Buzz
With more than 36,000 establishments worldwide, McDonald's serves an estimated 69 million customers every day, making it the second-largest fast-food chain on the planet. (Subway holds the top spot.)
Given its vast scale, it’s no surprise that McDonald’s has been at the center of numerous controversies. One of the most famous cases involved Stella Liebeck, a 79-year-old woman who suffered severe burns from the company’s hot coffee. She was hospitalized for eight days and ultimately won millions in a jury award. McDonald's eventually settled the case privately with Liebeck.
While this case is one of the most widely known, McDonald's has been embroiled in several other significant scandals, such as the ones listed below.
10. The Virginia Racism Lawsuit Against McDonald’s
In 2015, a group of former McDonald’s employees from Virginia filed a civil rights lawsuit against the company. They claimed that after Michael Simon took over as the owner of three McDonald’s locations, he intentionally reduced the number of ethnic minorities on staff.
It was reported that supervisors openly remarked there were “too many black people in the store,” which resulted in the hiring of more white employees. This was followed two months later by the mass termination of 15 black workers. These dismissed employees also mentioned they had tried to reach McDonald’s corporate offices to report their mistreatment, but received minimal to no response.
The case raises important questions about McDonald’s accountability, as the argument centers on the company’s role in overseeing its franchisees' actions. If McDonald’s is deemed a joint employer alongside its franchisees, the company's responsibilities as a franchisor would increase dramatically. This legal debate is still unresolved.
9. The McLibel Lawsuit
In 1990, Helen Steel, David Morris, and a group of associates distributed a McDonald’s fact sheet around London that strongly criticized the company. McDonald’s responded by suing them, alleging that the document was defamatory.
Defending against a defamation lawsuit in England can be both costly and time-consuming. With this in mind, Steel and Morris’s associates agreed to McDonald’s offer to drop the charges, provided the accomplices issued an apology. However, Steel and Morris refused to comply.
The ensuing legal battle garnered widespread media attention, hailed as a modern-day David versus Goliath story. The case cost Steel and Morris nearly £30,000 in legal fees, while McDonald’s spent tens of millions.
In the end, the judge sided with McDonald’s. Steel and Morris were ordered to pay £60,000 in damages, though the Court of Appeal later reduced the amount to £40,000.
Steel and Morris subsequently took their case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), criticizing the UK government’s handling of libel cases. The ECHR awarded them £57,000 in compensation, to be paid by the government.
8. The McDonald’s Strip Search Hoax
It’s crucial to challenge authority when necessary. A prime example of the dangers of unquestioning obedience is the McDonald’s strip search scam.
David Stewart had spent nearly ten years making prank calls to fast-food chains and grocery stores. His approach was always the same: he posed as a police officer, claimed there was a thief at the store, and instructed the person who answered the phone to detain the thief and carry out a strip search.
The final prank took place on April 9, 2004, at a McDonald’s in Mount Washington, Kentucky. Donna Summers answered the phone and was given a description of a thief that matched employee Louise Ogborn, who was on shift at the time. The prank caller instructed Summers to remove Ogborn’s clothes and search her.
The incident lasted far longer than any of Stewart’s previous pranks, with Summers finally telling him after an hour that she needed to return to the counter. Stewart then told her to find someone she trusted to take over.
Summers called her boyfriend, Walter Nix, who followed the prank caller’s orders for two hours. Despite the bizarre and disturbing instructions, Nix complied. During that time, Nix sexually assaulted Ogborn in various ways at the caller’s request. When Summers returned, the prank caller finally allowed Nix to leave. Nix then called a friend, saying, “I have done something terribly bad.”
Summers began to grow suspicious and eventually realized it was all a prank when she contacted her manager, who confirmed that no police officer had been involved.
After the ordeal, Ogborn was awarded $5 million in punitive damages and $1.1 million in damages and expenses. Summers also received $1.1 million, as it was found that McDonald’s had prior knowledge of similar pranks at other locations but had failed to inform its employees about the potential for such incidents.
