McDonald’s has responded to an invitation from Burger King for the two fast food giants to settle their differences and sell a McWhopper burger, all in aid of Peace Day on 21 September.
“We’d like to propose a one-off collaboration between Burger King and McDonald’s to create something special – something that gets the world talking about Peace Day,” Burger King wrote in an open letter to McDonald’s earlier this week. The plan was for the two restaurant chains to meet half way between their respective headquarters – in Atlanta, Georgia – to prepare and sell McWhoppers side by side, combining “all the tastiest bits” of the two companies’ best-selling burgers for one day only.
The stunt would involve the companies donating all of the day’s proceeds to Peace One Day, the organisers of next month’s international event. Burger King has also offered glimpses of how the staff uniforms, retail concept and carton packaging would have looked.
McDonald’s firmly declines Burger King’s offer
But it seems as though those plans won’t be needed any time soon, after McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook posted a passive-aggressive response on the company’s Facebook page, much to the derision of its expectant followers. And the essence of Easterbrook’s response was that McDonald’s would not be entertaining Burger King’s idea.
“Inspiration for a good cause… great idea,” Easterbrook wrote at 5:20am on Wednesday.
“We love the intention but think our two brands could do something bigger to make a difference. We commit to raise awareness worldwide, perhaps you’ll join us in a meaningful global effort? And every day, let’s acknowledge that between us there is simply a friendly business competition and certainly not the unequaled circumstances of the real pain and suffering of war.
“We’ll be in touch.
“Steve, McDonald’s CEO.
“P.S. A simple phone call will do next time.”
This parting blow from Easterbrook prompted cries of “passive aggressive” and “high and mighty” from social media users, and the response to McDonald’s post was overwhelmingly negative among those following the action on the company’s Facebook timeline. “Point goes to Burger King on this one,” wrote Facebook user Aaron Hair. “Seems like an unnecessarily stiff and condescending reply to a light-hearted proposal,” added Patrick McCullough.
There’s no news yet on whether Peace Day will prompt the temporary suspension of other food and drink brand rivalries such as Pepsi and Coca-Cola, Mars and Nestlé, or Starbucks and Costa.
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