This is a story about two brands. And coffee. (I love my coffee.) Oh, and breaking the surly bonds of brand slavery…

The first brand, Dunkin’ Donuts, was long ago so permanently welded into my brain that I’d find myself in DD drive-thrus without really knowing why. The second, McDonald’s, I just as long ago abandoned as purveyor of something called ‘junk food’ that could possibly damage me at the cellular level in addition to giving me diabetes down the road.

I left home one morning, my car already having made the decision to hit DD. (I was much too tired to argue.) Half a mile away, a Dunkin’ Donuts commercial assaulted me. Just as it did, I decided to try McDonald’s.

McD’s brand promise had just kicked in. For months, America’s foremost burgermeister had been creatively advertising any-size Paul Newman coffee for a buck, but my distaste for what I knew about the brand had been keeping me away. Really, I mean, how good could it be? Meanwhile, the quality of DD’s coffee had been so wildly uneven and its food so marginally food that I was dreading the UX (user experience) of long lines, desultory, poorly-tatted teens in the window and unsatisfying product. OK, “Dunkin’ keeps America running,” but what had it done for me lately?

McDonald’s joe was great. Is great. And their creative is great. Their outdoor campaign sustained the fact that I was falling in deep like with the brand. (“No, we didn’t steal your grandma” for their banana bread.)

Fact is, Dunkin’ could care less about coffee these days. Four-dollar sugar-palooza-paccino? You got it. Reliable cup of coffee? Feh! Turns out, I’ve been dealing all these years with a deeply-cached brand echo, one that’s light-years from brand reality.

Ready for this? Thank God for the creativity of McDonald’s advertising.

Do I now unconditionally turn down a DD coffee? I never said I was completely emancipated.