What are some of the greatest marketing disasters in history?
Last Updated: 30.06.2025 08:36
Personally I liked the burger which might have caught on had McDonalds introduced it with something other than “A burger so awful your kids will want to spit it into the garbage can” advertising campaign.
The Arch Deluxe
In the mid-1990’s McDonalds was losing market share to fast food chains like Wendy’s as well as table service hamburger restaurants like Chili’s where for a few dollars more customers could experience more flavorful burgers. McDonalds responded with the Arch Deluxe, a truly tasty burger with fresh lettuce, tomatoes and red onions along with two slices of hickory smoked bacon and flavored with a D’jon mustard sauce. All this was served on a buttery sour dough bun.
Dubbed “The Burger With The Grown Up Taste” McDonald’s spent a record amount advertising their newer, more sophisticated hamburger. Now here is where the problem arose. The advertising campaign featured children making nasty faces as they ate the burger. The advertising slogan seemed to be “A burger your kids will hate”.
The Arch Deluxe was a flop. People saw all pictures of children looking like they wanted to spit out the burger right into the garbage can and wondered why they should even try it. Within a few years McDonalds stopped offering The Arch Deluxe.