McDonald's Urges Swedes to 'Göra Donken' in New Campaign from DDB Stockholm

In Sweden, a country that hasn’t been at war for centuries, doing your military service is more associated with learning to be a grown up, rather than engaging in combat. The Swedish public military service, called “Lumpen”, was scrapped in 2008 in favour of a professional military. Many claim it's an important role for youth in society that has not been filled since. It was a place where young people from all walks of life came together, learned to work as a team, and made friends from all over the country. Doing Lumpen ("göra lumpen" in Swedish) also taught Swedish youth to take responsibility and develop leadership skills and self-discipline.

As Sweden’s biggest employer of youth today, McDonald’s fills that role. A recent survey among McDonald’s employees in Sweden shows that they develop the exact same skills working at McDonald’s or ”doing Donken” (Donken is McDonald’s nickname in Sweden), even to a higher extent compared to Swedes that have done their military service. And many claim that another benefit from working at McDonald’s was getting to know people with completely different backgrounds than themselves. Just like in “Lumpen”.

McDonald’s now encourages more people to “Göra Donken” (do Donken) and also give their best advice to other employers in Sweden on how to handle a very diverse workplace and turn diversity into a strength. 

The film was directed by Tomas Jonsgården through Bacon, with creative from DDB Stockholm.