In Eric Schlosser's eye opening book Fast Food Nation, he uncovers the controversial strategies large establishments like McDonald's use to gain loyal customers. In the chapter "Your Trusted Friends", Eric Schlosser describes why McDonald's and Walt Disney aim their advertising at children to create "Brand Loyalty"(43). Both Walt Disney and Ray Kroc believe that "Brand Loyalty" is something that sticks with you from the "cradle-to-grave". Meaning that when a person becomes familiar with a brand at a young age, the brand may gain the person's trust, which would lead to a loyal customer. Another reason why these establishments aim their advertisement at children is because of the fact that marketing researchers have learned that children frequently "recognize a brand logo before they can recognize their own name"(43).
In this chapter he also describes McDonald's "Brand Essence"(49). The McDonald's corporation had numerous problems with sales, competition with other fast food corporations, and customer dissatisfaction. McDonald's customers no longer felt that McDonald's actually cared about them, which led to the corporation developing an advertisement campaign. This advertisement campaign focused on making their consumers feel a personal connection with the corporation. All forms of advertisement had to make their consumers feel as if McDonald's was their "Trusted Friend". This was what Schlosser described to be McDonald's "Brand Essence"(49).
