McDonald’s CEO Jim Skinner recently had to defend his company’s use of Ronald McDonald as a marketing tool when his burgers and fries had been shown to be not the healthiest of treats for kids. Now Skinner’s company has got another PR problem to deal with, and this one wasn’t the company’s own making.

This past weekend, a now-removed photo uploaded on Twitter began circulating — showing a purported a sign on McDonald's letterhead posted in the window of a restaurant that said that African-Americans would be charged an extra $1.50 “as an insurance measure due in part to a recent string of robberies.” The sign also contained an 800 number that, when dialed, takes callers to McDonald’s competitor KFC.

The photograph quickly went viral on Twitter, becoming a trending topic with the hashtag #seriouslymcdonalds, picking up steam and plenty of heated words from surprised Tweeters.

Of course, the whole thing was a ruse — as if the KFC phone number wasn't a clue, what major American corporation with such a diverse consumer base would do such a ridiculous thing? — but people believe what they want to believe, and the faux picture continued to pick up steam despite tweeted denials from McDonald’s.Continue reading...

There is always that one fundamental contrarian who wants to make a splash by going against near-uniform opinion, such as declaring kittens "horrible." At times, that person has been me, even more frequently that person works for Slate.com. But in the case of Gapocolypse™, that person writes for Time.Continue reading...

If there is one place all brands know to turn when the time comes to show some humility, contrition and beg for understanding, it's the Huffington Post. Wait, what?Continue reading...

There are scores of words that instantly invoke events forever etched in the collective consciousness – My Lai, Kent State, Watergate, 9/11, and more recently, Blackwater.

It was 2007 when a shooting in Nisour Square, Baghdad, left 17 Iraqi civilians dead, amidst strident allegations of weapons violations and bribery. The aftermath was so horrendous that Blackwater was exiled from Iraq.

The company, which was founded in 1997 by Erik Prince to train law enforcement and military officers, is trying to shake off any negative associations by rebranding to Xe, a simple black X that's at once striking and mysterious, which may be just the way Blackwater wants it to be perceived.

Still, some may still see the new logo as a black mark (X marks the spot?) once they know it's the new and improved corporate image of Blackwater, whose original name derived from the muddy swamp waters at its training facility in Moyock, N.C.Continue reading...

If you want to restore yourself to the good graces of the American people who just rescued you from the fate that befell Tucker and Nash and American Motors, this isn’t the way to go about it, General Motors.

GM executives are being rightly scored – from Capitol Hill to Madison Avenue – for public statements and a new advertising campaign, both featuring CEO Ed Whitacre, that imply the company has repaid its obligation to the U.S. government and to the American people. Or at least that could be inferred as doing so.

The ads on all major TV networks have been noting that the company repaid its original $6.7-billion U.S.-government loan “in full” and “with interest five years ahead of the original schedule,” as Whitacre walks through a GM plant.

One problem with such a hopeful narrative, of course, is that GM simply repaid the loan with another part of its proceeds from the government bailout, robbing Peter to pay Paul, as it were – or maybe robbing Nancy to pay Barack. Whitacre didn’t mention that in the ads.Continue reading...

Sprint’s new public-service campaign to get teenagers to stop texting while driving has an air of futility about it – and it’s barely begun.

The telecom brand has teamed with an outfit called DoSomething.org to come up with some way, any way, to persuade teen drivers to refrain from the clearly dangerous practice of texting while behind the wheel. And what have they come up with?

Calling the effort “Thumb Wars,” Sprint is now trying to get teens to go online and order three pairs of “thumb socks” – fabric sleeves for thumbs that make it difficult to text, particularly on touch-screen phones.

Apparently, the thinking goes that kids will begin wearing thumb socks in the car not only to be safe but also as a symbol of solidarity behind a sublime statement of self-denial, sort of like promise rings. And they’ll give the extra pairs to their friends. Riiiiiight.Continue reading...