SAN FRANCISCO – FEBRUARY 09: A sign stands outside of a McDonald’s restaurant February 9, 2009 in … [+]
Perspective is important in a crisis. Without it, business leaders may not be able to tell the difference between an issue that could quickly disappear, a slowly simmering controversy that can take its toll over time or a rapidly growing problem that will create an avalanche of negative publicity. Knowing the difference could help determine how or if a company’s credibility, image and reputation will be affected and the steps that are necessary to address the situation.
McDonald’s is a case in point. According to the Wall Street Journal last week, McDonald’s franchisees have been upset for some time about company-supplied ice cream machines that keep breaking down.
An Old Complaint
According to the news organization, “Owners of McDonald’s outlets have long complained the devices are overly complicated and their breakdowns hard to fix. The machines require a nightly automated heat-cleaning cycle that can last up to four hours to destroy bacteria. The cleaning cycle can fail, making the machines unusable until a repair technician can get them going again, owners say.’’
Adding fuel to the fire were reports that the Federal Trade Commission was investigating the matter; some franchisees said they have been contacted about the matter. The Federal Trade Commission told me they had no comment about an investigation, adding, “For context, the FTC does not comment on or confirm the existence of investigations.”
Statement From McDonald’s
In response, McDonald’s USA issued this statement: “Intrinsic to the interest in our soft serve machines is our fans’ love of McDonald’s iconic McFlurry desserts and shakes. Nothing is more important to us than delivering on our high standards for food quality and safety, which is why we work with fully vetted partners that can reliably provide safe solutions at scale. McDonald’s has no reason to believe we are the focus of an FTC investigation.”
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The Right Approach?
At first glance, it appeared the fast food company reacted appropriately to the situation.
Alice M. Walton is president of Walton Strategies, a boutique strategic communications firm. She noted that, “The company is doing two important things here. One, they are acknowledging the problem and two, they are educating consumers on what is needed to solve it. This could ultimately strengthen confidence in the brand.”
Stacy Rosenberg, associate teaching professor at Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College observed, “While McDonald’s might be trending in the news today, it is unlikely the reports of an FTC investigation into malfunctioning ice cream machines will have a long-term, negative influence on the corporation’s valuation [or] on their brand.
Staying Focused
“Given the relatively innocuous nature of the equipment failure, McDonald’s should focus on resolving the issue to satisfy the FTC as well as its dessert-loving customers. Other business leaders would be wise to similarly distinguish between bad news…and very bad news. In this case, McDonald’s brief statement focused on the quality of their food…”, Rosenberg observed.
She said that was all that was necessary, “ as customers will return despite broken ice cream makers. After all, sundaes and shakes are not their core product.”
A Common And Frequent Problem
But broken ice cream machines are not a new issue for McDonald’s. In 2017, the Wall Street Journal reported that, “Frequent interruptions in McDonald’s ice cream service are spawning a blizzard of social media complaints in the U.S. and abroad—and conspiracy theories.”
Shiri Dori-Hacohen is an assistant professor at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Connecticut. She noted that, “The problem is so common—reportedly in nearly 10% of machines—that there’s a website, McBroken, which tracks whether a certain location’s ice cream machine works or not.
“The FTC has neither confirmed [nor] denied the report; [but] the alleged investigation is making the rounds, and McDonald’s reputation will likely suffer from this controversy,” Dori-Hacohen said.
Eli Stone is the founder of Bouta, a Gen-Z consultancy. He noted that the hashtag #mcdonaldsicecreammachine has 11.8 million views on TikTok, with #icecreammachineisbroke at 10.9 million views.
“The problem has become so engrained with the McDonald’s brand that it has created a ‘trend’ in which Gen-z’s will pull up to a drive-through and immediately ask if their ice cream machine is broken. The response in most of these videos is that it “unfortunately is.” They then continue to start ordering ice cream leaving the employees speechless. The most viral example of this was posted in April and has accumulated over five million views, with over 500,000 likes.”
No Laughing Matter
“What can business executives learn from this controversy regarding crisis communications? The number one takeaway is that actions speak louder than words. Even if it is acting in good faith, McDonald’s has clearly been aware of this issue for years but didn’t bother to fix it. In fact, it even tried to poke fun at the known problem in a tweet from 2020: ‘we have a joke about our soft serve machine but we’re worried it won’t work,’” Dori-Hacohen said.
“While humor can certainly defuse some customer frustration, a far better response would have been to address this issue head on and fix this years ago, when it became clear that both customers and franchisees were widely complaining about it. By letting the problem fester for so long, McDonald’s has set itself up for a reputation fail. Regardless of whether the FTC is actually investigating it, the reputational damage is done—but could have been easily prevented by simply listening to their customers,” she concluded.
