I am infuriated every time I see A&W commercials these days. Especially the one where a couple is still hungry after a date at a fancy restaurant, so they head to A&W.

These ads are targeted at baby boomers — why?! This is a demographic that is supposed to be watching their health, not knocking back root beers and eating burgers and onion rings. In fact, these people are probably the last people who will eat fast food for dinner, because they don’t have any rituals that line up with this. When you’re over 35, taking your wife/date out for fast food is a horrible insult. You don’t take your clients to fast food. No. You take your kids there.

This hurts me, because I actually like A&W. More so than McDonald’s, Burger King or Wendy’s, which I personally find to be interchangeable.

They need to target a younger demographic. Gen Y. The power demographic. You know, the one that will displace baby boomers? And the one that actually spends time and money at fast food joints?

The fast food market has room for at least one more player, especially when you’ve got enough differentiation.

More A&W ads should be like this:

But no, I bet they’ll stick to marketing to a generation who they think could use a little more artery plaque.