McDonald's Managers Are Refusing To Promo Cardi B And Offset's Meal
Without a doubt, America loves its fast food and its celebrities. So, what better way to market fast food than to collaborate with celebrities? Naturally, many fast food chains have tried their hand at this particular tactic, but none have mastered it quite like McDonald's.
Over the years, McDonald's has partnered with Michael Jordan, BTS, and Mariah Carey, among others, to create unique meals and draw in customers. The Travis Scott celebrity meal collab in 2020 alone boosted McDonald's sales for the period by more than 4%.
That being said, regardless of a collab's popularity with customers, employees may have other — sometimes vastly different — feelings toward the situation. McDonald's current partnership with Cardi B and Offset, for instance, has many managers confused about a disconnect between company values and promotional content, and others concerned about the chain's family-friendly atmosphere. We're barely scratching the surface here, so let's dive deeper.
Why McDonald's employees are upset with the current celebrity meal
Although we're used to hearing about how McDonald's employees dislike certain customer requests or corporate policies, it's not too often that we hear about employees — let alone managers or franchise owners — being upset with the chain over an entire marketing strategy.
The Cardi B and Offset meal, however, has raised enough concerns that a number of McDonald's franchisees do not want to promote the collaboration, per The Wall Street Journal. Though the meal, released on Valentine's Day, is supposed to be about love and relationships, many point to the artists' explicit lyrics and how they don't align with the "Golden Arches Code."
In an interview with Fortune, one expert explained that McDonald's is simply trying to balance being family-friendly with "[appealing] to younger generations, which don't necessarily line up." We can certainly understand that, but we also can't deny that this particular collaboration may have been a misstep. All McDonald's can do now is learn from the feedback.