A couple days ago I was at McDonald’s and noticed they had made their straws puke green! Seeing all the signs for Shrek the Third I thought to myself, is this what passes for marketing? Not only that, they also had made some of their shakes puke green! I can imagine the meeting where the idea was pitched, I’m guessing it went something like this:

“Gentlemen, we need to find a way to market the movie Shrek the Third in a way that will bring people to our store. Do you have any ideas?” Then I assume the intern, Luke, kicks in with this; “I know, lets make some things in the restaurant puke green, then people will want to eat here for sure!” Then Fred (the boss) replies; “Brilliant! Why didn’t I think of that! We could make the straws green. Why, we could make some of our shakes so ugly that even Shrek himself wouldn’t touch one!” He continues, “Luke, your hired full-time! You can be my assistant. I always knew you were destined for greatness!”

Of course Luke is quickly fired after he shows Fred the numbers and some of the emails they have gotten about the shakes.

Conversely, Volvo has taken advantage of the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie with some really cool marketing. They sunk a treasure chest somewhere in a body of water with the keys to a brand new XC90 and $50,000. Check out their mini-site where you can find clues on where the treasure is buried and learn more about the XC90.

Would you rather win about $100,000 in prizes or slurp a puke green shake through a puke green straw?