Scoopy Goes to McDonald's - Tragic Comedy at Funeratic

Scoopy Goes to McDonald's

When McDonald's(MCD) began promoting the #McDStories hashtag Wednesday on Twitter, the idea was to get people talking about their experiences with the fast-food giant. Unfortunately, McDonald's learned a harsh lesson in social media marketing: When you encourage people to talk about your company, they're not always going to say nice things.

Example:

'I haven't been to McDonalds in years, because I'd rather eat my own diarrhea.'"

It's difficult for me to believe that McDonald's was so out of touch with the internet. They could have spared themselves much heartache if they had asked their research department to answer these two questions: (1) What percentage of internet comments are measured and thoughtful? (2) What percentage of internet comments can be considered positive?

–Steve West • January 21 2012, 7:30pm EST

you know, that example is the very reason I haven't been to McDonalds since I retired 3 years ago.

–Tony Peters • January 21 2012, 10:11pm EST

Yeah, but McDonald's got some free press out of the controversy, and that probably converted into sales at least a little. Some of us... I mean, uh, some people... just like McDonald's and want it after hearing about it. Super Size Me played like a two-hour commercial. Well, it played that way up to a point, after which, enough already. Erica Jong said, "My reaction to porno films is as follows: After the first ten minutes, I want to go home and screw. After the first twenty minutes, I never want to screw again as long as I live."

–Scott Hardie • January 28 2012, 8:56am EST

Hahaha... I never thought of it that way, Scott. I'll admit, were it not for a colossal PR/marketing/legal failure with vegetarians, I might go to McDonald's sometime. But in fact, I'll probably never go now.

–Samir Mehta • January 28 2012, 1:49pm EST

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