SATIRE: McDonald’s releases advertisement vs Jollibee after fried towel incident

At a glance

• Claim: McDonald’s released an advertisement mocking Jollibee after the latter was reported to have served a fried towel instead of a fried chicken in one of its branches.
• Rating: SATIRE
• The facts: This image was originally posted on a meme page the night of Thursday, June 3. McDonald’s never posted this advertisement on any of its digital platforms or on social media.
• Why we fact-checked this: This image has led to at least 27,000 interactions on Facebook. 

Complete details

An alleged McDonald’s advertisement with the text “Our competitor threw in the towel” has been circulating through social media since the evening of Thursday, June 3. According to CrowdTangle, a social media monitoring tool, there have been at least 27,000 interactions with this image. 

This circulated after a fried towel was allegedly found in a fried chicken that a customer was served on June 1 at Jollibee’s Bonifacio Global City branch. The branch was temporary closed after the incident.

This photo is satirical.

The earliest publicly available post with this image originates from the page “Gusto ko Happy ka.” in a post on June 3 at 11:15 pm. “Gusto ko Happy ka.” describes itself as a page that serves as a “cure for sadness and depression.” 

McDonald’s has not posted this advertisement on any of its digital platforms or on social media.

On June 4, McDonald’s Philippines released a statement denying their involvement in the creation of the meme.

“McDonald’s Philippines did not and would not produce or release any disparaging material against any brand. To reiterate, this piece of content was not made by McDonald’s Philippines and was never posted on any of the brand’s digital assets,” the statement said. – Jose Atienza/Rappler.com

Jose Atienza is a Rappler intern. This fact check was reviewed by a member of Rappler’s research team and a senior editor. Learn more about Rappler’s internship program here.

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