Seriously McDonalds?

Recently, a picture has circulated of a sign purporting that McDonald’s would be charging African American customers an extra $1.50 due to a recent string of robberies. This has gone viral, spurring the popular trending topic of #SeriouslyMcDonalds on Twitter as people expressed their concern over the photo. The sign turned out to be a hoax and, according to Gawker.com, was actually posted online a few years ago, while the number listed is not for McDonald’s at all, but for the KFC customer satisfaction hotline.

During the height of the debacle, McDonalds sent a couple of tweets claiming that the picture was a hoax and responded to a couple tweeters. There were also articles written in Mashable and other reputable publications which very clearly explain that the picture is, indeed, a hoax. Now, the masses seem to be satisfied and are tweeting in relief.

The question remains – did McDonald’s do enough? I think so. They responded through a channel that they knew their customers were active on and would receive their message – the same channel that was circulating the rumor. This message was clearly received both by customers and by the media, nipping it in the bud fairly quickly. Perhaps McDonalds can turn this situation into something positive by tweeting some of the philanthropical work their doing under the same hashtag.

Do you think McDonalds should have done more?

This post was first published by Joanna DiTrapano on March Communications’ blog, PR Nonsense, and may be viewed here.

last modified December 10, 2012