McDonald’s Vampire Dad Ad in Romania

One of the great treats while traveling worldwide is to explore the fast-food culture. Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to explore Bucharest, Romania, and the surrounding area, including Brasov and Transylvania. While walking around downtown Bucharest, I stopped to notice the advertisement of McDonald's at the intersection. Here is some quick background on Romania. The country used to be under communism back then until 1989. Now the country is a democracy, there’s been a rise in tourism, and the business side of the country has taken an upward growth. It is always fun to see certain features that are different from other countries, as the continent is quite small and it's filled with many different types of cultures and languages.

Specifically for Romania, there's always been a history of fiction about Count Dracula. Now, the history of Count Dracula is quite complex, as Vlad the Impaler became famous as he was the ruler of Wallachia in 1436. Vlad the Impaler was not a vampire, but he was more so a ruler who became known for his treacherous torture methods with enemies. The popularity comes from a fiction book about Count Dracula, which supposedly takes place in Transylvania, yet Vlad the Impaler was from Wallachia. Even though history might have done Dracula wrong, the movies and stories all have taken a turn and used the figure in films, Halloween costumes, and fiction books for adults and children. Count Dracula is a well-known monster who is recognizable by his fangs and the black coat, which leads to the concept of marketing with a recognizable character for anyone, whether you're from Romania or another country.

Now, in connection with the advertisement I saw while walking around Bucharest, there was a father and his son inside a McDonald's, and the father gave the classic two french fries in the mouth, signifying that he was a vampire. The father was making every effort to create a joyful moment for his son as they were enjoying a meal at McDonald's. This picture shows a different side of the marketing of McDonald’s as the top of the advertisement states a family and a house right below the McDonald's logo. Written in the middle of the advertisement is the sentence, “for single fathers who try too hard but are loved just the way they are”. This advertisement has me trying to grasp an understanding of the concept. The first thing I looked to is review the percentage of Romanian single parents, which is quite low, sitting at about 7% in comparison to the rest of the European Union. Additionally, Romania has a low divorce rate compared to other countries, with about a 22% marriage ending in divorce that is about 1.04 for 1,000 people. So the McDonald's advertisement doesn't present the true social impact of Romania due to low numbers of divorces. Maybe the goal of the advertisement was possibly to build a family connection in a fast-food restaurant. If you paint a picture, say your dad is working eight hours a day and needs to return to feed his children, yet he has little time to do that, so a way out is to venture towards McDonald's.

Why choose a man, though? This could lead to multiple perceptions that McDonald's is looking into, as men tend to order burgers more than women by 16%, according to a study back in 2019 from Datassential. Another reason could just be the ease of accessing McDonald's, as when I was a child, my dad would take me and my sibling to McDonald's quite often because he knew it was cheap and fast. For those reasons, McDonald's is pushing in Romania for an experience that creates a house where families can go and express love while eating together. The combination of the Count Dracula poses and the push for a loving family meal is the type of marketing that McDonald's has established in Romania. This marketing style was seen throughout two cities that I traveled through over the weekend and is currently the main marketing campaign seen on sidewalks and near bus stops. It fascinates me that McDonald's uses the Count Dracula imagery to help create a picture when consumers are walking by. The belief of Count Dracula being funny and loving two children is, or possibly points fingers and makes families believe they can enjoy a good meal at McDonald's. So, what fictional character would lead McDonald's in the United States? This is a difficult question to answer since the United States carries so many fictional characters from Marvel to Scooby-doo; the range of brand imagery can be endless.