From his first infamous trip to purchase a 10 piece nugget meal, to now being featured in a full scale McDonald’s advertisement, Joe Flacco is now not only representing the NFL scene, but the fast food scene. Many companies have harnessed and benefitted from the use of the pathos and emotion in their advertising campaigns to attract current and future consumers. McDonald’s has started a new advertisement campaign with Ravens’ quarterback and recent Super Bowl XLVII MVP, Joe Flacco. With the Ravens’ latest win in Super Bowl XLVII, Flacco has become a household name, contributing to a rise in Ravens’ supporters and fans. As the new football season revs up, McDonald’s is appealing to the crazed fans young and old alike who have a passion for their team and what it believes in.
Although Flacco is a respectable and genuine role model who is described by many as humble and “the guy next door,” this is not just a question of the effect of pathos being used in this campaign, but also ethos. By doing the commercial for McDonald’s, which is well known for their appeal to younger consumers, Flacco could be seen as ethically responsibly for the image he puts out for young children. Young boys and girls may look up to him because of his celebrity appeal and athletic status and think they should eat McDonald’s because he does. In the advertisement, Flacco is shown eating McDonald’s new “Mighty Wings” which are (480 calories and 31 fat grams). As a well known sports icon, Flacco is constantly in the limelight. He is a fit and healthy individual, which will create the image of eating McDonald’s as an attractive and healthy option. This may cause misleading perceptions about the health benefits of McDonald’s and in Flacco losing credibility as a professional athlete.
Logic (Logos) may be factored in when looking at the obvious benefits that McDonald’s will gain from having Flacco in their advertisements. Having a well known athlete sponsor your brand is a sure fire way to bring in revenue and was a good marketing move by McDonald’s. On the other hand, logic also tells us that McDonald’s does not provide the healthiest food that we can put into our bodies. The nutrition facts cannot be hidden by a super fit athlete. Do you feel as though Flacco lost or gained credibility by endorsing McDonald’s? How do you think McDonald’s credibility has changed or stayed the same, knowing the type of people they feature in their advertisements (particularly athletes)?
We can almost be certain that aside from the ethical questions that this ad brings up, there will be a rise in support of McDonald’s by a deeply rooted Ravens’ fan base. This brings about a win-win situation for McDonald’s and Flacco off the field. So, who knew that a simple 10 piece nugget meal from McDonald’s would land him yet another win?
-Aaron Love, Kara Zimmerman, Rachel Clay, Rebecca Hobbs
IMC Hawks Blog 
Interesting challenge for ANY celebrity advertisement for both parties. Ethos is the most fragile of the appeals. McD made a pretty smart choice: Flacco is not likely to suddenly stink on the field or be found snorting coke with a 17 yr old in Vegas. So, they’ve got a good looking successful athlete endorising their product. Flacco has to rely on McDs PATHOS not logos to keep his credibility. How does McD make us feel when we go for shakes after the little league game, etc. That’s probably the pitch they made to get him along with whatever money. McD. is never claiming to be an everday stop for a healthy meal. SO they are not misrepresenting. Upon review, the play stands: touchdown Flacco.
The Baltimore Ravens won this year’s last Super bowl and has proven to the world they have the hearts of lions. Joe Flacco’s six-year, $120.6 million contract makes him the NFL’s highest paid player. He is guaranteed 52 million of that money. If Waka Flacco gets hurt or traded he won’t be able to receive the other 68 million. It would only be fitting for him to become a spokesman for McDonalds and their new product launch “Mighty Wings.” It’s a positive for Joe financially because it brings in revenue and his portfolio will raise in worth. However, this is not ethically correct for Joe Flacco to do because he is authorizing McDonald’s to manipulate his next door guy attitude and looks. They want him to advertise a product that is not nutritious and will not help the consumer in any shape, form, or fashion become anything like him. For some anomalous reason McDonald’s marketing team still has the belief that famous people can make non famous people select what to eat. This was a great marketing scheme in the 90’s but now it’s becoming a far-fetched idea. Just for the fact that people are now health conscious and know that eating anything from any of these fast food organizations is not going to lead you on the path to healthy living. This hurts Joe Flacco’s ethos as well, by the fact people that are healthy shouldn’t promote anything that they wouldn’t normally do in their daily routine. I understand the underlining story, put a good looking healthy person in front of a food item. Then have them eat the product and show the viewer that there is nothing wrong with this product. A major concern should face the viewer that Joe Flacco is getting paid to eat this food and the consumer is not getting paid to eat the food. The joke is on the consumer and if Flacco is not cognitive of this the stunt being displayed and keeps in this direction without continuing to win. Then perchance his squeaky image will start to diminish.