With thousands of locations spread around the world, billions of people have eaten at
a McDonald's restaurant. Although many people question the quality of the food McDonald's
offers, it must being doing something right because it rakes in at least $20 billion a
year in revenue. The Golden Arches has experienced its share of outrageous scandals over the
years that range from the deadly serious to the downright silly. So let’s pop the lid
on the top 10 outrageous McDonald’s scandals.
McDonald’s Super Scandal Me
Morgan Spurlock starred in his own 2004 documentary called Supersize Me. The film maker billed
it as an expose on the supposed unethical practices of fast food giant, McDonalds. Spurlock
put himself on a "McDiet" for a month in which he ate only McDonald's food for breakfast,
lunch and dinner. According to his own tally he ate approximately 5,000 calories a day
during the one month period. This calorie count is double the amount of calories recommended
by nutritionists for a healthy adult male like Spurlock. This fact alone makes the 30
day diet a bit disingenuous because no one really eats fast food three times a day everyday
even for just a month. If someone was foolish enough to consume fast food as their regular
diet, it wouldn't mean they'd necessarily rack up such a high calorie count. Spurlock
seemed eager to expose McDonald's as a bad actor that hooks unsuspecting customers on
unhealthy food. No one is arguing that the food is healthy, but Supersize Me was intent
on cooking up a scandal instead of using the available ingredients for a balanced discussion
about how personal choices affect one's health. While Spurlock gained almost 25 pounds during
the 30 day diet, it took almost 14 months to lose all the weight - but supposedly, he
was eating far more than he claimed to be, just to make the results more shocking. And
no one has been able to replicate his results, or get even close. Despite all this, in 2017
Morgan Spurlock released a new film: Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!, which premiered
at the Toronto Film Festival.
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The McCheesey Conspiracy
You may have heard of H.R. Pufnstuf from the World of Sid and Marty Krofft. This was a
wacky Saturday morning kids cartoon that ran for one season in 1969. There have been plenty
of whisperings that H.R. Pufnstuf was the inspiration for the Mayor McCheese character
used by McDonald’s. Looking at pictures of them side by side, many would say that
they do not look that much alike, but many would also disagree with this opinion and
cry foul. It seems that looking too closely at these characters could open up a Pandora's
Box. After all, these are clownish fantasy characters that are bound to have some similar
attributes. This consideration hasn't stopped a scandal emerging about the originality of
McDonald's famous mayor of McDonaldland. Krofft's character does wear a sash with a medallion
that has the word "mayor" on it, but that's the only real similarity. The same advertisement
agency was involved at various times with both McDonald's and the Kroffts and this has
probably led to some people taking on a conspiracy mentality about the origins of the characters.
The Kroffts eventually sued McDonald's and won $50,000 which seems almost like an afterthought
given the revenue McDonald's generates every year.
Prank Caller at McDonald’s
One of the worst black eyes suffered by McDonald's resulted from a phone prank pulled on a McDonald's
assistant manager in Bullitt County Kentucky. The stupidity and creepiness of this one employee
managed to tarnish the Golden Arches in a very public way. An assistant store manager
was convinced by an anonymous caller that he was a police officer and that she should
summon a young female employee who the caller said was accused of stealing a purse from
a McDonald's customer. The 18 year old employee complied with the demand of the caller and
her manager and stripped. Over the course of about two hours she was subjected to a
search, spanking and pressured to perform jumping jacks. During the ordeal the store
manager had her fiance come to the store and watch the naked girl while she tended to her
manager duties. The disgusting prank caller was eventually caught and turned out to be
a prison guard. The McDonald's assistant manager received a suspended sentence, but her fiance
was sentenced to six years for sexual assault. The young woman was eventually awarded six
million dollars for her unbelievable ordeal.
McDonald's China Scandal
McDonald's reputation in China took a hit in 2014 when a local supplier shipped expired
meat to several locations. The bad food caused a number of customers to get sick. Shanghai
Husi Food, the Chinese division of food supplier OSI Group, was fined almost $365,000 for knowingly
providing bad meat to McDonald's. Ten employees of OSI Group were sentenced to prison, some
for as long as ten years for their participation in the scandal. The employees were found to
be changing the expiration dates so meat up to a year past its sale date was repackaged
as fresh meat. OSI blamed the scandal on a former employee with a grudge who enlisted
the help of journalists. McDonald's Asia sales dropped 9.9% after the scandal broke, but
the company is confident sales will rebound over the long term. The fast food giant said
it would keep OSI as its primary meat supplier, a relationship that goes back to the 1950's
founding of the hamburger chain. This was an embarrassing and outrageous scandal that
could have led to a number of food poisoning deaths.
Hacking in to McDonald’s
In December, 2016 customers in New Bern, North Carolina were treated to unexpected greetings
at their local McDonald's. Someone with some technical savvy and too much time on their
hands hacked the frequency used for the drive-thru intercom system. Instead of receiving a friendly
hello, customers were told McDonald employees were using the bathroom, but would get their
food right away - without taking the time to wash their hands. The hacker also used
profanity and broadcast audio of an adult movie to unsuspecting customers. This must
have been a strange experience for people who just wanted to get a quick bite to eat.
Hackers who have commented about this story have told reporters that it is easy to overpower
the weak frequency used by the headsets. One computer geek explained that he'd sit across
the street from a drive-thru so he could watch the reactions of the customers and employees
as he taunted them. Although this scandal seems relatively harmless, the McDonald's
manager took it seriously and called the police to have them launch an investigation. This
harmless, but still outrageous, McDonald's scandal is one that has yet to be solved.
