An online hoax that falsely suggests McDonald’s discriminates against African-American customers is causing a PR headache for the Golden Arches. Over the weekend, the photograph above circulated widely on the internet. The image shows what looks like an official McDonald’s notice in the window of a restaurant, telling customers that blacks will be charged $1.50 extra ”as an insurance measure due in part to a recent string of robberies.” Many internet users retweeted the photo, using the words “Seriously McDonald’s,” to express their disapproval of the burger chain. In response, McDonald’s sent a tweet of its own on Saturday: “That pic is a senseless & ignorant hoax McD’s values ALL our customers. Diversity runs deep in our culture on both sides of the counter.” But that clearly wasn’t enough to clear things up, because Twitter users continued to send out the picture, with that same message of condemnation: “Seriously McDonald’s.” Indeed, so many people sent “Seriously McDonald’s” Tweets that the phrase became a leading entry on Twitter’s trend list. That led to a second, blunter McTweet, on Sunday: “That Seriously McDonald's picture is a hoax.”
