On August 26, Burger King put out a very flashy and public proposal to McDonald’s. BK invited McDonald’s to “create something special — something that gets the world talking about Peace Day.” That creation: The McWhopper.
BK launched an entire website to present their master plan of a Big Mac/Whopper hybrid. The website is complete with the McWhopper recipe, as well as details about its sale. The hybrid sandwiches would be served at a pop-up restaurant in Atlanta, a location halfway between the BK and McD’s headquarters. The sandwich is presented as a peace treaty to call a ceasefire to the “burger wars,” and encourages people to #settlethebeef.
International Day of Peace is a United Nations-declared day of ceasefire and nonviolence. All proceeds would go to Peace One Day, a nonprofit organization which promotes nonviolence. At a glance, this burger treaty seems like a cute analogy to bring awareness to Peace Day, and bring about real results by donations.
McDonald’s didn’t see it this way, responding with a letter on Facebook from CEO Steve Easterbrook. "We love the intention but think our two brands could do something bigger to make a difference," he wrote. "And every day, let's acknowledge that between us there is simply a friendly business competition and certainly not the unequaled circumstances of the real pain and suffering of war."
McDonald’s CEO stated his problem with comparing the fast food chains’ rivalry to war, but there are a number of additional factors that would cause McDonald’s to shy away from the idea. In the discussion of world peace, this comparison may hit too close to home. The presentation was obviously too aggressive. If you’re like me, upon reading the controversial designation “McWhopper,” you assumed McDonald’s had already approved this idea, but in reality, McDonald’s was unaware of all this scheming for as long as the general public.
McDonald’s has received a huge amount of criticism for their refusal of the idea. As disappointing that it at first seemed to miss out on the McWhopper, all is not lost. The proposed idea would occur in a pop-up restaurant Georgia in September, so only a very limited population would actually experience the McWhopper anyway.
The proposed recipe combines 6 parts Big Mac (top bun, all-beef patty, cheese, lettuce, special sauce, middle bun) and 6 parts Whopper (tomato, onion, ketchup, pickles, flame-grilled patty, bottom bun). Solution to your McWhopper blues: visit 2 drive-thrus and build your own little tribute to world peace.
