McRib is back ... along with unicorns, Viking accountants
The here-again, gone-again McRib is here again nationwide 鈥� and this time McDonald鈥檚 is playing up the barbecue sandwich鈥檚 elusiveness in a social media campaign designed to lure in new fans through Facebook.
It鈥檚 a digital game called 鈥淭he Quest for the Golden McRib" and the idea is to find 10 online golden McRibs hidden in cyberspace all while interacting with colorful characters such as unicorns that love barbecue and Viking accountants. (Viking accountants?)
Apparently, McDonald鈥檚 is trying to convince a new generation of youngsters to try the McRib. That鈥檚 probably a smart marketing move, because adults seem to have already made up their minds about the sandwich.
Some people love it, and will log on to the to find which local McDonald鈥檚 restaurants are serving them during the year. Others can鈥檛 stand the McRib, put off perhaps by the way the pork is formed to give the illusion that there are bones in the meat.
The McRib will be available in all McDonald鈥檚 restaurants until Nov. 14.
When McDonald鈥檚 brought back the McRib nationwide last year for a limited time (after 16 years of appearing sporadically, at the discretion of individual franchise owners), the company tried a Twitter campaign that drew criticism for creating a host of negative comments about the sandwich.
鈥溾�� ran the headline from ClickZ, a website specializing in interactive marketing news. The story suggested that the promotion was actually hurting the brand because there were so many negative comments. (McDonald鈥檚 social media director said at the time that the report was incomplete because it was purely anecdotal.)
A check of Twitter early Tuesday afternoon suggests that this year again, the negative views of the sandwich are beating the positive ones, 15 to 10.
But maybe that just adds to the sandwich鈥檚 mystique. After all, if you鈥檙e going to hang out with Viking accountants, you鈥檙e not exactly mainstream.
