McDstories

I had never heard of this hashtag until reading about it for this assignment. Having eaten at McDonalds and having a bad experience, I am not surprised by what happened with the hashtag. When the board members who thought this marketing campaign would be a good idea overlooked the fact that not everyone loves McDonalds, I think they also overlooked, or maybe did not understand how sarcastic and cynical people on the internet can be.

Forbes wrote an article called “When a Hashtag Becomes a Bashtag” https://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/01/24/mcdstories-when-a-hashtag-becomes-a-bashtag/#6ced885ded25  that highlighted many tweets that used the hashtag to complain about the restaurant instead of using it to share happy stories and memories it was originally created for. Many of them include how eating at McDonalds made them sick, and several shared how one experience was so bad they have not been back since.

“Why McDStories Didn’t Have a Happy Ending” https://thenextweb.com/twitter/2012/01/24/why-mcdstories-didnt-have-a-happy-ending/ talks more about why the hashtag was not a success and pointed out that if McDonalds was wanting praise, they should have gone to their fans and not to twitter. I think that it a very true statement, if you are going to put something out there for anyone and everyone to use, especially on a forum that is known for people posting snarky remarks, you should not expect it to go the way you want it to. The article also pointed out that if you are going to use a promoted tweet, it should not be that vague and it should promote what you are intending to promote. The other hashtag McDonalds was using in this campaign, #MeetTheFarmers, made sense because it was introducing the farmers where McDonalds received their produce. McDStories was intended for heartwarming moments had at McDonalds, but any story told could use the hashtag.

I think that it can be easy to see how something can go wrong when you can only think of good things to say about it, but when using social media and the internet, you need to be extra careful.