McDonald's delays rap song and uniform

Adage reports that McDonald's has yet to move forward with their placement in a rap song, which we reported on back in March. Maven who is helping in the search has presented some possibilities to McDs, but a spokesman for the company says:

"We have not identified the right opportunity. We are open to ideas to positively reflect our brand but we have not yet identified the match that we've been looking for."

There have also been delays after the plan was announced due to complaints by watchdog group The Campaign for a Commerical-Free Childhood, who said this plan created "new and deceitful ways of targeting children...listeners won't know the rappers are being paid to push Big Macs--these 'adversongs' are inherently deceptive."

McDonald's countered, saying, "This is where brand relevance has gone and we have great confidence that the consumer understands this," a spokesman said. "[Consumers are] cognizant of this as a placement in brand strategy. ... We believe that the McDonald's brand is so omnipresent already in America that having it in music, having it in TV, having it in movies, is no more intrusive than anything else children experience nowadays."

They also have yet to reveal the new uniforms designed with the help as Russell Simmons' Phat farm, Sean "Diddy" Combs' Sean John, Tommy Hilfiger, Fubu, American Apparel, and others. The uniform concept was first announced back in July with the hopes to turn its uniforms into hip street wear, and use its army of young employees as walking billboards as they circulate among their peers.

Adage aslo reports that some close to the projects believe that McDonald's is going to try to coordinate the launch of both rap song and new uniforms at the same time.