McDonald's attempts to pander to youth with very confusing meme
Ah, McDonald's. You give us so much: cheap, quick fast food, all-day breakfast, and disastrously failed attempts at memes.
In what has to be the most pandering attempt to cater to the youth we've seen in a while, McDonald's UK tweeted this, uh, "meme."
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
The limited context (the use of the word "barber") makes it seem likely that this is supposed to be a play on the Barber meme, also known as the "say no more fam" meme, which pokes fun at ridiculous haircuts.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
Two things to note about McDonalds' attempt: 1) there is no mention of a haircut in this rendition and 2) this meme was popular in, like, 2015. That's ancient as far as memes go.
Twitter users were...confused to say the least. Some asked if this was a nuanced and sophisticated UK joke that perhaps the uncultured Americans were missing.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
Others pleaded with more hip and relevant fast food social media chains to help McDonald's get more in touch with the youth -- or criticized McDonald's for not being as cool.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
Someone pointed out this very niche piece of UK news about a controversial and ridiculous haircut nicknamed the "Meet me at McDonald's," which could be what this cringey tweet was trying to reference.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
Even if that haircut was what McDonald's was trying to hint at, the fact that the tweet completely confused everyone but a few people makes it a pretty major fail when it comes to connecting with the hip youths.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
Take a hint from MoonPie, McDonald's. And maybe run your memes by some young people before you post them.
Petrana Radulovic was a web culture fellow here at Mashable. She enjoys exploring the growing intersection of story-telling and digital spaces, hanging out in book shops and art museums, and the tasteful meme. Follow her on Twitter at @pet_rana for #relatable content.
