Cultural / Context information for the jury

2 % of India’s population is disabled, that’s nearly 27 million people - more than the entire population of Australia. 27 million individuals who are routinely left out of marketing efforts, national initiatives and even the most basic experiences, because of our deep-set apathy towards the disabled. Disability is an invisible problem in India, with the government and most companies doing the bare minimum. Our mission was to ‘Make Delicious Feel-Good Moments Easy For Everyone’. But when we discussed disability, we somehow only fixated on the easy i.e., access and not feel-good experience. We realised that for many people with limited upper limb mobility the feel-good burger experience probably rated zero. Our objective was to right this wrong in a way that drove true inclusivity at McDonald’s – capturing the country’s attention, improving people’s perception of our brand and inviting audiences that had long been ignored by Food Retail.

Tell the jury about the art direction.

With a simple change in our packaging design, we decided to make burger-eating equal for all. We partnered with NGOs and disability experts to create a special case called EatQual. Our hexagonal packaging system locks the burger and its contents into the package there by avoiding spillage, and let our disabled customers to eat a burger with just one hand. Instead of a horizontal design, we designed a vertical one. This enabled it to be a cover and a holder at the same time. An easy flip-open mechanism added to the ease, a flat base increased stability. The materials used was same as the existing packs – i.e. low cost, food grade paper. The packaging is foldable and can be stocked effortlessly in store. And today, we have EatQual packs available across our stores. The simplicity of the design made it easily adaptable in every market.