Usain Bolt has ‘revealed’ that he prepared for the 100m final by eating a McDonald’s for breakfast.
Whatever this may or may not have done for his speed (he finished in 9.63 seconds, but this was a tad below his best), McDonald’s clearly got a free ride.
A recall
Marketing professionals will straight away spot the similarity between McDonald’s striking performance at the London Olympics and the finesse pulled off two decades ago in the battle between the top two American junk food chains.
One of them paid a feisty 80- year-old to rush from one store to another, thumping furiously on counters, asking ‘where’s the beef?’
The 30-second prime time ad, aired tens of thousands of times, faded with the name of the particular junk food chain that the old lady had been paid to promote.
The message was obvious. Or was it? A month or two later, the lively old lady, by now a familiar sight, was back – campaigning for the rivals. The punch line? ‘I found it’.