By now you must have seen this ad.
I got this ad from Seattle Dog Spot
McDonald’s, one of (if not) the biggest fast food chains in the world blatantly and irresponsibly disrespecting the pit bull.
Of course I called the number, and it was automated, and when I pressed the button regarding their ad, I got a recorded apology.
Yes this McDonald’s, the one with revenues of (I believe it says) 27 million dollars. Had a recorded message apologizing for inadvertently offending some of their customers.
“In our effort to spread the word about our new Chicken McBites, one of our local markets ran an ad that inadvertently offended some of our customers. The ad was insensitive in its mention of pit bulls. We apologize. We are pulling the ad, and will review our creative screening process. It’s never our intent to offend anyone with how we communicate news about McDonald’s.”
When I was in college I took a Public Relations class, I know who would have ever thought ME, of all people would be interested in Public Relations. 🙂
Part of the class was to look at two PR campaigns. One was successful, the other one wasn’t.
I won’t name the companies because I cannot remember the specifics of each case but they were both big name companies and both companies had to recall their products for health reasons.
The company that failed in their campaign recalled the product and then there was nothing further from the company until they had gotten to the source of the problem and resolved the issue.
The company that succeeded, recalled their product and then kept updating the public frequently as to where they were at in their investigation and how they were handling the issue to be certain it didn’t happen again.
Not surprisingly one company lost public confidence in their product and revenues fell, while the other one weathered the storm, with very little loss of revenues or confidence.
From a public relations point of view, (IMO) McDonald’s has handled this debacle all wrong. Yes, they did pull the ad and yes they did issue an apology, but it should have been BIGGER.
McDonald’s has a platform to make a difference and they could make a difference by making a LARGE contribution to Pit bull rescue and educating the public about the proper treatment and care for animals.
But then they might have to look into their own backyards and see how the animals they use for food are treated.
How childhood obesity is running unchecked today and how many of those kids eat at McDonald’s.
Surprisingly enough when you go to McDonald’s website and ask what’s in a chicken mcnugget they tell you chicken, tempura batter and fried in Canola oil. Wikipedia tells a little different story.
Frankly McDonald’s, I think the pit bull is safer and I’d rather pet one of them, then eat one of your chicken mcnuggets.
I’m sorry if I’ve inadvertently offended you McDonalds.
Call me, I’ll answer my phone personally.
Book Update: It’s like a Bob Seger song, “Still The Same.”
I eat at McDonalds on occasion. I like the food. Not a fan of chicken nuggets, but that’s just me. 🙂
Anyway, I thought that you might like to know that the Heidi case has been resolved. From what I read, the dog’s owner plead “no contest” to the dog bite charge and the city dropped the license charge. The owner agreed to muzzle the dog in public and got 6 months probation. If the owner does not commit any other violations within the six months, then the owner can withdraw the plea and the charges will be dismissed. I guess that the court date was moved up because the owner agreed to the plea (the first time she would even discuss a plea according to the city). I wanted the owner to take responsibility, and I guess that she did.
Nice post, still trying to figure out how they thought that ad was appropriate and would sell nuggets. I’m surprised they did not get boycotts and picketers in front of their store.
Thank you Misty, I’m quite surprised too! If I had a pittie, I’d be sure to be walking up and down in front of McD’s. 🙂
I rarely eat at McDonald’s, I think the last time was probably about 6 years ago, if my only option is fast food I try for a Wendy’s, but that is just me. 🙂
Thanks for the update on Heidi, I will make sure to mention it in my follow-up Friday post, I guess she is taking responsibility but I don’t like the way she manipulated the public. 🙁
It looks like it’s time for McDonald’s to get a new advertising agency. What a dumb ad!
Amen Jodi! I only eat McDonalds on occasion as well, but this left a bad taste in my mouth to ever do so again!
I’m a dog, I eat anything – furniture, dirt, stones, wood, the rug in the living room – the list goes on; but I wouldn’t eat anything from mcdonalds. At least when you eat furniture you know what they put in it. It’s dumbed down food for a dumbed down generation, a big fat advertiser’s lie.
McD. obviously needs to FIRE some folks!!!
Yea, sister. You TELL ’em. Huge corporations with gobs of money could do so much to change the world if they really wanted to, but then the nature of a huge corporation would be fundamentally different, wouldn’t it?
I have actually not seen this ad and am horrified that such a large corporation would run such awful crap!! I guess I should not be suprised but I am. I mean, really?!? This pisses me off. They must know they have the ear of millions of people and to spout such uninformed, bias, hateful, completely wrong blabber is irresponsible. I don’t eat at McDonalds (we don’t do fast food) but if I did I would most certainly stop. Actually, it really makes me want to adopt a pitbull right about now… If I didn’t have two little boys, two German Shepherds, and a cat in our small house I just might.
Thank you for highlighting this Jodi. I am amazed that a corporation of this size and experience made such an insensitive and insulting ad. By the way, were they inferring that eating McNuggats also poses a risk?
I totally agree – I’m pretty sure eating processed fast food is worse for me than petting a Pittie any day. You also make a good point – they had a great PR opportunity to turn this negative into a positive, and that’s what a smart company would have done here.
Great post Jodi! You sic ’em!! Wish I had seen the ad…