7. French Fry Scandal Leads to $10 Million Settlement for Vegetarians
The way McDonald’s prepared their french fries led to numerous lawsuits in the 1990s. Many vegetarians felt deceived, believing the fries were entirely meat-free.
In a 1993 letter, McDonald’s assured a customer that the fries were “cooked in 100 per cent vegetable oil.” While vegetable oil was indeed used, the addition of beef seasoning made the fries unsuitable for vegetarians.
The legal battles were concluded in 2002, with McDonald’s issuing an apology and agreeing to a $10 million payout to various vegetarian and religious organizations.
There have been several notable incidents involving McDonald’s misrepresenting the contents of their food. In one case, a Muslim family in Alabama claimed that pieces of bacon were intentionally placed in their McChicken sandwiches. McDonald’s maintains it was a genuine mistake, but it nonetheless led to legal action.
6. Mayor McCheese Is A Knockoff of H.R. Pufnstuf
You might be familiar with McDonaldland characters like Grimace, the Hamburglar, Officer Big Mac, and Mayor McCheese. However, Mayor McCheese was abruptly retired in 1985 after a successful copyright infringement lawsuit.
Mayor McCheese was accused of being a rip-off of H.R. Pufnstuf, who also served as a mayor and bore a remarkable resemblance to McCheese. H.R. Pufnstuf first appeared on his own children's television show in 1969, while McDonald’s introduced the McDonaldland advertising campaign two years later.
The similarities between Pufnstuf and McCheese weren’t the only ones. The entire McDonaldland concept was bizarre and psychedelic, transforming everyday elements into anthropomorphized characters. It felt as if we were peeking into Ronald McDonald's mind during a surreal acid trip. Sounds pretty original, right? That’s a big part of why the copyright infringement was so blatant. It was indeed unique—when seen in the H.R. Pufnstuf show.
McDonald’s tried to defend itself by pointing out subtle differences, like the clothing worn by Pufnstuf and McCheese, arguing that the characters were distinct. However, the jury disagreed, stating, “We do not believe that the ordinary reasonable person, let alone a child, viewing these works will even notice that Pufnstuf is wearing a cummerbund while Mayor McCheese is wearing a diplomat’s sash.”
After an initial payout of just $50,000, the creators of Pufnstuf appealed the case. The appeal resulted in the settlement amount being increased to over $1,000,000.
5. Aggressive Corporate Control of ‘Mc’
McDonald’s is intensely focused on removing any use of the “Mc” prefix in other businesses, even extending this to individuals with the legal last name McDonald, including those whose family name predates McDonald’s rise as a global brand.
One rare legal loss for McDonald’s occurred when they went up against McDonald’s Family Restaurant in Fairbury, Illinois. This establishment was opened in 1956 by a man named Ronald McDonald. Despite the coincidental nature of the name, McDonald argued that he had the right to use it to promote his business. Although McDonald’s typically disagreed, the family restaurant was allowed to continue operating.
In the 1990s, when McDonald’s attempted to open a branch in Fairbury, the local community chose to support the local McDonald’s Family Restaurant instead. In response, Ronald McDonald’s restaurant had been forced to remove the possessive “s” from their branding while McDonald’s operated nearby. After the chain’s closure, the family restaurant reclaimed its “s.”
4. McDonald’s Appropriated Viz’s Top Tips Nearly Verbatim
Viz is a British comic known for its adult humor. A beloved feature is its Top Tips section, offering quirky ways to save money. For example, in the May 1989 issue, Viz suggested: “Save a fortune on laundry bills. Give your dirty shirts to Oxfam. They will wash and iron them, and then you can buy them back for 50p.”
In 1996, McDonald’s launched an advertising campaign that promised practical advice on saving money. One of the ads proclaimed, “Save a fortune on laundry bills. Donate your dirty shirts to a secondhand shop. They’ll wash and iron them, and then you can repurchase them for 50p.” This advice mirrored, nearly verbatim, a suggestion made in Viz seven years prior. The campaign was filled with other suspiciously similar tips.
