McDonald’s is Sweden’s biggest promotor of reading thru Book Happy Meal. Over 15,5 million children’s books have been distributed since 2001. This year one of the books, Bråkiga Bokstäver (Rowdy Letters), is a story about a little boy who has trouble learning to read and gives the reader an understanding of how it feels to grow up with dyslexia.

To give all Swedes a sense of what it feels like to live with dyslexia, McDonald’s let their digital outdoor advertising nationwide and even the restaurant menu boards simulate what dyslexia feels like during World Dyslexia Awareness Day on August 4.

Almost 10% of Swede's have dyslexia or reading disabilities. But far more people are affected by it as almost everyone knows a family member, colleague or friend who has it. The target audience for Happy Meal is obviously families but for this campaign we targeted the whole population. The approach was to surprise passers by and guests and make them stop for a moment and think how dyslexia affects people in everyday life.

Implementation:

We simulated dyslexia on all McDonald's digital outdoor ads and on the restaurant menu boards during World Dyslexia Awareness Day. All campaign material looked like ordinary campaign ads but we added an animation that made the letters jump around, just like many people with dyslexia describe their diagnosis.

Timeline:

From from 10 am to 23 pm on World Dyslexia Awareness Day.

Placement & scale:

Nationwide on all McDonald's digital outdoor ads and on takeovers on the restaurant menu boards.

Earned media reach in 24 hours: 19 700 000+

(Sweden has just above 10 000 000 inhabitants).