Another week, another social media fail for McDonald’s.
The fast-food giant was forced to issue an apology on Twitter on Friday after angering pit bull owners in a promotion for the Chicken McBites meal.
“Trying a new item at McDonald’s isn’t risky. You know what’s risky? Petting a stray pit bull,” the ad said. The 30-second radio spot was posted on YouTube last week and racked up nearly 42,000 views.
Angered pet owners and pit bull lovers took to Twitter and Facebook to voice their outrage. A Facebook group, Pit Bulls Against McDonald’s, received 10,000 likes, with peeved pit bull owners sharing positive stories and posting pictures of their friendly dogs.
“McDonald’s thought the ad was clever. McDonald’s thinks selling food that harms is clever,” wrote one member of the Facebook group.
The #BoycottMcDonalds hashtag also gained minor traction on Twitter. Many messages followed the similar vernacular that customers should stop going to McDonald’s.
“#boycottmcdonalds because of their stupid Pit Bull ad!,” tweeted Ingrid San Juan.
McDonald’s tweeted an apology, saying the company didn’t mean to “offend anyone” and that the radio spot had been pulled.
This isn’t the first time McDonald’s has bitten off more than it can chew. Late last month, the company botched hashtag campaigns for #McDStories and #littlethings.
Photo from Pit Bulls Against McDonald’s