I was debating in writing this morning’s post which of the two titles I should use for the post – so i decided to use both…  What should McDonald’s do? What do you do when there is a public negative comment about your product??

First let me set up the situation

Watching “Morning Joe” this morning (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036789/), they were announcing the anniversary of the launch of the first McDonald’s restaurant.  At that point, Willie Geist – (@WillieGeist1) – brought out a bag of McDonald’s breakfast food to “celebrate”.  He handed out certain pieces to each commentator.  At that point,  Mika Brzezinski – (@morningmika) – quickly said “No……” and refused to accept the food – citing that she would not eat it and “that food is bad…” (please note that these quotes are the closest to what I recall – not exact quotes but give the sentiment of the comment).  If that was not bad enough, when Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) starting eating a McDonald’s hash brown, Mika reached over, urged him to stop, and told him that “if he were to squeeze the hash brown he would see fat and grease oozing out”…

Now why do I care – what is the lesson

I wondered the same question to myself.  I have lots to worry about in my life – why did this bother me so much.  Then I realized, it caused me to think – what is the appropriate reaction when someone makes a blanket, public, negative comment about your product?  Any honest CEO will tell you that he / she has faced this problem at least once in his / her career.  Sometimes they are grounded in fact.  Other times, they are just perception – but perception that can drive a lot of momentum.  In business school we studied in earnest the Tylenol case – a case in which they reacted “quickly and decisively” to the scare surrounding the issues around their pills in the drug stores.  But we are also taught that sometimes ignoring the comment is the most effective solution.  So how do you decide?  Is it simply weighing the PR impact versus the opportunity and cost?  Is it weighing the character of the person who made the comment and deciding that way?  Also – has it changed now that social media and internet communications have become the backbone of viral communication?

So – what is the appropriate reaction when someone makes a blanket, public, negative comment about your product?

I think it is a combination of all of these that is factored into the decision as to what to do and how to act.  Most important, I think, is to look at the potential opportunity cost if the perception were to spread out of your control and also the opportunity to leverage this into a win for your organization.  To that end, if I were in McDonalds, I would seize upon this as an opportunity.  There is this perception out there that their food is bad as represented by Mika Brzezinski  on the show.  Most people are aware of it, and I am assuming that McDonald’s is as well.  To that end, why not capitalize on this poor exchange on TV to promote a new message about McDonald’s.  In essence, take this negativity, surround it with truths about the value of the product and what McDonalds offers, and create a strong and supporting viral campaign.  Here are some ideas -

• Turn it into a fun but valuable YouTube video – with real people commenting on your product surrounding the comments by Mika Brzezinski.
• Launch a web site talking about the experiences of real people who eat your food and why they think it is good
• Search out experts who can comment about the menu you provide and why it is not “bad”
• Stress the other items on your menu on this site that are healthier in nature
• Stress the good things that McDonald’s does for the community – with a slogan as simple as “Are we that bad when we do so much good” (or something much more savvy than that…)
• Use Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, and Youtube to your advantage to really rally people around your brand and your products – make this comment an example of the people who are driving tis mis-perception
• And finally… offer a promotional program to people to have a coupon to get a hash brown for free or some very reduced price and encourage them to take a web video of themselves eating it and speaking “back to Mika”

In this day and age, the times have changed.  The proliferation of the internet and social media tools have afforded companies like McDonald’s to really launch into a viral campaign to send a message and drive its brand.  In a recent interview on Ellen, P. Diddy stated that he liked Twitter “Because it allowed him to talk to his people directly without filters”.  The same can be said for companies and their brands.  My recommendation is to take advantage of this and to leverage this negative “perception” comment into a strong and positive viral communications program.

Am I off?  Do you agree?  Should McDonald’s take another approach?