What slogan did McDonald's launch in 1971 with its first major television campaign?

McDonald's launched the slogan “You Deserve a Break Today” in 1971.

The campaign presented a McDonald's visit as a welcome pause in a busy day. Its wording connected the restaurant with convenience and personal reward, while television advertising helped make the phrase widely recognizable.

The slogan became one of McDonald's best-known advertising lines and was used for many years in different forms. It belongs to an earlier generation of McDonald's branding, before the company adopted “I'm Lovin' It” in 2003.

People sometimes confuse it with Burger King's “Have It Your Way,” a slogan from a competing fast-food chain. “We Love to See You Smile” was also a later McDonald's slogan, not the 1971 line.