Posted on June 14, 2011

Racial Hoax Causes PR Headache for Mcdonald’s

Zachary Roth, Yahoo! News, June 13, 2011

An online hoax that falsely suggests McDonald’s discriminates against African-American customers is causing a PR headache for the Golden Arches.

Over the weekend, the photograph above circulated widely on the internet. The image shows what looks like an official McDonald’s notice in the window of a restaurant, telling customers that blacks will be charged $1.50 extra “as an insurance measure due in part to a recent string of robberies.”

Many internet users retweeted the photo, using the words “Seriously McDonald’s,” to express their disapproval of the burger chain.

In response, McDonald’s sent a tweet of its own on Saturday: “That pic is a senseless & ignorant hoax McD’s values ALL our customers. Diversity runs deep in our culture on both sides of the counter.”

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It’s not clear who created the hoax image. It appears to have first showed up on the popular 4chan message board, and it was posted last year on an anti-McDonald’s blog.

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