McDonald's Becomes 'Macca's' Down Under for Australia Day
Last year, Australia Day was honoured by Arnott’s Australia-shaped biscuits and MasterFoods’ blue tomato sauce.
This year, fast food chain McDonald’s is hopping on the ‘true blue’ branding wagon and changing several of its outlets’ names to “Macca’s,” the nickname affectionately given to the chain by Australians.
Thirteen individual locations in New South Wales will reportedly change their signs to reflect the name change this week and keep it up through the January 26 holiday.
"We're incredibly proud to embrace our ‘Australian-only' nickname," said Mark Lollback, the company's chief marketing officer in Australia, in a statement quoted by the Huffington Post.
See related coverage: True blue branding promotes Australia Day
"What better way to show Aussies how proud we are to be a part of the Australian community than change our store signs to the name the community has given us?"
Despite its presence in more than 120 countries throughout the world, this is the chain’s first ever name change in its 58-year history. And they’re not stopping with the signs: according to Business News Daily, McDonald’s has reached out to Macquarie Dictionary about adding “Macca’s” to its lexicon.
According to a national survey quoted by Reuters, “Macca’s” is the second most popular Australian slang term after “footy.”
(For even more slang-inspired enjoyment to help you ring in January 26th properly, check out Reuter’s compilation of Australian Summer Slang.)
[Photo sourced from http://www.straitstimes.com]
