Burger King took out a full-page, open-letter-style ad in The New York Times and Chicago Tribune this morning, calling for a truce with McDonald's and suggesting they join forces to create a "McWhopper" burger.
But McDonald's is having none of it.
Burger King's idea was to "get the world talking" about the Peace One Day charity, which is lobbying for September 21 to become an official Peace Day. Fernando Machado, the fast-food chain's senior vice president for global brand management, said it wasn't just a PR stunt and that BK was hoping McDonald's would agree to sell the hybrid burger September 21.
Steve Easterbrook, McDonald's' CEO, responded to Burger King's request on Facebook, and it wasn't in favor of the idea.
He said the two brands could do something bigger to make a difference, and suggested that the business rivalry between the companies shouldn't be equated to the real pain and suffering of war.
Here's his post:
But many McDonald's fans appear to think this was a misstep from Easterbrook. Here are some of the responses to the post:
The negative sentiment to McDonald's' response was echoed on Twitter:
@AndrewBloch how did @McDonalds get the response to BK so wrong? CEO Steve needs to talk to his PR before writing pompous random gibberish
— nickfulford (@nickfulford) August 26, 2015@McDonaldsCorp@BurgerKing disappointed in this McDonald's. Such a BS response. It's clear that BK's plan was ruled out in seconds.
— Andrew Bernal (@AndrewBernal87) August 26, 2015
Also, this is probably the worst response @McDonalds could have went with: https://t.co/yrnnQhIljr
— Traci (@Tat11) August 26, 2015SEE ALSO: Burger King has called for a truce with McDonald's by proposing this hybrid 'McWhopper' burger
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