The Worst PR Year for McDonalds

Mechanically separated chicken?First, a weird photo of thick, pink, gooey sludge appeared on the Internet that was purported to be the raw material that chicken nuggets are made of. Then, in April, New York photographer Sally Davies purchased a Happy Meal, set the burger and fries on a plate in her apartment and photographed them every day for six months as an art project, only to discover that the Happy Meal looked exactly the same six months later -- no mold, no decomposition, nothing. Her "Happy Meal Project" started garnering attention from the media and time lapse video of it appeared on YouTube. The project led to speculation about the meal's composition, nutritional value and health effects, and put McDonalds in the unenviable position of arguing that its food can grow mold. Then in September, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine ran a gruesome anti-McDonalds "Morgue Ad" that advocated vegetarianism. Finally, in November the City of San Francisco effectively banned Happy Meals after it passed a law prohibiting restaurants from offering free toys with meals that contain excessive amounts of calories and fat. All in all, McDonalds took what some call its worst PR beating ever in 2010.

Comments

i was expecting this because Mcdonald,s products are not as much attractive as the other food chains are giving like KFC and Pizza hut etc.. Trends are changing very quickly as people wants new an cheap deals in form of food.. like buy 1 pizza and get 1 free, etc... Since mcdonalds has failed to give some thing like that. therefore their sales is down this year and i am afraid if it continue to produce some thing like that than mcdonalds will reach at the bottom as compared to its competitors..
matt from Portland seo

Everyone of us has known for 30 years that fast foods are unhealthy. We didnt need a mold test to know that.

Wow I used to love chicken nuggets... now not so much. This kind of thing can really hurt a brand short-term, however, if they make their food into... well, food (instead of pink paste) — then that will make the brand healthier and better off long run. They need a major public relations intervention. This year they've taken a beating. Thanks for sharing.

Am I supposed to feel sorry for McDonald's - one of the world's biggest abusers of animals and the environment?