What name did McDonald's use for its 1984 Olympic sponsorship promotion?

McDonald's used the name “When the U.S. Wins, You Win” for its 1984 Olympic sponsorship promotion.

The promotion connected McDonald's branding with the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Customers received promotional cards associated with Olympic events, and the campaign linked prizes to the performance of United States athletes. It was an unusually direct example of sports sponsorship becoming a consumer promotion.

The promotion is also remembered because the United States dominated the medal table after the Soviet Union and several allied countries boycotted the Los Angeles Games. That outcome made the promotion far more expensive for McDonald's than expected, since many cards tied to winning events became winning claims.

The event is sometimes described simply as the “McDonald's Olympic promotion,” but the named campaign was “When the U.S. Wins, You Win.” That precise title distinguishes it from later Olympic advertising and sponsorship activities.