Shop Talk

McDonald’s brews up anti-coffee snob ad blitz

McDonald’s, fancy coffee’s new kid on the block, appears to be stealing a page from the U.S. Presidential campaigns with an advertising blitz targeting the alleged coffee snobbery promoted by its upscale rival from Seattle.

McDonald’s restaurants in western Washington State — Starbucks’ home turf — have taken to the Internet with Unsobbycoffee.com, a site that provides a menu of McDonald’s new McCafe coffee drinks as well as tips for how to intervene when someone you love is addicted to “snobby iced espresso.”

And the pitches don’t end there. McDonald’s is planning a comprehensive media blitz — think radio, buses and billboards — for McCafe, which will be rolled out to the majority of its 14,000 U.S. restaurants by the middle of next year.

This ad is running with the McCafe launch in San Diego County. As the roll-out continues, there is certainly a similar promotion coming to a TV near you.