I nearly wet myself in hysteria last night while watching the Olympics when an advertisement full of athletics pushing the new Southern Chicken Sandwich streamed across the screen.

“I eat the McDonald’s fried chicken sandwich, with pickles, because I know it will help me win the gold.” (Not a direct quote).

Ha. Come on, are you kidding me? The girl with the six-pack, and the dude with arms thicker than my legs probably have never even been in a McDonald’s, let alone eaten a fried masterpiece to win the gold.

So, the McDonald’s advertisement brings up two views (and I know one of the McD’s advertising wiz creators, so no disrespect).

First, perhaps the exaggeration is a viable tactic to collecting consumer impressions. Perhaps the crazy is what sticks. Who is the image in Burger King commercials? Who’s the fat dude pitching Subway? Outrageous sticks. So, maybe it’s genius, not crazy, that the McD’s advertising pros made the point of eating fried food builds six packs. If that’s the case sign me up, I will have 100 of those delicious morsels.

Second, though, is sometimes dumb advertisements turn people off. Sometimes I wonder how much thought and testing went into commercials. Franchisors: If you are going to spend the big bucks on TV advertising, made the ads GREAT. Make them catchy. You want an ad that will be picked up on YouTube and continued through a viral campaign. Take your 30 seconds and make something that sticks.

Sometimes it amazes me at the waste of money spent by advertising executives. Even in the franchise industry – in publications like Franchise Times – if you are paying for the space, make them brilliant. Make them colorful. Make them stick.