Althouse: McDonald's buys cure to viral criticism for $50,000.

September 20, 2018

McDonald's buys cure to viral criticism for $50,000.

Pranksters do a great job of identifying themselves as the place to put the money to gain absolution.

So everybody wins. Right? Everybody feels good. Even Ellen.

22 comments:

traditionalguy said...: Why not free Big Macs for life? That shortens their life spans. Everybody wins.; 9/20/18, 7:30 AM
rhhardin said...: I've put up some fake posters myself. One was up at work for two years. A picture of Hitler in a motorcade with some security message attached, from a 1930's edition of Das Deutsche Lichtbild. (a photo annual); 9/20/18, 7:39 AM
rehajm said...: Going to SA Boutique and buying old uniforms to wear around was a thing when I was younger. I had a Mobil Gas one. 'Cal'.; 9/20/18, 7:41 AM
jwl said...: Those two kids have lots of moxie, I like them. My paternal grandfather tried to teach me that you can get away with a lot if you act like you belong there, those two teenagers learned a good lesson and were rewarded.; 9/20/18, 7:48 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: Ellen said a psychic told her to do this show. I really don't care what she's said after that.; 9/20/18, 7:58 AM
Mr. Majestyk said...: I wonder if McDonald's reaction will encourage other, perhaps more destructive, pranks.; 9/20/18, 8:25 AM
William said...: Who doesn't like a feelgood story like this? Besides me.; 9/20/18, 8:38 AM
Fernandinande said...: What viral criticism?

Speaking of McDonald's diversity, black bitch tosses 'shake, gets tossed around and pounded by gigantic Mexican woman. It's pretty cool.; 9/20/18, 8:44 AM
stlcdr said...: Not sure what the (big) story really is, here. Are they gay, also? Does McDonalds not serve asians? hire asians? Maybe I've stopped paying attention to the fake happy people in pictures advertising how great their product is.

Didn't this start with the United Colors of Benetton?; 9/20/18, 9:07 AM
mccullough said...: They should have held out for more money.; 9/20/18, 9:07 AM
Jim said...: That’s pretty cheap. It cost the Dallas Mavericks $10M.; 9/20/18, 9:36 AM
CJinPA said...: Wonder what the copycats are going to do. Viral + Ellen = copycats. There are LOTS of retail outlets in the U.S., with LOTS of promotional material, and there is a growing number of citizens in our splintering society that can claim similar slighthood. Each succeeding stunt will likely become less charming.; 9/20/18, 9:54 AM
PB said...: In high school we had this trophy (a large bell attached to a large wood stand) that went to the winner of the football game with our top rival. We hadn't won it in a number of years so a coup!e of senior guys got some work shirts with "West Side Trophy" embroidered on them by the Home-Ec teacher, mocked up some work orders, put a convincing sign courtesy of the graphics arts teacher on the doors of a panel van, drove over to their school, went to the office secretary and said they were there to take the bell in for cleaning. She said OK, unlocked the display case, and even got the vice principal to hold the door as they carried it out. They put it in the van and drove away. They placed in the main hallway of our school for all to see as we entered school the next morning.

All in good fun of course. Our principal called their principal later that morning to ask if they were missing anything. They both laughed about it. Pictures were taken and we got a nice article in the local paper about the prank. We returned it.; 9/20/18, 9:58 AM
AZ Bob said...: Yes, I like happy endings too but would we have the same result had they been old, white guys? (See next post.); 9/20/18, 10:17 AM
readering said...: Funny that Ellen takes viewers step by step how to do something like this without obviously breaking law (vandalism). They do have great personalities.; 9/20/18, 11:15 AM
Art in LA said...: LOL, Crazy Middle-Class Asians ... the kid is funny!; 9/20/18, 11:23 AM
tshanks78 said...: What I love about these kids is that they didn't look at asian exclusion as something that required absolution. They were never outraged and never demanded their (quarter) pound of flesh. They saw the humour in their lack of representation and countered it with comedy of their own. Now maybe McDonald's thought it would be a good idea to get ahead of the general Outrage Industrial Complex but we should be clear not to put these two boys in that group. Whether their prank was to go viral or not they would have happily returned to that McDonald's, ordered more fries, and laughed. More of this please...; 9/20/18, 12:47 PM
walter said...: "never demanded their (quarter) pound of flesh."
Or Filet-O-Flesh; 9/20/18, 2:19 PM
JaimeRoberto said...: I could do without the diversity mumbo jumbo, but that was a pretty funny stunt.; 9/20/18, 2:31 PM
mikee said...: I, for one, applaud McDonald's for paying just enough money to get Ellen and the two guys on TV talking about McDonalds. Wendy's twitter feed had better step up its game.; 9/20/18, 2:33 PM
walter said...: Ellen's really giving the Elvis Costello clothing line a plug.; 9/20/18, 3:17 PM
cacimbo said...: Funny and effective. They seem like really nice kids.; 9/20/18, 5:17 PM