Heat F LeBron James and golfer Michelle Wie "will star in separate" TV ads for the annual McDonald's Monopoly promotion, according to Maureen Morrison of ADAGE.com. The spots, via DDB, Chicago, break Monday and "run through the length of the promo, which lasts through October." The ads "focus on the one-in-four odds of winning at Monopoly." In James' commercial, the voiceover "begins to say what the odds of LeBron James winning seven championships are, only to be interrupted by Mr. James, who says, 'Aw, c'mon man.'" Then the voiceover adds, "Odds of LeBron winning a prize, one in four." In Wie's spot, the voiceover states that the chances of her "hitting her next hole in one today are one in 50,000." The QSR also will "promote Monopoly with radio, digital, as well as Facebook and Twitter," though James and Wie only appear in the TV effort. McDonald's Marketing Dir Douglas Freeland said of James' involvement, "We thought we'd have a little fun with him, and he was totally fine with teasing and poking a little fun at himself with the notion of the odds of winning seven championships." IEG Senior VP & Editorial Dir Jim Andrews: "It's another step in a rehabilitation of his image. It's a good reflection on both McDonald's and his parts to do the ad this way. He's gotten a lot of negative publicity, and this is another good way for him to say, 'maybe I have made some missteps'" (
ADAGE.com, 9/21). In Ft. Lauderdale, Ira Winderman notes this is James' second spot for McDonald's, "having previously appeared in a 2010 Super Bowl commercial for the chain" with Magic C Dwight Howard. The new ad is "typical of the self-deprecating approach he has taken this offseason, including joking with Heat teammate Dwyane Wade on his Twitter account about his receding hairline" (
South Florida SUN-SENTINEL, 9/22). In West Palm Beach, Ethan Skolnick wrote James is "taking a different posture when it comes to an image, and it's likely one that will make him more likable" (
PALMBEACHPOST.com, 9/21).
