The article that I decided to discuss this week was about the rising popularity of the “celebrity meal”. In it we were not only given a run down of the most popular celebrities meals to date, but why they were so popular and also statements from the company on why they decided to use celebrity endorsements, something that is not new but instead has been upgraded for a new generation.

I had a hard time finding an article for this blog post, however when I saw this one I knew it was perfect. It checked all of the boxes of what we had talked about in our previous class. These campaigns were memorable and in my opinion can be placed up there with some of the best such as the anti-narcotic campaign called “This Is Your Brain on Drugs”. The campaigns relied not only on their own personal brand success, but on the success of the celebrities that they chose to collaborate with.

By collaborating with people such as BTS (McDonalds), Justin Bieber (Tim Hortons), and Charli D’Amelio (Dunkin’ Donuts), they were able to reach a larger audience and dare I say a younger audience. The companies would also receive advertising spots not only on their own personal social media, but also on the artists social media as they made posts and videos encouraging their fans to buy their meals to support them. As fans began to get their hands on these items, the companies received earned media as people posted TikToks, Instagrams, and Tweets of the meal or themselves with the meal.

The limited time that these meals were offered for also brought a sense of urgency as in some cases fans might not be able to get their hands on the items after the collaboration had ended. However, in some cases this was not true as instead of creating new items, companies would package already popular or established items in these meals, never even creating anything new besides the packaging. Brands were able to make a large profit with very little effort and without spending excessively, which at the end of the day is the goal of every major company.

With a rise in the amount of celebrities and influencers that we are exposed to today every single time that we open up social media, it feels right that fast food companies would turn to them for advertising. The rise in celebrity meals is a way for large fast food corporations to profit off of an increasingly celeb obsessed society.

Link to Article: The Era of the Celebrity Meal