McDonald’s radio ad saying eating McBites is safer than petting a pit bull pulled following complaints
McDonald’s has faced another social media disaster after it released a radio campaign in Kansas saying that eating its Chicken McBites was less risky than petting a pit bull terrier, shaving your head, naming your son Sue or giving friends your Facebook password.
The campaign, which led to a huge number of complaints and a ‘Pit Bulls Against McDonald’s’ Facebook page being set up, was then pulled and members of the public were able to phone a free number to hear a recorded apology.
McDonald’s also apologised for the mistake on Twitter. The fast food restaurant had another campaign backfire on it recently, when it asked consumers to tweet about #McDStories and received less than flattering responses.
Stephanie Filer, communications manager for the Animal Rescue League of Iowa, struck back at the campaign by posting a picture online of a box of McDonald's Chicken McNuggets and a pit bull laying on its back with the caption "Which is safer? Eating this? Petting this?"
Ashlee Yingling, spokesman for McDonald's, said: The ad was insensitive in its mention of pit bulls. We apologize. As soon as we learned of it, we tracked the source and had the local markets pull the ad immediately. We'll do a better job next time. It's never our intent to offend anyone with how we communicate news about McDonald's.”