Instagram Can't Get Enough Of Wendy's Roasting McDonald's

Openly choosing a favorite fast food restaurant in a conversation with friends or family can feel similar to discussing politics or religion. Everyone has their opinions and most will stand behind their preferences in an argument or two. With more than 38,000 locations around the globe, some people contend McDonald's has the best menu selection and cost. In contrast, others believe Wendy's food's quality and the brand's recent menu expansion make it the real winner when it comes to grabbing a quick meal (via Forbes).

If you look at sales alone, Wendy's saw their revenue increase over the last year (via QSRweb.com). However, according to The New York Times, McDonald's reached $23 billion in sales in 2021 with an increase of 21% from 2019. While McDonald's totaled more overall sales, Wendy's doesn't only use their expanding menu to lure in customers. Wendy's menu items may be more expensive (via Query Sprout), but the restuarant promises fresh beef burgers. The chain also uses social media in more ways than one to reap attention.

By taking a glance at Wendy's Twitter account it's clear that they use roasting their competition as a marketing tactic. The tagline under their Twitter handle reads, "We like our tweets the way we like our fries: hot, crispy, and better than anyone expects from a fast food restaurant." Whether or not it works is still up for debate but their most recent Instagram attack on McDonald's has social media users going wild.

Yesterday, Wendy's posted a meme on their Instagram account which stated, "They're a 10 but they say they're lovin' it" with the caption reading, "Immediate no." The post received several comments with some in support of the meme while others took the post as an opportunity to voice their complaints about the absence of the Vanilla frosty in favor of the seasonal Strawberry variety. One Instagrammer commented "this got me laughing like Spongebob" in reference to another bashing post by Wendy's on McDonald's breakfast via Twitter last week.

Wendy's has been roasting McDonald's publicly since at least 2020 (via TODAY). These intermittent sarcastic digs may seem pretty innocent, yet the fast food chain has taken it one step further this year by creating billboards advertising their fries against McDonald's version directly through a fry-shaped golden arch (per Entrepreneur).

Whether or not these sarcastic troll-like strategies work as a marketing tactic is still up for debate. Later that day Wendy's posted one of the many viral memes circulating social media using a 90s cartoon called "Mister Men and Little Miss" on Twitter with the meme tag reading "Little Miss I'm not mean, I'm sarcastic." The comments were similar to those on yesterday's IG meme, ranging from laughter to people asking about the return of the Vanilla frosty. Yesterday's Instagram post is only one of many more instigating posts likely to grace Wendy's social media accounts in the remainder of 2022 and beyond.