FAIL: McDonald’s Hashtag #McDStories Goes Terribly Wrong

by Shashank on January 24, 2012

mcdonalds social media u FAIL: McDonalds Hashtag #McDStories Goes Terribly Wrong

This is perhaps one of the biggest social media fail stories ever recorded. McDonalds has managed to embarrass itself on Twitter after its latest Twitter campaign went horribly wrong. The company’s social media director, Rick Wion told PaidContent that as part of their Promoted tweet ad-campaign, the company switched from #MeetTheFarmers to #McDStories in their tweet, soon after which few detractors hijacked the hashtag and started tweeting tales about animal cruelty. Users soon added additional topics like unemployment and stomach problems.

The company’s problem was compounded by the fact that nothing much could have been done as the very nature of Twitter allowed free conversation between people. Unlike Facebook, there are no control options and the company can now only hope for the chatter to die down soon. This was just not the kind of virality McD was hoping for.

The Blunder

The fault lies with the company — it chose a poor hashtag. #McDStories has two shades: positive as well as negative. McD perhaps forgot the fact that even critics reside on Twitter, and by using a generic name like McDStories, it gave them an opportunity to rant their hearts out.

As for the users who hadn’t seen the Promoted tweet at the first place, little did they know why #McDStories was trending, but they decided join the bash for the sake of it.

The company can only pick positives from its lost game. The biggest takeaway would be to understand why customers are angry with the brand and its products, and why do they seem to be dissatisfied. And as for the rest, the company can choose to ignore.

 

Additional Reading...

  • http://www.nickrovisa.me Nick Rovisa

    I just don’t understand what McDonald’s expects with campaigns like this. Everyone knows the food is cheap, filled with chemicals and extremely unhealthy. Why would you want to invite people to discuss that?

    • Anonymous

      @nickrovisa:disqus They made a mistake and this case highlights the perils of taking things for granted on social media.

      • http://www.nickrovisa.me Nick Rovisa

        I understand the article and the perils of using social media. I just don’t understand what McDonald’s expects.

        • Anonymous

          @nickrovisa:disqus Loving or hating McD is subjective, but again you make a good argument.

          • http://www.nickrovisa.me Nick Rovisa

            Agreed- comments were def from my perspective, not the general public.

  • Anonymous

    I  have no idea what McDonalds Social Media Team was thinking when they decided to run this campaign. A simple brand analysis on Twitter (for brand mentions) would have told them that the brand sentiment was mixed, and skewed towards negative. Promoting a vague hashtag like #McDStories would bring out both the positives and the critics. This is a simple case of a brand NOT understanding their audience on social media. 

    • Anonymous

      @jessicamalnik:disqus Good point. McD just itself invited trouble by making a stupid decision.

  • http://www.nedcon.ro/ Jonathan Nichol

    Super post! I`ll send it to all my friends!

  • Harry Connick

    I’m reposting this article on Tumblr – but not for the reason you think. 

    Ever since this “social media blunder” occurred, the media has latched onto it, as if offering the same repetitive information about this case study for how not to go viral somehow makes you sound smarter than the entire McDonald’s marketing team.

    However, what’s lacking in all of these articles is an explanation for what McDonald’s could have done right. What’s your solution? That they avoid running social programs altogether because there’s mixed sentiment about their brand?

    Yes, they made a mistake. But they took a chance. And in an environment that is evolving at the speed of light, it’s the people who take chances that are responsible for innovation, not the critics.

    By the way, I am in no way affiliated with McDonald’s. I’m just a social media marketer with a strong opinion.

    • Anonymous

      @933285225d6a05a99fe35d72b38ff17e:disqus  You make a good point, Yes McD made a mistake , but how much did it cost the company? May be a lot. The media highlights these cases just to make others aware of such blunders. You don’t want to make the same mistake twice.

      • Harry Connick

        I get your point about others not repeating the same mistake – but how much DID this incident actually cost McDonald’s? The Head of Social Media at McDonald’s actually tweeted that the negative tweets marked with the #McDStories hashtag only accounted for about 2% of the overall tweets. In addition, some of the examples I’ve seen all over the web don’t point to NEGATIVE attention, per se, but are just humorous personal anecdotes from customers. Finally, for every #McDStories tweet…that’s one less person tweeting about their competitors (Burger King, Wendy’s, etc.). If I were writing this article, I’d have included those numbers, and maybe also have done a general sentiment comparison among the top 3 fast food chains. It’s all about the numbers, Shashank.

        • Anonymous

          @933285225d6a05a99fe35d72b38ff17e:disqus Share the link to the article, let me read your point of view.

  • Pingback: McDonalds Still Has the Monopoly On Games by @anneweiskopf | Spin Sucks