What was the name of McDonald's first major advertising jingle campaign, launched in 1971?

McDonald's first major advertising jingle campaign launched in 1971 under the line “You Deserve a Break Today.”

The campaign presented a visit to McDonald's as a welcome pause in a busy day. Its musical format made the phrase easy to remember and helped establish the company's long-running use of catchy, repeatable advertising lines.

The campaign is an important part of McDonald's branding history because it linked a simple emotional promise with a recognizable melody. It was created for McDonald's by Needham, Harper & Steers, the advertising agency working on the account at the time.

The phrase is sometimes mixed up with later McDonald's slogans, including “I'm Lovin' It,” which began in 2003. Those campaigns belong to different periods and used different brand strategies, even though both relied on strong musical recall.