Brandjack News

by Quentin Langley

It is all about storytelling. In a sense, it always is. Stories help us to make sense of the disparate data that surrounds us. As PR professional and author, Jim Holtje, puts it, we are "hardwired" to understand and remember stories. 

McDonalds understood that when they started a Twitter campaign called #meetthefarmers. It was inspired. It told the story of suppliers to the famous golden arches. We are used to the fact that the product is carefully controlled and identical whereever we go.* But this was all about the very different stories of the farmers who supply one of the world's biggest companies. The first hand testimony of Steve Foglesong Raising Cattle and a Family is beautiful. It is a story. McDonalds is peripheral, but Foglesong reiterates their key messages about controlling quality. People believe people. People don't believe brands.

Where McDonalds went wrong was to try to insert themselves more overtly into the stories. Once they started using the hashtag #McDstories, they were inviting other people to join in with their own stories about McDonalds. The company must have known that their brand is controversial. Yes, obviously, many, many people choose to purchase food there. But they know very well that many other people regard the brand as toxic. Yet, the company's second tweet on this hashtag was "tell us what you think of us". The response was predictable.

People who buy Big Macs are engaged in a transaction, not a lifestyle choice. There are other controversial brands for whom this is not the case. Think of car manufacturers, for example. But cars are enduring products and public statements. A burger is to eat. No matter how frequently people eat at McDonalds, they don't tend to think of themselves as McDonalds people. Now, that is not a problem. But McDonalds probably should have anticipated that the large majority of their customers would not bother to tweet about eating a burger. Buy. Eat. Forget. The enemies of McDonalds, on the other hand, are always up for a scrap Ronald McDonald.

While McDonalds claims that only 2% of the responses to its hashtag were negative, that has to be only part of the story. Who really wants to share or retweet someone else's gratitude for a successful sixth birthday party? It really isn't that interesting to the Twitterati. By contrast the nasty, the vulgar, the gross and the hilarious, well, they are worth sharing. Here are a few for your enjoyment:

           Man Allegedly Knifes Brother Over McDonald's Brownie huff.to/zklOau (via @huffingtonpost)             #McDStories

“Watching a classmate projectile vomit his food all over the restaurant during a 6th grade trip. #McDStories 

I once worked at McDonalds. I have never eaten there since. #McDStories

The strength and weakness of social media is that they are uncontrolled. Other people can tell your story. Before handing them that sort of control, you need to anticipate where they are likely to take it.

*Full disclosure: this author is not all that used to it from personal experience, as he is vegetarian.