He wanted to be fun word pun, but the effect that the advertising of the new sandwich Beautiful Italy has come up on customers could not be further from what the company had hoped to achieve.

The fact

To launch the product dedicated toItalian Summer, McDonald's Austria chose the slogan Für echte Mampfiosi, which stands out on the billboards, next to the photo of the sandwich, from the beginning of July. Mampfen, in German, means "to eat voraciously": mampfiosi is a neologism coined for the occasion, and plays with this verb and the term "mafia". The writing could be translated "for true greedy ones", but, inevitably, also «For real mobsters. And, as reported by some Italians living in Austria, the campaign was also anticipated by a notification, sent to those who downloaded the McDonald's app, with the words: "Hey mafioso. Try our House Sandwich. Beautiful Italy".

Social networks

On the company's official Facebook page, an Italian girl reported the gaffe: "I saw your" mampfiosi "ad and I am really shocked. I also work in marketing and I understand that you have to be creative, but this advertising is not up to your level, because discriminating, offensive and simply not fun. And again: "The mafia kills every day, terrorizes people, exploits their poverty, enslaves them. There is nothing to laugh about the mafia . McDonald's responded by explaining: "We regret that you did not like our Italian summer campaign, we didn't want to offend anyone. The campaign does not aim to discriminate or diminish other nations in any way, if anything it should highlight the love for Italy. Unfortunately it does not seem to have worked, we apologize again .

Advertisers

According to the Italian ADCI Art Directors Club, the association that brings together Italian advertisers, it is disconcerting "that a company like McDonald's, always very attentive to communication and investing millions of euros on social responsibility, in a historic moment when all big companies are campaigning on inclusiveness, can come out with an ad like this. Playing on stereotypes and discrimination to perhaps capture a little more attention, albeit locally, in terms of communication for a global brand such as McDonald's is, I think, a huge mistake ". And again: "Maybe McDonald's with this campaign will sell, perhaps, some more sandwiches in Austria, but I'm pretty sure that it will be heavily penalized in Italy and elsewhere, without calculating the reputational damage for the brand".

Politics

Even the deputy premier Matteo Salvini felt offended, and with a tweet he contributed to the controversy, but wrongly country: "Panino" Italian Summer "in Germany: "For true MAFIOSI" (word game with "mampfen" = sbafare …). Italians all mafiosi? How sad … We have regained pride and dignity, no return back! .

The generalizations are bad: when they are made and when they are suffered.