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CNN Live At Daybreak

McDonald's Uses Asterix to Pitch Burgers

Aired January 24, 2002 - 06:43   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Step aside Ronald McDonald, there is a new kid on the block -- at least in France, anyway. Fast food giant McDonald's helps its new spokesmen will get more French people to buy their burgers.

CNN's Hala Gorani reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HALA GORANI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A typically American staple: the Big Mac. To promote it, not Ronald McDonald, but a very French comic book character, Asterix the Gaul.

McDonald's is spending millions of dollars on a series of commercials starring Asterix, promoting for a short time new exotic sandwiches with a Mediterranean twist. On the street, though, Parisians don't seem impressed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: McDonald's with Asterix? I don't agree.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't like it.

GORANI: The fast food giant is trying hard to appeal to European consumers. Its profits have been dwindling recently, hurt by food scares in Europe like mad cow disease, while its image has been damaged by anti-globalization protesters often grabbing headlines in France by mounting vigorous protests against the U.S. giant.

THOMAS SOTINEL, LE MONDE: The French like to think of themselves as the only true resistance against American imperialism.

So it's funny to see one of the most potent symbols of American economic power using Asterix as a marketing tool.

GORANI: Add to that national food rivals, who have mounted a challenge of their own.

TOM BLACKETT, DEPUTY CHAIRMAN, INTERBRAND: They have developed very good products and services which compete with the Americans. And, also, extremely good advertising campaigns, which actually address the needs of individual countries and consumers.

GORANI (on camera): Well, I'm sitting at a McDonald's restaurant in Paris, with a Big Mac, fries and a Coke. But this could be anywhere in the world, and that's what McDonald's is trying to change.

(voice-over): But brand experts say tailoring marketing campaigns alone cannot succeed unless McDonald's products continue to appeal to international consumers.

Hala Gorani, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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