McDonald’s announced recently that they are changing their classic Happy Meal to include apple slices, less French fries and fat-free chocolate milk or 1% milk.
Healthier happy meals is just the first step in McDonald’s latest strategy. The company invited Mom bloggers to participate in their new program, designed specifically for moms who are interested in finding out the truth behind the rumours at McDonald’s.
The McDonald’s All-Access Moms program selected three Canadian “mommy bloggers” (as they wrote in their email) to go on four trips across the country. Together, they visited supplier facilities and restaurants and they had the chance to ask all the tough questions about what is really in McDonald’s food. At the same time, they asked these bloggers to write openly about the experience.
I was invited to submit an application to go but I’ll be honest – I was conflicted in doing so. In any event, I didn’t apply.
From reading various threads on Twitter, it seems the mom bloggers chosen made the trip last week. Since then, it’s been a bit of McDonald’s fury on Twitter.
Many were in an uproar that McDonald’s was doing this program in the first place. Others were slamming the women who were chosen to participate. Some were disgusted to learn others were feeding their kids McDonald’s. And others said it’s the parents choice on what to feed their kids.
Here are some tweets just to give you an example:
I myself tried to avoid commenting on anything – I simply wrote “Quite a bit of controversy on the #Mcd_moms stream…”
And the response was:
@HealthyIZ replied: “ It’s all of the MSG! 🙂 RT @kellidaisy: gives me a headache RT @amotherworld: Quite a bit of controversy on the #Mcd_moms stream… “
@nyshepa Tweeted:
“@mommydoing @FeistyFrugal: You guys are fooling yourselves if you think that the #McD_Moms initiative is not about marketing McDonald’s.”
@ToniPatton tweeted:
“The whole #mcd_moms thing is reminding me of the #nestlefamily event and all the fiasco and rudeness that came w/ it.”
@Katsiroumpas Tweeted:
“@mommydoing I don’t agree with the whole #McD_Moms but I would never stop following you over it. I would never harass them over it either.”
@mommydoing tweeted:
“How many followers do you think I might lose defending the #McD_Moms?? Give these women a break they want to learn something about it all!”
@lisaborden Tweeted
“Here is a document the USDA doesn’t want you to see –> http://owl.li/5QjtN by @tomphilpott
@FeistyFrugal tweeted:
#McD_Moms (or anyone else for that matter) do not tell you how to feed your kids. That’s *your* job, mom.”
What do you make of McDonald’s social media outreach to moms and the reaction on Twitter?