McDonald's UK Is Getting Roasted For This Cringeworthy Clapback
There's something inherently awkward about corporations trying to make "clapbacks," those witty responses that you say to a situation, as if you're on some kind of sitcom. It's all fine when some random person on Twitter or Instagram says something snarky — that's just the way the Internet is — but when a giant multi-national food corporation does it, it feels fake, cheap, and like something thought up by a clique of interns and public relations stuffed-shirts who thought it would be funny (which, often, is probably exactly what happened).
When you go to a fast food joint, you're there to make a quick lunch out of a burger and some fries, not to watch standup comedy, or relate to the brand in any way, aside from getting your order from them. It's really all marketing, no different than seeing a billboard on the highway or an advertisement on YouTube. At least, that's how a part of social media feels about it. Whenever any big corporation posts a "witty" response, you can bet there's a group of people ready to knock them own a few pegs. For example, the infamous International Women's Day tweet from Burger King received plenty of fire from Twitter users (via USA Today) and is still shared around the Internet today as a target of mockery.
Today, it's time for McDonald's to take a turn in the hot seat, as their "relatable" tweet about fashion has brought about responses that weren't so much talking about McDonald's fries so much as they wanted to fry McDonald's PR team.
McDonald's clapback bites them back
"Wait," you wonder aloud, "What did McDonalds tweet about fashion?"
Well, on December 6, a tweet was posted online that mocked a £89 (or $117 US dollar) outfit by pointing out how it resembled a standard grey and yellow McDonalds worker uniform. And the McDonald's UK Twitter account — evidently, not willing to sit down and take any criticism of their official dress code, whether asked for their thoughts or not — responded by tweeting: "Does it have pockets though, ours have pockets...[?]".
As the notifications started rolling in, McDonalds UK evidently expected to see people talking about how cool and funny the American-based hamburger chain is on social media. Instead, the response was largely negative — toward McDonald's, that is.
"I wonder if the second burger from my Big Mac is in one of those pockets???" snapped Twitter user Jordan Geldy, posting a picture of his Big Mac, second beef patty missing. Mr. Geldy has so far received no response from McDonalds on this issue. "Oh yes the pockets that don't even open", another Twitter user said, followed by several others remarking that just like McDonald's food, the pockets are actually fake. "You gave your employees pockets, again?" stated a former McDonalds employee. "I worked for the company back in 2007 until 2015 and not once were the employees even allowed them. lol" Finally, another McDonald's-roasting Twitter user (who uses an emoji in place of their name), simply stated the classic line: "Silence, brand."
This incident, perhaps, won't hurt McDonalds UK — or even McDonalds as a whole — but it's always a good reminder for companies to know if they want to walk the walk, they better talk the talk.