The archive · Advertising · Marketing decision · 2023
McDonald's UK revives Teletext to show skeptics their food views are stuck in the 90s
To fight opinions frozen in the '90s, Leo Burnett put McDonald's sourcing facts inside a revived Teletext — media as dated as the misconception.
McDonald's UK
What it had to solve
McDonald's UK had spent more than 20 years changing how it sources food — 100% British and Irish beef, free-range eggs, new sustainability commitments — yet research showed many Britons still judged the brand on beliefs from the early 1990s. The task was to make those changes tangible, not just claimed.
How it works
McDonald's UK had quietly changed the way it sources food — 100% British and Irish beef for over 20 years, free-range eggs, and new commitments under its Plan For Change. But the brand's research found many consumers still held opinions formed thirty years earlier, judging the food as if the '90s had never ended.
Leo Burnett UK and media agency OMD chose to answer with media as dated as the misconception: they brought back Teletext, the British information service absent from TV screens since the '90s, and used it to interrupt ad breaks during the biggest television moments of the year.
One 30-second spot read, 'We've been using 100% British and Irish beef since you were booking your holidays on here,' pairing the retro format with present-day sourcing facts. Two nostalgic films, 90s-style banners and OOH, a replica of McDonald's own 1990s website, and revived front pages with The Times supported the launch.
The campaign turned nostalgia into evidence: the old-looking medium highlighted that it was the opinion, not the food, that had failed to keep up with the times. The work is held in the D&AD awards archive.
Why it lands
- The medium is the argument: seeing Teletext makes people feel how old their view is before a single fact lands.
- Hijacking peak TV breaks puts the message where skeptics already are, at moments the whole country is watching.
- The facts are concrete and long-standing — beef and eggs changed over 20 years ago — so the joke never outruns the substance.
- Every supporting touchpoint repeats the era mismatch, so one idea carried the whole integrated campaign.
What it did
The dated medium made the point physically: viewers saw their own outdated take on a screen from their past while absorbing that the sourcing had changed. The integrated campaign is held in the D&AD awards archive.
What you can take
When perceptions are frozen in an old era, borrow a medium from that era: the audience laughs at the dated format, then notices their own opinion is the thing that has not kept up.
Since then
Launched in the UK in September 2023, the campaign built on McDonald's 'Change A Little, Change A Lot' platform and its Plan For Change commitments, and the Teletext revival drew wide industry coverage. The work is recorded in the D&AD awards archive.
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