McDonalds Cafe
Agency: Heye & Partner, Unterhaching, Germany.
Art Directors: Stefan Ellenberger, Sebastian Hackelsperger
Photographer: Camillo Buchelmeier
Found at: IbelieveinAdv.
Posted in Print 
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September 20th, 2007 at 10:47 am
doesn’t look ediblle i got the concept.
September 20th, 2007 at 11:08 am
Love the idea, but executionally it looks pretty gross. Doesn’t make me want to go to their cafe.
September 20th, 2007 at 11:09 am
Yikes, I get it now but at first glance it looks like a decaying, blackened, mold-covered hamburger. I get the burger connotation, but I’m not quite sure I could get that taste out of my mouth…
September 20th, 2007 at 11:25 am
i agree. makes me so uncomfortable!
September 20th, 2007 at 11:41 am
it looks like very old humburger…the first impression is disgusting.
September 20th, 2007 at 11:57 am
Does the coffee taste like meat?
Do the burgers taste like coffee?
This is more risky-bad than risky-good. Why show a burger that looks like this — just to say you have a bigger coffee offering? I wouldn’t compromise the lifeblood of the chain to promote another part of the menu. It’s a neat observation, but the ad itself seems forced. Just because a connection was made doesn’t mean you should run with it.
September 20th, 2007 at 12:09 pm
I agree with everyone else. At first glance it looks like a petrified hamburger. I’m not even honestly sure that I get the concept. Is it a potato?
September 20th, 2007 at 12:26 pm
It’s a coffee bean.
September 20th, 2007 at 12:48 pm
It’s too smart by half, that’s what it is (and a coffee bean on its edge, I think…).
“I know, we’ll advertise McDs café by being very witty and show a hamburger-ish coffee bean!” Not. It’s completely back-asswards and does nothing positive for the brand. Half the viewers will see it as some sort of cow patty… and relate it to McDs beef that way: crappy coffee?
Instead, how about showing a really well shot cup of espresso in a real cup as a way of advertising their “restaurants”? Nah, that would be too easy…
September 20th, 2007 at 3:12 pm
I thought it was a fossilized hamburger or a baked potatoe at first.
September 20th, 2007 at 6:10 pm
My first impression was actually… a coffee bean.
Then I looked a little longer, and saw a hamburger, and wasn’t sure why.
It just makes me want coffee.
I don’t think it looks gross or anything… but it doesn’t make me want to buy their food - just their coffee. But hey, I might be biased. I’m addicted to caffeine.
September 21st, 2007 at 12:36 am
it’s actually a coffee bean that looks like a hamburger. weird thing for mcdonalds to be doing, because like everyone else for my first look, it resembled a decomposing hamburger. just puts me off.
September 21st, 2007 at 1:28 am
At first I thought it was an add to discorage you from eating at Mc Donalds. I had to laugh when I founfd out it was a coffe bean
September 21st, 2007 at 2:27 am
it looks like a big pooh
September 21st, 2007 at 8:42 am
I thought that it was an ad making fun of McDonalds.
September 21st, 2007 at 12:21 pm
looks like a shit sandwich
September 21st, 2007 at 7:59 pm
Yeap, straight away u can tell its a coffee bean, plus if u see the Mc Cafe logo it makes it even clearer.
They wanted to combine the burger and coffee services they provide as “the one place to go to have ur burger and cuppa”
I particularly think the bean looks alright but burger wise,,, it looks old and bad
September 22nd, 2007 at 7:08 pm
bad first impression
September 24th, 2007 at 11:24 am
I love ideas that give pause and let the user make the connection, but I can’t say this one worked for me.
It took me took long to get that it was a coffee bean, and like others here I first saw an old, disgusting burger or even a potato.
Maybe some context would have helped, like out of focus pile of smaller beans in the background or a coffee grinder, etc. I even this the lighting setup could have helped.
September 24th, 2007 at 5:40 pm
looks like pooo…..
September 24th, 2007 at 6:30 pm
Nice Idea
September 25th, 2007 at 5:17 pm
Looks too flat to be a coffee bean, and the scale and angle of the ad makes the “bean” appear too large… if the target audience does end up getting the ad, they will not be inspired to go to McDonalds. The ad is unappetizing, ambiguous and poorly executed. Good idea, bad delivery.
October 1st, 2007 at 3:53 am
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October 5th, 2007 at 9:00 am
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January 17th, 2008 at 2:31 am
I thought it was one of those anti mcdonalds ads!! I didn’t click that it was a coffee bean until I read the comments. Although I’m not a McDonalds fan I really like their McCafes, cheap and good but not sure if this ad is gonna work in their favour.
October 1st, 2008 at 3:00 am
Very interesting perspectives in all these replies. Actually, I immediately recognized the coffee bean and found the ad very clever: the brand that is famous for providing you with the best sandwiches is now going through some evolutionary process to also being the best provider for coffee in the future. A burger becomes coffee, it’s as simple and symbolic as that and this is why I really adore this ad. Great idea guys!
March 10th, 2009 at 6:37 am
AND I thought it was a “Whoopie Pie(s) with Chocolate frosting!!!!!! LOL
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whoopie_pies