Seriously McDonalds

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Seriously McDonalds was a viral hoax in the United States in June 2011. A photo showed a sign taped to a McDonald’s window claiming that African American customers must pay an extra $1.50 per transaction as an “insurance measure.” The sign looked official, but McDonald’s had no such policy, and the helpline number linked to a KFC hotline. The image had been around for about a year; the company’s social media team didn’t worry at first, thinking the claim was obviously false. The image spread on Twitter after a 4chan origin and a post on McServed.com from June 2010, and the hashtags #SeriouslyMcDonalds and #seriouslymcdonalds made it trend for a weekend. On June 11 McDonald’s tweeted that the picture was a senseless and ignorant hoax and that diversity runs deep in their culture. They followed with another tweet calling it a hoax. The hoax became the top topic that weekend, but the photo was eventually removed from Twitpic and the spread slowed. The impact was small, and many praised McDonald’s rapid, real-time response on social media. Analysts called the response a good example of how to handle rumors online, though some suggested more personalized messages and broader use of social networks in future crises.