Give That Filet o' Fish: Media Meditation #1

When I first sat down to do a media meditation the first media experience that I could think of was the McDonalds filet o’fish commercial. If you have watched TV or listened to the radio in the past month you know what I am talking about. “Give me that filet o’fish, give me that fish.” It is a catchy tune that gets stuck in your head all day. It is the type of song that you sing in your head when you first wake up, you have no idea why you are singing it, it is just stuck in your head.



Your Brain on filet o’ fish


The first thing that you see when the TV commercial comes on is a man sitting in his garage with a bag full of McDonald’s. It looks like a typical garage; there is a tool bench with what looks like a tackle box or two on it. There is a Big Mouth Billy Bass hanging on the wall. There is clutter all the way around the tool bench. It gives you this feeling it is a Sunday and the guys are hanging in the garage.



The music is what makes this commercial great. It starts with some catchy techno beeps which you cannot help but bang your head too. It appeals to the limbic brain making you feel good and move to the beat. Then the fish on the wall turns and starts signing the song. The first time that I saw it I was surprised that the fish started moving. There was a little fight or flight action going on in my reptilian brain. Do I like the catchy jingle or does the fish put it over the top and make it bad? Needless to say I stuck around for a while and finished out the commercial.



I don’t even like filet o’ fish sandwiches I just love the commercial because it has a very catchy tune and makes you remember the commercial.

Production Techniques
This commercial is a prefect example of a great ad, from the catchy tune in the beginning to the filet o’ fish montage at the end. It was carefully put together with the catchy tune so people will remember it. The montage is at the end so the last thing that you see in the commercial is the sandwich and you associate the picture of the sandwich with the tune, it is genius. Then when you are listening to the radio and hear the song “Give me that filet o’ fish” the picture of the sandwich is the first thing that pops into your head.



Media tools



Humor: Humor is the biggest tool that is used in this commercial. The song is catchy and it is also comical. For me the song boarders on the is it funny or is it annoying line which is why it work so well for me. I get a kick out of the jingle because it is pretty corny and it makes me laugh.

Plain Folks: The next best thing about this commercial is the fact that it has regular people in it. There isn’t any celebrities holding the sandwich saying that they eat one everyday when we all know that’s complete bullshit, it average Joe’s like you and me. Even the guy that is sitting in the garage is overweight and that adds even more to the average Joe image. I can relate to them, I have hung out in my garage before with friends. It gives the commercial more authenticity and it feels more real, real people.

In every way, shape, and form this commercial is a home run. The catchy jingle that gets stuck in your head all day and even when you wake up is awesome. Then the average Joe’s hanging out in the garage with the Big Mouth Billy Bass singing the jingle is hilarious. Way to go McDonalds and keep up the good work you got a lot to live up too with your next commercial.