TOW #23 - McDonald's Nightlight Ad

This advertisement for McDonald's has, as its main selling point, the 24 hour work day of McDonald's. It was created under art direction by Bart Batchelor but was photographed by Hans Sipma for the Cossette West advertising agency. The purpose of the piece is fairly straight forward: Convince the viewer to buy McDonald's. However, there is significantly more going on in this image than might first appear. The rhetorical strategies of juxtaposition and visual implication are exemplified here for instance.
Batchelor, if that is the correct person to credit with this text's strategies of rhetoric, has replaced a nightlight with a box for McDonald's fries to signify that, like a nightlight, McDonald's fries are available long after sundown. This is the basic core mechanic behind the ad. But by surrounding the product with a familiar scene associated with comfort and rest, Batchelor is also leeching off some of that association to make his product seem more familiar and comfortable. This strategy is effective, even if it is not very subtle. Obviously the image's context will influence how it is perceived and generally positive images can pass on generally positive interpretations to what is close to them.
Additionally, visual implication is also at play. The shafts of warm yellow light projecting up from the french fry container are obviously meant to look like french fries. When one views the picture as the creators intended and finally see the light as fries, it inspires an "Ah ha" moment of clarity. This moment is more likely to stay in someone's memory than a typical other advertisement or expected image. I can only be certain that strategy is effective for me, but there is evidence that it can be a lucrative decision. The main risk in visual implication (or any subtle indication attempting to inspire a Eureka moment) is that the audience will not understand it correctly and wish to buy the product.
This marketing campaign my McDonald's was very effective. The juxtaposition strategy exists in far more ways than detailed here, such as color and placement of the light on the top outlet. The visual implication strategy works to a degree and certainly forces one to think about a product for a far longer period of time, but without the associations that are presented to be connected with the product, a potential customer will only know about, and not want to buy, the product in question.