It’s International Women’s Day and at least one food service entity is marking the occasion with some creative gestures. McDonald’s is leveraging the familiarity of its Golden Arches logo to underline its commitment to women and, of course, generate some positive PR along the way…
A hundred McDonald’s locations across the U.S. will be inverting their Golden Arches today
in celebration of International Women’s Day. McD’s will also invert its logo
on its social media sites.
McDonald’s Corporate issued a statement yesterday – via its Twitter channel – that the company will be inverting its ‘M’ logo both figuratively and literally today to mark International Women’s Day. Turn the Golden Arches upside down and you get a big yellow ‘W’.
It’s not simply an empty gesture, leveraging its universally-known logo. McDonald’s wants people to know it’s in ‘celebration of women everywhere’.
One hundred McDonald’s restaurants from Columbus, OH, to Lynwood, CA, will literally turn their big pole signs upside down just for today. In addition to flipping the logo, many McDonald’s will issue, just for today, special Women’s Day packaging, crew shirts and hats, and bag stuffers.
McDonald’s Corporate will invert the ‘M’ logos on all its social media channels, too.
McD’s Global Chief Diversity Officer, Wendy Lewis, said in a statement:
“In celebration of women everywhere, and for the first time in our brand history, we flipped our iconic arches for International Women’s Day in honor of the extraordinary accomplishments of women everywhere and especially in our restaurants. From restaurant crew and management to our C-suite of senior leadership, women play invaluable roles at all levels, and together with our independent franchise owners, we’re committed to their success.”
McD’s notes that six out of ten of its managers are women.
Alone in its gesture…
We’re not aware of any other major efforts by entities in the food service sector to mark International Women’s Day. Kudos, McDonald’s, for your support of women and their careers!
Let’s all mark International Women’s Day in our own way. But let’s not fail to mark it!
~ Maggie J.