McDonald's UK division has a reputation for going off in a different, more adventurous, direction from the main company.

It was the first to abandon the Ronald McDonald adverts in favour of more quirky advertising - and the rest of the company later followed suit.

Now they are dealing head on with the poor perception of McDonalds on two key issues:

  • Health and quality. There are all sorts of stories about what goes into McDonald's food, and what they do to it before it gets handed to you. So they've set up a website to answer every single one of these issues. And I mean every single one. There's even the answer to 'Why did your employees ejaculate into my Grandmother's milkshake?' - I'm not kidding. Go to http://www.makeupyourownmind.co.uk > Your Questions > Questions Answered > What's in the food? > Milkshakes, and scroll to the bottom of the list if you're curious as to the answer!
  • McJobs. Working at McDonald's is widely derided, so McDonalds UK launched a survey - 'Are you a Job Snob' to challenge perceptions, and their recruitment advertising highlights the benefits, training, flexibility etc with the slogan 'not bad for a McJob'. Most other recruiters would be trying to avoid the term altogether, they're prepared to confront it, and show that they have good answers.

This kind of strategy is very un-corporate, and takes someone to stick their neck on the block - which makes me admire it more.

Too many companies would have avoided all the diffiocult questions on their websites, preferring to pretend that everyone thinks they are wonderful and has no concerns - or that they can force people to think so by stating it themeselves. However, by McDonalds being so clearly open and honest they will earn more trust and respect - and they will get the website talked about (I bet you're curious to go and find out about the milkshake question). That will give them a vital communication channel that they have more control over compared to the traditional media.

Of course, they haven't always been found to be so honest, with the Advertising Standards Authority rapping their knuckles for deceptive advertising relating to their french fries, and I'm sure consumers will take a lot of what is said on their website with the same kind sized pinch of salt that they forgot to mention in their adverts about these pure healthy fries.

McDonald's still has many challenges ahead, with profits slumping as consumers steer towards healthy foods and competition increases, but it takes openness and confidence to step up to that kind of challenge - and it looks like that's just what they're doing.