Social media has totally changed the way of how people react on certain issues, putting all nations together in one click. From a serious political discussion to celebrity gossips, latest movies, best travel deals, name whatever topics you want to discuss, netizens will post their point of views in a matter of seconds. On December 10, a tweet about Mc Donald's holiday cup became viral, Sam Sykes tweeted a controversial message saying, "Now how the hell are Starbucks cups in the news again and no one's talking about a guy spreading his cheeks open on McDonald's cups."
The tweet caught a lot of attention and bombarded social media platform. The holiday red cup of McDonald's was designed with a drawing of white mittens touching their tips with the written message "Warmest Greetings" and a background with snowflakes, stars and hearts. Netizens can't help but to imagine a not-so-innocent image when someone added a few doodles, fingers are drawn inside the white mittens and then a new meaning was conceived.
One commented saying, "McDonald's daring homage to contemporary art." A work-at-home mom responded, "That is an extremely unfortunate design. Don't any companies keep a 12-year-old on hand for this?" Another one said, "When someone draws fingers on McDonald's mittens and 'spreading holiday cheer' takes on entirely new meaning. Good God." The reformed red cup became a word of mouth after it was shared on Reddit.
In response to the controversial rebranding of the cup, a rep for McDonald's said in a report of The Huffington Post, "Our festive McCafé cups are of mittens not hands. The altered image circulating on social media is the result of someone getting a little cheeky and adding some hand-drawing to a cup." In November, Starbucks also became a target of criticism for "politicizing coffee" when it released a cup colored green instead of the usual red. The cup features a "mosaic of more than a hundred people drawn in one continuous stroke." According to an Independent report one comment said, "My coffee should not (and does not) come with political brainwashing." The company explained that the artwork on the green cups is intended to symbolize shared human connection.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
