Inside the ‘fake cheese’ meltdown at McDonald’s
consumers permanently circumspect about buying honey from top brands. If the current crisis isn’t handled right, a similar fallout can await McDonald’s in India.
Kalra says it’s too early to comment on the impact on demand due to the episode, but he admitted that a lot of customers have started questioning the brand. When Mint visited the McDonald’s outlet on Friday, most patrons seemed unaware of the controversy. But perhaps there is some survivorship bias at play here. The customers that continue visiting McDonald’s are likely to be the ones unaware of the controversy and there is a possibility that those who are aware have stopped visiting.
“They are in a tight spot. Food involves a lot of trust, and they need to repair this trust,” Patel said. While Westlife has made several public statements defending its position, Patel feels that the communication must come from McDonald’s headquarters.
“They need to be on the front foot and make a public statement. People buy the brand
McDonald’s; they don’t care or know about the franchisee owner Westlife,” she said. McDonald’s US did not respond to a clarification sought by Mint.
The company, however, is no stranger to controversies. In the 90s, McDonald’s was criticized for adding beef flavouring to its fries without informing American customers; in 2014, it was accused of using expired meat in China. With its presence in nearly every part of the globe, the brand has even found itself caught in geo-political wrangles. Just last October, when the FDA was inspecting the Ahmednagar outlet, McDonald’s in the Middle East found itself in a spot over Israel’s war on Hamas. While the Israeli McDonald’s offered free meals to the country’s troops, McDonald’s franchises in other countries in the region—Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, Bahrain and Turkey— pledged support to the Palestinian cause, Al Jazeera had reported.
But then, McDonald’s knows how to weather any storm.