the “life-style” that MTV was selling, rather than just selling Sprite as a drink. Like Disney and McDonald are focusing on children, Sprite and MTV are focusing on teenagers as potential customers. Sprite and MTV are now partners in, on one side, promoting the soft drink, on the other, promoting hip-hop music, but together, in promoting the teen life-style.