Too Darn Hot at McDonald’s
Coffee is supposed to be hot, but apparently not that hot. On February 27, 1992 Stella
Liebeck ordered a cup of coffee from her local New Mexico McDonald's. The 49 cent beverage
would prove to be a very expensive one for the fast food chain. Having purchased the
coffee at the drive-thru, Ms. Lieback's grandson pulled into a parking space so she could add
cream. She placed the cup between her knees and pulled off the lid and spilled the entire
cup of coffee onto her legs. Her cotton sweatpants held the coffee against her body; her thighs,
buttocks and groin were scalded by the hot liquid. Her grandson took her to the hospital
where she was found to have 3rd degree burns over 6 percent of her body. During her hospital
stay she had to undergo several skin grafts to repair the damage. Ms. Liebeck remained
partially disabled for two years and remained permanently scarred. She tried to settle with
McDonald's for $20,000 to cover her medical expenses, but she was rebuffed. After rejecting
several more settlement offers the case went to trial in New Mexico in August 1994. The
case was eventually settled for an undisclosed amount believed to be approximately $500,000.
The lasting fallout from the scandal was that McDonald's put a more prominent warning on
the cups and improved the cups. However, the chain did not lower the temperature of their
coffee, which is still served at 176-194 degrees Fahrenheit.
Not Lovin’ it at McDonald’s
Bulgogi means "fire meat" in Korean and is a popular kind of barbecue in South Korea.
McDonald's marinates beef patties in a spicy soy sauce to make the Bulgogi Burger. In September
2017, several Korean children became sick after eating Bulgogi burgers from McDonald's.
The children and their teacher suffered from enteritis, an inflammation of the intestine
that usually includes diarrhea. One five-year-old girl suffered permanent kidney failure after
eating one of the undercooked burgers. Following the incident, McDonald's took the Bulgogi
Burger off menus in Korea, although the company did not confirm publicly that it was the marinated
meat that caused the illnesses. McDonald's promised to upgrade its food safety procedures
in Korea and invited customers to see for themselves how food is prepared at the restaurants.
South Korea's Ministry of Food and Drug Safety investigated the cause of the illnesses, which
was not welcome news for McDonald's because the company wanted to put this scandal behind
it as soon as possible.
McDonald’s McLibel
"I'm Loving it" was not the way either party felt in the McDonald's Corporation v Steel
& Morris lawsuit. This court case was filed against British environmental activists. The
case dragged on for a decade and became the longest running libel case in Britain. Helen
Steel and David Morris published a leaflet, known as the "McLibel Leaflet" with information
very critical of McDonald's Corporation. The leaflet asserted things like McDonald's encouraged
an unhealthy diet and exploited children with targeted advertising. Many companies could
be accused of similar charges, but McDonald's was presumably targeted by London Greenpeace
because it is a very visible and wealthy corporation. The court ruled that some of the information
in the leaflet was accurate while some of it was inaccurate. McDonald's eventually was
awarded 40,000 pounds by the courts, but indicated it would not seek to collect on the judgment.
Information came to light several years later that one of the authors of the infamous leaflet
was in fact an undercover police officer who had infiltrated London Greenpeace. It was
also shown that another undercover police officer had a sexual relationship with the
activist, Helen Steel. A documentary called McLibel made about the scandal was produced
in 1997.
No McVegans at McDonalds
If you think McDonald's may not be the best choice for people who aren't big fans of meat
you're probably right. However, this hasn't stopped some vegans from agitating against
the company in an effort to make the fast food chain more friendly to vegans. Contrary
to what some people might believe, McDonald's fries are not and have never been vegan or
vegetarian. For many years the fried potatoes were cooked in animal fat - a definite no
no for vegans. However, when the fast food company switched to vegetable fat, the taste
of the famous fries suffered. McDonald's solution was to add some beef flavoring. In 2001 a
group of Hindu activists filed a class-action lawsuit against McDonald's. They argued that
McDonald's had tricked them into believing the fries were vegetarian friendly when in
fact they had always contained animal products. McDonald's settled the case for $10 million,
with $6 million given to vegetarian causes. In McDonald's defense, they have long posted
the ingredients of their products including their fries.
Soylent Pink at McDonald’s?
Science fiction fans might be aware of the 1973 movie Soylent Green starring Charlton
Heston. Based on the Harry Harrison novel called Make Room! Make Room!, this movie described
a dystopian future where a resource-depleted world led the government to allow companies
to secretly process corpses to feed hungry populations. I don't think anyone is accusing
McDonald's of turning people into Big Macs, but almost no one is comfortable with the
fast food giant's infamous "pink slime." This product's official name is lean finely textured
beef, LFTB, but obviously the more colorful name has stuck. LFTB is a meat by-product
used as a food additive and filler for processed meats. A production process removes fat from
beef trimmings and results in the unappetizing meaty paste. A 2012 news report said that
as much as 70% of ground beef sold in United States supermarkets contain LFTB. So if this
figure is accurate, the issue of pink slime goes well beyond the McDonald's association
that has made the product part of popular culture. Some people have claimed that LFTB
was first used in pet food and and cooking oil before being approved for food. However,
the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has disputed this claim. According to McDonald's
website, the company stopped using the scandalous LFTB in 2011.
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