Readers of Viz were convinced that the magazine had given McDonald’s permission to use their content. However, the publisher of Viz stated, “McDonald’s didn’t ask for our permission or contact us in any way.”
McDonald’s denied ever reaching out to Viz. A spokeswoman defended the campaign, saying, “They are implying that we might have borrowed the idea from Top Tips. We maintain that we didn’t. Our campaign is called ‘Money Saving Tips.’ ” Clever response.
The creators of Viz filed a lawsuit against McDonald’s, which was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum. All the damages were reportedly donated to the Comic Relief charity.
3. The San Ysidro McDonald’s Massacre
In July 1984, James Huberty was struggling with serious mental health issues. After contacting a mental health clinic for an appointment, he was informed that he would receive a call within hours. His wife reported that James waited by the phone, but the call never arrived.
It turned out that the receptionist had mistakenly written his name as “Shouberty” and categorized the inquiry as “non-crisis,” which meant the response time could be up to 48 hours. The following day, still without a call, Huberty told his wife, “Society’s had their chance.”
On July 18, Huberty left his home, telling his wife that he was “going to hunt humans.” He walked into a McDonald’s on San Ysidro Boulevard in San Diego and began shooting. Twenty-one people lost their lives, and 19 others were wounded before Huberty was taken down by a SWAT sniper. At the time, it was the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.
In the aftermath of the massacre, survivors filed lawsuits against the McDonald’s Corporation, claiming that the company had a duty to ensure the safety of its customers. The court sided with McDonald’s, stating that the event was unforeseeable and thus largely unavoidable.
Huberty’s widow also failed in her attempt to sue both McDonald’s and her husband’s former employer, Babcock & Wilcox. The autopsy of James Huberty revealed dangerously high levels of lead and cadmium in his body, most likely due to his work as a welder. His widow argued that a combination of his job and his unhealthy diet, which often included McDonald’s food, contributed to his irrational behavior.
2. Blind People Are Denied Service At McDonald’s Drive-Throughs
Many McDonald’s outlets operate around the clock, with some choosing to run only their drive-throughs to reduce expenses. As a result, customers without cars are often left out of the experience.
Scott Magee, who is legally blind, was denied service when he attempted to use the drive-through on foot, and was reportedly mocked during the ordeal. Magee took legal action against McDonald’s in 2016, claiming that the policy violated the Americans with Disabilities Act and breached federal equal access laws.
Roberto Costales, Magee’s attorney, expressed, “This is a simple issue that can deeply affect disabled individuals, especially those like Scott who are unable to prepare meals for themselves.” He also proposed a potential solution, suggesting that disabled individuals be allowed to call McDonald’s from outside the restaurant and have their food delivered to them.
McDonald’s attempted to have the case dismissed. However, in February 2017, a federal judge ruled that Magee had legitimate grounds to pursue the lawsuit.
1. McDonald’s Drive-Through Intercom Hijacking
On December 4, 2016, a McDonald’s in New Bern, North Carolina, fell victim to a hack targeting its drive-through intercom system. The hacker took control and started delivering his own messages to the customers.
A video capturing the bizarre incident was uploaded to YouTube by one of the affected customers. In the video, the hacker can be heard saying, “I’m actually on the toilet right now, and I’m going to serve you your food. I won’t even wash my hands. I’m trying to get some special sauce. Just pull forward because I’m going to give you whatever the f—k I feel like.” Afterward, he ran out of things to say and began playing typical pornographic audio through the intercom.
The prankster managed to access the drive-through intercom system by somehow discovering its wireless frequency. Bill Purcell, the restaurant owner, commented, “We are taking measures to ensure that this isolated incident does not occur again. As local business owners, our top priority is our customers and community, and we want to guarantee that every visit to our restaurant is a positive experience.”
There have been no additional incidents involving intercom hacks, so it seems Purcell was successful in resolving the issue.
