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McDonalds is being fried online in a public relations nightmare over a hackers post on the fast-food giants Twitter feed that attacked President Trump and touted Barack Obama.

The salty tweet that sparked it all stated: @realDonaldTrump You are actually a disgusting excuse of a President and we would love to have @BarackObama back, also you have tiny hands.

McDonalds deleted it and quickly laid blame on hackers, tweeting: Based on our investigation, we have determined that our Twitter account was hacked by an external source.

It was too late. The Twitterverse erupted in an endless flurry of McStupid puns and worse. Some Trump supporters vowed to boycott the worldwide hamburger chain, pointing out that former Obama press secretary Robert Gibbs is McDonalds executive vice president and global chief communications officer.

Never eating at McDonalds again, tweeted one Trump supporter. I support our President 100%.

Others threw their support behind the Golden Arches.

Ill buy 100 McNuggets right now if you put the tweet back up, said one user.

This isnt the first time McDonalds has found itself with egg on its Twitter account, said David Gerzof Richard, founder of Big Fish, a public relations agency, and an Emerson College communications professor.

He cited the ill-fated #McDStories campaign, where the fast-food chain asked customers to share their stories.

That backfired big time.

As you can imagine, not everybody has the greatest experience eating at McDonalds, Richard said. People were sharing stories about finding stuff in their burgers.

But the Trump tweet could burn the chain if the president (a fan of McDonalds fast food) lashes out. There are people that take what he says very seriously, said Sandy Lish, principal at The Castle Group. But there are plenty of people who take their french fry with a grain of salt and will continue to eat their french fries.

The Trump tweet probably wont hurt McDonalds in the long run, said Richard.

Theres all kinds of conjecture. Was it a hack? Was it a disgruntled employee? Was it an employee tweeting from the wrong account? Richard said. Those things have happened before and have not taken down a brand.

In 2011, for example, an employee mistakenly tweeted on Chryslers official Twitter account instead of his personal one, I find it ironic that Detroit is known as the #motorcity and yet no one here knows how to (expletive) drive.

The employee, as you might have guessed, was fired.

Chrysler is, obviously, still selling cars in the Detroit area, Richard said.

That said, whether it hurts business comes down to taste buds.

At the end of the day, how much do you love your Big Mac? asked Lish. Because if you really love it, even if youre mad about it, youre going to go get your Big Mac.

Read the rest here:
Heslam: PR nightmare for McDonald's after Donald Trump tweet - Boston Herald