Heard of the rumor that fries from McDonald’s can’t rot? Or perhaps you’ve heard the one about “pink slime”. Well now, McDonald’s Canada is using social media to set the record straight. Launched in June 2012, the website “Our Food. Your Questions” aims to debunk popular myths about the company and its products by answering consumer inquiries directly. Today, the site has hosted over 2 million interactions and over 10 million video-response views.
Venturing in to the unpredictable and risky realms of social media can have both positive and negative effects. Because information spreads so rapidly on the Web, there exists opportunity to stamp-out false rumors by the masses, allowing McDonald’s to regain some of its credibility and repair its reputation. At the same time however, relating back to the marketing concept of brand positioning, it is extremely difficult to alter consumers’ impressions once formed – especially if the company has developed a bad image. McDonald’s products are known for being so cheap, so low in quality and nutritional value that consumers can make all kinds of bizarre accusations against its food safety, and people will still believe it.
Original article: http://business.financialpost.com/2012/08/10/mcdonalds-social-media-conscience/
Brand Positioning: http://www.quickmba.com/marketing/ries-trout/positioning/
“Our Food. Your Questions”: http://yourquestions.mcdonalds.ca/
Photo: http://www.bioethics.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/ronald_mcdonald_jumping1.jpg
