The Lincoln Fry

So how do these ad campaigns work? I suppose people get caught up in the story, then eventually figure out that it was McDonalds behind it all. Are they supposed to think "Ha ha ha, what an amusing escapade; now that I've found its source I should go and buy a hamburger from them, to express my gratitude for such amusement."
That really does not make sense to me. I wish companies would put less money and resources into making good ads and more into making good products. But perhaps I'm wrong; perhaps business is all based on advertising these days.
Sorry to editorialize, I get carried away. But does anyone know the actual reasoning behind this kind of stealthy advertising? How is it supposed to work?

I'm not sure this is a good strategy; the first thing I think of isn't the Virgin Mary grilled cheese, I instead think of the various chicken heads / ears / fingers / rats etc that have been coated in batter and served to the public. And that doesn't encourage me to eat at McDonalds. Besides, if McDonalds had any sense they'd keep as quiet as possible about their fries.

The state of New Hampshire has made a lot of money off of a rock formation which looked like Abraham Lincoln. Not too surprising for other entities to try it.

Has anyone wondered if perhaps the "Lincoln-fry" came from the previous "Lincoln-spud" mentioned on MOH website??? Now that would be interesting... potato looks like Abe and puts forth fries and/or chips that ALSO look like Abe! Possible genetic links here... I'm sure there are some research dollars available that could go towards looking into this... 😊

cvirtue, If you're thinking about the 'Old Man in the Mountain' of New Hampshire, the sad news is that it collapsed about 18 months ago. The local commuters who relularly drove past it on their way to work were astonished to see that the face of the mountain was suddenly absent, and a pile of boulders laying at the base. It hadn't looked like Lincoln, though. You'd have to go to Mt. Rushmore for that.

Oh yeah, the 'Old Man in the Mountain' is now memorialized on the New Hampshire state quarter.

I'm guessing the Lincoln Fry hoax was created to get people interested, just like the grilled cheese that looked like the Virgin Mary. That got a ton of press. And after I saw the commercials on the Super Bowl it cleared everything up for me. McDonald's was making a statement of society. Mocking those people that got caught up with the Grilled Cheese and all those other food celebrities! I thought it was pretty damn funny. I actually went to the website and checked out the web commercial. Funny stuff. Kind of like articles you'd find in "The Onion." They even have the prop fry up for auction. It's at $100,000! Can you imagine someone paying that for a fake fry? It's like life, imitating art, imitating life. A commercial that makes fun of this kind of thing, is actually participating in what it's making fun of. And all the money goes to charity, so it's not like a big corporation is benefitting from the auction. I don't eat at McDonald's but it does seem like a pretty good stunt. Nice work.

Yes, Stork, that's why I used the past tense.

At any rate, it's interesting that no one ever gets notice for seeing the face of a non-celebrity in their food.

I can hardly wait for when they break into some sporting event to announce that the Lincoln Fry has been assassinated... By another fry that looks like JWB.

sic semper fryranus

As I was saying, nobody really knows what Mary looked/looks like, but there are good photographs and portraits drawn from life of Mr. Lincoln, and ... that French fry is no Abe Lincoln!