McDonald’s
is jumping in to the blogosphere. In an effort to improve their image,
the giant fast food chain has enlisted six "Moms' Quality
Correspondents" to cover the company from the inside.
The six regular moms from across the U.S. will report to the outside world via blog and video on McDonald's website
for the next few months. They’ll be going inside McDonald's kitchens,
attending menu items development meetings, and visiting supplier
facilities. They'll even visit McDonald's beef and produce suppliers!
(Having read Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal, I can’t wait to see how they are going to portray this.)
These
real mom correspondents are an obvious attempt by McDonald’s to be more
transparent and open, but I can’t help being skeptical. The obviously
staged photo opportunities (just count the number of camera flashes
going off in the video footage), and the negative PR McDonald’s has
faced recently (Super Size Me), I wonder how “real” these blog posts will be.
So
far, the video plays like a big long ad for the corporation. The most
controversial part of the video is when one of the moms tells some menu
item developers that she preferred dark meat over the all white meat
chicken nugget McDonald’s now serves.
It seems the blogosphere
is increasingly being recognized as a useful PR vehicle. What do you
make of all this?
network.