McDonald's: Is Social Media Really Social?

McDonald’s Lie
http://youtu.be/L3AebSiebIw

Hey there everyone!!

Social proof has always been a powerful influencer of people.  For example, think about the various ads on television that show average people giving testimonies of their product use.

Because some of these are paid testimonials, while others could easily be controlled and selected, social media gave new hope to integrity and transparency of all public opinions.

But, after spending five years building a solid facebook community, I have discovered that Facebook now only allows us to reach 17% of our communities, unless we pay Facebook through sponsored (paid) advertisements.

Have you noticed that “Our Food, Your Questions” marketing campaign by McDonald’s?  It seemed like regular people were asking difficult questions of McDonald’s (like, “How is it that a McDonald’s burger does not rot?”)  Of course the answers weren’t displayed.  But their marketing worked on me, because I went to their web site to see some of their answers.

Some of the answers were really amazing.  Were movies like Food Inc., Supersize Me, and Fast Food Nation completely wrong?  Did McDonald’s completely turn around and are now totally healthy for us?  Maybe some of their answers are double-talk--created by lawyers to confuse us?

I’m not a food professional, and I can’t even fry my own egg.  So I appreciate McDonald’s and don’t claim to know what the truth is about their food.

However, I do like asking my own questions to see what is going on:

Q: “How do you decide which answers to post on this site and which questions do you decide not to answer?”

A: “We answer all the questions we get on this site...”

Wow!  Surprising, but if truthful, then amazing.

Q: “For seniors who cannot see the menu on the wall, why do you not offer a paper menu with large print?”

A: “We're excited to answer your questions about our food. Unfortunately, yours has been flagged as unanswerable under our Posting Policy...”

So, either the first question was a lie (that they answer all questions), or their lawyer is going to tell me that by saying that their statement of a question being unanswerable is in fact an answer.  ;)

To be fair, maybe the question was not relevant enough to food (even though accessibility is a huge topic these days, and “values” is a category in their posted questions/answers).  Alas, I try again.

Q: “What was/is the marketing budget for this "your questions" campaign?”

A: “We're excited to answer your questions about our food. Unfortunately, yours has been flagged as unanswerable under our Posting Policy...”

What’s going on?  It’s a shame when a company spends millions of dollars (I have to guess because they won’t tell me) to try and look transparent, when in fact, are not transparent at all.

Facebook is better than the traditional mediums of advertising, though.  There were still tons of negative remarks about McDonald’s food on their own fan page.  And wait!  They have DISABLED comments on their YouTube channel.  How sad.

Watch my video here:
http://youtu.be/L3AebSiebIw

Thank God for Video Proof Today!  Comment on my video... I haven't disabled them!!

Share if you want more honesty, integrity and transparency in corporations around the world.

Let’s love the world together...

Love,
[)anish /|hmed, blind visionary
http://ordinarywords.com/together