McDonald's Rebuffs BK's International Day of Peace Proposal

It must've seemed like such a great idea to to raise awareness for the UN's International Day of Peace on September 21st. Why not open a pop-up restaurant for one day in an Atlanta parking lot between a Burger King and McDonald's, staff it with employees of both companies and sell a burger called the McWhopper that mixes the Big Mac and the Whopper? Proceeds would be donated to Peace One Day, a nonprofit group seeking to raise awareness of the International Day of Peace. Fast food, world peace, marketing genius, right?



Burger King decided to propose the idea to McDonald's, but somewhere along the way, amid all the excitement, someone forgot to tell McDonald's, and the Golden Arches responded. Essentially calling it a trivial marketing stunt, McDonald's CEO Steve Easterbrook quickly posted an open letter to Burger King suggesting the two companies actually do something meaningful and "let's acknowledge that between us there is simply a friendly business competition and certainly not the unequaled circumstances of the real pain and suffering of war."