Clark Atlanta drumline chops—and chomps—through McDonald’s ad
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Web-only image courtesy of Clark Atlanta University Drum major Cass Gray is one of the Clark Atlanta University students featured in McDonald's ads.
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Drum
major Cass Gray is one of the Clark Atlanta University students
featured in new McDonald's ads. The "drumline" of the university's
Mighty Marching Panther Band is part of new McDonald's commercials
currently airing on network TV, BET and in syndication. Students from
the historically-black United Methodist-related college are featured in
three commercials being aired across the country. A Web-only image courtesy of Clark Atlanta University. Photo #w05036. Accompanies UMNS story #258. 4/27/05
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April 27, 2005 A UMNS Report By Linda Green* Clark
Atlanta University is lovin’ it. Students from the historically black
United Methodist school are starring in three McDonald’s commercials
airing across the United States. Riding
the wave of the hit movie “Drumline,” the drummers from Clark Atlanta
University’s Mighty Marching Panther Band are featured in a new
commercial for McDonald’s value meals airing on network TV, BET and in
syndication. Other students, including Ms. Clark Atlanta University
2005-2006, are featured in commercials for the fast-food chain’s Chicken
Select. The
commercials represent a marketing bonanza for the school, says Clark
spokesman Larry Calhoun. “It is great publicity. We’re getting our name
in markets all over the country. “These
markets are important to us because our students and potential students
come from some of these same markets where the commercials are airing
across the country,” Calhoun says. The dollar value of the commercials
in terms of attracting new students “cannot be measured.” The
2002 movie “Drumline” highlights the journey of a young hip-hop drummer
from Harlem who wins a music scholarship to Atlanta A&T University
and aspires to perform on the marching band’s drumline. Filmed at Clark
Atlanta University, the movie brought the school to the attention of
McDonald’s advertising executives, who were seeking a Southern school
for the company’s commercials, Calhoun says.
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Larry Calhoun |
A film crew shot
Clark’s drumline—the band members who play percussion
instruments—drumming away in their uniforms and munching on french
fries. The spot, filmed in November, is playing in major U.S. markets.
Student performers were paid according to the guidelines set by the
Screen Actors Guild, and the school’s band program received an
additional $10,000 fee. The
university is proud of the students, he notes. “The students are so
talented. They are not actors. We are so proud of the talent here on our
campus.” One
of those students is drum major Cass Gray, a sophomore in music
education. He is used to being out in front, but he marvels at how the
ads have increased his popularity on campus and in his hometown of
Anderson, S.C., where he attends Bethel African Methodist Episcopal
Church. “Everywhere I go, I am asked, ‘Aren’t you the guy in the McDonald’s commercials?’” During
filming, Gray took bites out of 20 hamburgers and ate countless French
fries. He had not been a regular patron of the ubiquitous restaurant
chain, which has 13,700 U.S. eateries, but the commercial has changed
that. “I eat it a lot more now,” he says. “It
was an honor for me, an honor for the band and an honor for the
university,” he says of the experience. “It is not every day that stuff
like this happens to people like me in a university like this, and for
me being such a young student here, it was a certainly a great honor to
be chosen to do something as big as being in a national commercial.” The
selection of Clark for the commercial reflects that “historically black
schools are just as good as all the other schools out there,” Gray
says. “Our students are just as good as the other students out there.” Being
featured in three commercials is “a wonderful opportunity” for Clark
Atlanta University, Calhoun says. It “helps make people become more
aware of the university as one of the leading historically black
universities in the country. It also says something about our students
and the quality of the students we attract and help to develop.” The
commercials represent an advertising windfall for Clark, he says. “It
is a win-win situation to be a part of a national advertising campaign
from a popular consumer products (retailer) as McDonald’s. It represents
millions of dollars in advertising that we are a part of through
McDonald’s.”
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Courtesy of Clark Atlanta University Ronald
McDonald helps direct the Clark Atlanta University band at a
celebration recognizing their role in a recent McDonald's commercial.
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Drum
major Cass Gray and Ronald McDonald direct the Clark Atlanta University
Mighty Marching Panther Band during an April 16 celebration recognizing
the band's "drumline" being featured in a new McDonald's commercial.
Students from the historically-black United Methodist-related college
are featured in three McDonald's television ads being aired across the
country. A UMNS photo courtesy of Clark Atlanta University. Photo
#05-331. Accompanies UMNS story #258. 4/27/05 |
After the
commercial featuring the drumline, McDonald’s ad executives began
seeking a Southern university to showcase Chicken Selects. Clark got the
nod again, and two versions of the spot are airing featuring Jackie
Payne, Ms. Clark Atlanta University 2005-06 on network TV, BET and in
syndication. Payne was one of four Clark women chosen from 150
candidates to appear in the two chicken commercials. The ads can be seen
at www.cau.edu. On
April 16, the university hosted a public celebration of the commercials
and its partnership with McDonald’s at one of the chain’s local
restaurants. Company representatives, along with Ronald McDonald,
attended, as well as the university’s 80-member band and drumline, which
performed. For
Gray, the commercials are only one highlight in an eventful academic
year. He can personally relate to the “Drumline” movie because his
ascension to drum major mirrored that of the main character. He began as
a “regular” band student and became leader, a rarity for a sophomore
band member. Says Gray: “If you put your mind to getting what you want, and if you do it, you know that anything is possible.” Editor’s note: Information about Clark Atlanta University can be found at www.cau.edu. The school receives support through the United Methodist Church’s Black College Fund, at www.UMCgiving.org. *Green is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in Nashville, Tenn. News media contact: Linda Green, (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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