McDonalds: Because Michael Phelps Eats It

One theory that I would like to expound upon is called the Cognitive Dissonance Theory (Leon Festinger, 1957). The theory essentially focuses on decisions people make or behaviors in which they engage and how they rationalize those decisions and behaviors. The basic idea is that after making a decision/performing a behavior, a person worries about whether he/she made the right decision or did the right thing. This theory can also be thought of as a "post-decision theory."

Now that we have the CDT explained and out of the way, how does this relate to persuasion? Persuasive messages can actually be put in a way to increase or decrease dissonance in the receiver(s).

One example of a persuasive message that causes cognitive dissonance within myself are ads that McDonald's runs during previous summer olympics. Below is an example of a still frame or physical ad for McDonalds during the games.

What causes cognitive dissonance about this in my brain is that I already had a negative feeling toward McDonalds, in regards to health, but since they are sponsoring the olympic games (home of the tip top athletes in the world), makes me question everything about my feelings. It also makes me wonder if McDonalds is healthier than I think or if athletes actually eat this food.

Initially when I see these kinds of ads, I kind of scoff at the idea of McDonalds and very healthy and active athletes in the same sentence. After I see the ads over and over throughout the games, I start to wonder if I should look more into the health aspects of this company. (Because why else are they sponsoring the games??) Typically, I tend to forget the message (when the games are over) and my dissonance ends. I usually try to argue against the fact that they should be sponsoring the games or that certain athletes are eating this food. I don't always look up factual information for my arguments, but I rationalize it in my head. With an ad like this with (for example) Michael Phelps in the ad, I usually just think, "Oh, he is just doing that for the money" and I brush it off. The thing is, you see these ads over and over and they are everywhere. This is what causes my dissonance.

I think the biggest resolution of my dissonance is attributed to the years and years of peers, teachers, parents, etc. telling me how unhealthy McDonalds is for your body. When they run an ad for the 3, or so, weeks that the olympic games run, it doesn't cause enough of a persuasion for me to change my couple of decades of aquired knowledge on the topic.

Now, after studying this topic, I will always see these ads like this:

#Persuasive #Mcdonalds #cognitivedissonancetheory