Oh boy, not another McDonald’s hoax.
In the past week, a Daily Buzz Live post has been going viral, causing panic amongst McDonald’s lovers and unleashing an Internet frenzy. The post, titled, “McDonald’s Removing Big Mac, Apple Pies And Eliminating Large Size Options”, claimed that the fast food giant announced that it will be phasing out 8 menu items starting from early 2015. The site even went as far as posting up a screenshot of a fake tweet from the McDonald’s account that read, “It is with a heavy heart that we must announce that the Big Mac will no longer be apart of our menu. It is our sincerest apologies.”
In case you missed it, here:
Source: Daily Buzz Live
The #1 biggest telling sign that the above tweet was a hoax? “Apart”.
Not only that, the said article also went on to quote a certain Mark Andrés, supposedly the President of McDonald’s US, who apparently suggested to McDonald’s investors that McDonald’s doesn’t need to have preservatives in their food, sparking “widespread speculation”. And that’s fine except that a quick visit to the official McDonald’s website will tell you that the President of McDonald’s US is Mike Andres, not Mark whoever-he-is!
Really? (Source: Daily Buzz Live)
Grammatical error and wrong name aside, it’s true that McDonald’s will indeed be slimming down its menu beginning January 2015, but they will not be removing their star items. In this case, the Big Mac or the Apple Pie. According to CNBC, McDonald’s is simply reducing its number of extra value meals from 16 to 11, its number of Quarter Pounders with cheese from 4 to 1, premium chicken sandwiches from 3 to 1, and snack wraps from 3 to 1. The move will also help boost service speed at the fast food giant’s outlets.
Let’s not forget that McDonald’s have also been keep busy counter-attacking the rumours:
@Drake72Jason Hiya! Don’t believe the rumor! Our Big Mac is here to stay!
— McDonald’s (@McDonalds) December 23, 2014
@billyjacq That’s just a silly rumor. Don’t worry—the Big Mac isn’t going anywhere!
— McDonald’s (@McDonalds) December 23, 2014
@I_amGob Whoa, whoa, whoa—hold the phone! That’s just a rumor—the Big Mac isn’t going anywhere!
— McDonald’s (@McDonalds) December 23, 2014
@_Karinadeleon Stop the press! This is just a rumor. The Big Mac is staying on our menu!
— McDonald’s (@McDonalds) December 23, 2014
And on that note, you may all calm down now. There’s nothing that a little Googling won’t help. Also, what’s surprising is that nobody bothered to check the official McDonald’s Twitter account to see if the (now confirmed to be a hoax) tweet was genuine in the first place. Hmm.
Let’s not forget that these other “popular” online hoaxes that have sparked interest/outrage amongst netizens could also have been easily avoided if people actually took the time to do proper research:
- The “Pirate of the Caribbean 5″ “Asian Region Casting” open casting call at Sunway Lagoon, Malaysia.
- Is Cesar Millan aka “The Dog Whisper” dead? Really? No, not really.
- #RIPBettyWhite: American actress (of “The Golden Girls” fame) “dyes” peacefully in her Los Angeles home.
- “Home Alone” child star Macaulay Culkin debunks own death after he was “found dead in his apartment”.
- The white dragon which was found in various places including Malaysia.
- These other popular and repeated celebrity death hoaxes e.g. Jackie Chan, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, etc.
Sources: Wall Street Journal Blog, McDonald’s website, CNBC, Consumerist, Daily Buzz Live.