Were They High?: McDonald’s Billboard Makes A Weed Joke About Rolling And It Made Corporate Very Angry
Over the years, McDonald’s has used many clever advertising techniques and placement in order to build up their business, but they’ve never done anything like this. As many people may know, McDonald’s restaurants are franchised out which means they have guidelines to follow but don’t always do the same thing. One location in New Mexico ended up taking things a bit too far with a billboard that jokes about smoking weed.
A McDonald’s location in Raton, New Mexico decided to branch out and be a bit more creative than usual in its advertising approach. According to the Huffington Post, the restaurant decided to put up a billboard to help draw more attention to their location and it certainly worked for them.
Unfortunately, they didn’t draw positive attention from anyone and everyone that saw it.
As anyone who watched The Founder will have learned, McDonald’s restaurants are franchised out to different owners. Yes, corporate does have rules in place for all locations, but the franchisees can come up with their own ways of running the business, but this shouldn’t have been one of them.
PHOTO: @McDonalds billboard joke goes viral https://t.co/dAqwqGgqx7 pic.twitter.com/vxUMxnPUmt
— KRON4 News (@kron4news) June 3, 2017
Yes, McDonald’s made a weak joke on a billboard that is on the side of a major highway.
The billboard is focusing on advertising the green chile breakfast burritos being sold at the McDonald’s location in New Mexico. Where the billboard is located is right near the border of New Mexico and Colorado. Marijuana is legal in one of those states and it isn’t in another.
The billboard happens to be for a New Mexico location which is the state where weed is not legal.
According to Fox News, the billboard isn’t staying up for long because McDonald’s corporate is not happy with it at all. Their explanation is that it doesn’t meet “corporate standards,” and it isn’t shocking that they say that considering there is a joke about rolling a joint.
Positioned near Exit 451 on Interstate 25, the billboard will be coming down soon as McDonald’s head honchos have requested it be removed.
KRON 4 in San Francisco was one of the first to report about the interesting McDonald’s billboard, and they said that locals have laughed it off. Many find it to be something that is quite humorous and the majority doesn’t find it to be in poor taste at all.
When all was said and done, it just isn’t meant to be as McDonald’s corporate does not wish to have its company associated with humor. While they have said that the billboard will be “taken down,” a representative for the fast-food giant has not yet said when its removal will come.
McDonald’s has been in the news a lot lately, and not always in a positive light. As reported by the USA Today, an arrest has now been made after a video began making the Internet rounds showing a woman in a physical fight with an employee at a Des Moines, Iowa location.
21-year-old Valerie Shepherd was arrested and charged with assault causing injury and disorderly conduct. The fight started on Saturday night when Shepherd and two men entered the McDonald’s and ordered food, but they were hungry and angry about the long wait.
An argument took place which led to Shepherd punching an employee in the face as she attempted to call 911.
There have been many successful ad campaigns for McDonald’s throughout time with clowns and purple creatures and cartoons and even giveaways. Corporate is always going to come up with something unique and they hope their franchises will be just as forward in figuring out creative ways to promote their business. The only thing McDonald’s headquarters wants to have everyone understand is that joking about weed is not something they expect to happen again.
[Featured Image by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images]
