What was the name of McDonald's 1970s advertising jingle built around “You deserve a break today”?

The 1970s McDonald's advertising jingle built around “You deserve a break today” used the same phrase as its title and central refrain.

McDonald's advertising increasingly relied on music to make its slogans easy to remember. The 1971 campaign presented the restaurant as a cheerful pause in everyday life, and its melody helped the wording travel beyond individual television commercials.

The slogan is often called a jingle because the phrase was sung rather than merely spoken. It was not the name of a menu item, a character, or a restaurant design. That distinction matters because McDonald's branding history contains many short-lived product lines and fictional advertising elements.

Later campaigns used other musical hooks, including the global “I'm Lovin' It” platform launched in 2003. The earlier break-themed jingle remains one of the chain's most recognizable examples of slogan-led branding.