McDonald's Shows Our Values??

In a desperate attempt to come up with content for another media blog, I came up with the idea of comparing commercials of America to other countries. I wondered what I could find. The American advertisement that I reference is linked here. The Japanese commercial that I reference is linked here. The Arabic commercial that I reference is linked here. The Indian commercial that I reference is linked here. The African commercial that I reference is linked here. The Latin American commercial that I reference is linked here.
If you do not have the time to watch those six commercials, I'll summarize them briefly. The American commercial is about a tired looking white father who is trying to order a sandwich and a coffee without waking up his child, so he whispers into the place where you order in the drive-thru and then he eventually gets his order. The Japanese commercial is an animation that shows a teen who starts working at a McDonald's because a female worker outside said "Hey! Won't you join us?" and, even though she makes mistakes and is clumsy, works her way up to the manager. Then the story repeats when the girl who worked her way up to the manager position, and sees another girl looking at the part-time job sign and says, "Hey! Won't you join us?". It ends on an end card that says "Ideal work for you is surely out there." The Arabic commercial shows a family that is eating at a McDonald's, and the youngest boy is so excited to eat his crisp wrap, but he has to wait for (what I presume is) his grandfather to take the first bite. The Indian commercial shows an elderly couple who is upset about something in their car, and then because their car is not fixed they go and eat at a McDonald's. Then they show a chicken burger, a veggie wrap, and ice cream with chocolate. The African commercial depicts a boy and a girl who grow up together, and as they share their precious memories and fall in love, they also share McDonald's. And finally, in the Latin American commercial, there is a father in the kitchen with his daughter with McDonald's on the table. They talk about the "Three Kings" which is like a version of Santa. The Three Kings flood your house with gifts.
Okay so now that we got the descriptions out of the way, time for the analysis. These commercials show the underlying values of each of the different cultures.
First of all, the American commercial. It shows how we value family and community. The woman who is serving him through the drive-thru helps him out and goes out of his way to get him his food. This shows how, in American culture, we value others. We value a bond with others.
The Japanese commercial has a different message. Because the commercial shows someone pulling themselves up from a clumsy worker to a manager, and the end card says "Ideal work for you is surely out there" it shows that work is important in Japan. Also, the workers saying, "Hey! Won't you join us?" is really important because it demonstrates how community is valued. It is also saying that McDonald's is a community, and you should work there. This is also the only animated McDonald's commercial that I analyzed, which shows how important that medium is in Japanese culture.
The Arabic commercial shows how tradition and family are extremely important. As I said before, everyone waits for the oldest person to eat, even though they are extremely eager to eat themselves. Also, I forgot to mention beforehand that the grandfather and the little boy ordered the same thing, but the grandfather got his food first. This just demonstrates how tradition is valued a lot in Arabian culture.
The Indian commercial demonstrates a need for convenience? I am not entirely sure. I think I might have a better understanding if I knew what they were saying, but unfortunately, I do not speak Hindi. The fact that the elderly couple's car was broken and they could easily walk to the McDonald's demonstrates convenience. There was also a comical aspect to the commercial that I know is popular in Indian films. What is really interesting is that this is the only commercial that actually showed the food that McDonald's serve. But that's not the most interesting part. The food items that they were selling were a chicken burger, a veggie wrap, and a sundae. This is extremely important to understanding the culture of India because most of the country is Hindu, and they do not eat beef, and a lot of the population is vegetarian.
The African commercial demonstrates a need for friendship and love. The fact that these two characters grew up together and eventually fall in love shows how important those two qualities are.
The Latin American Commercial shows a need for family and maybe tradition. I actually think that this advertisement is pretty progressive. First of all, the father is at home with the child and receives a phone call from who I am going to assume is the mother, which implies that she works. Then, the daughter starts questioning the "Three Kings" story that she has heard. Apparently, a kid named Felix told her that her parents were the Three Kings, but she logics herself out of the predicament because she says, but I only have two parents!
Even though these commercials may be different, they all have an underlying tone of being brought together. Whether it is friends or family, McDonald's is trying to create a community, but their way of doing it is demonstrated by the culture of the country they are trying to advertise.