Macdonald’s Canada has produced a video explaining exactly how Chicken McNuggets are made. As a piece of entertainment it is simple, informative and to the point. It is pretty well a “Mr Rogers Visits the Crayon Factory” with less excitement.
As a piece of content, it is a great way for Macdonald’s Canada to use video as a way to combat negative sentiment and create a lasting rebuttal to the urban legends that exist about their food. In the form of a question and answer, the company is directly addressing misinformation about their products and taking a viral phenomenon and countering it with transparency.
The content functions in four ways:
Directly Informs the Audience
The video simply provides information to an audience that hasn’t been communicated to directly about this issue. Basic transparency about food production is an effective way to reach the audience and tell them that it is okay to eat Macdonald’s food
Controls the Story
So far, the general public has been deciding Macdonald’s narrative around how its food is being produced. Myths and legends around its food production are often sensational but with no opposing views or information they are what gets shared and repeated
Lasts as a Resource Online
Just as these myths and urban legends seem to have staying power, Macdonald’s video is a lasting resource that it can now point to whenever these questions come up. They’ve answered the question and now it remains answered in video format
Begins a Narrative
If Macdonald’s wanted to, and these videos are a series, it can continue to feed the narrative around quality ingredients, simple processing techniques and openness.