Question

McDonald's has changed their paper food wrapping colors to white and blue in support of Israel.

Answer 1

This is false.

Reuters found that the blue-and-white wrapper is "an example of a generic wrapper used for temporary shortages, special orders, and limited-edition products." McDonald's also told Reuters that "generic wrappers come in a variety of colors including blue, green, purple, and yellow, and none are intended to make any political statement."

https://www.reuters.com/fact-check/white-blue-mcdonalds-wrappers-predate-oct-2023-israel-hamas-war-2023-10-26/

Both USA Today and PolitiFact found the same based on the same statements used in the Reuters article.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2023/10/30/false-claim-mcdonalds-changed-wrappers-to-support-israel-fact-check/71349660007/

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2023/oct/27/viral-image/mcdonalds-didnt-introduce-blue-and-white-food-wrap/

The PolitiFact article also includes a link to a 2016 Reddit post showing a blue-and-white wrapper. 

https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinteresting/comments/5c9cfi/mcdonalds_breakfast_wrappers_have_the_corner/

A photo of a blue-and-white McDonald's wrapper was also uploaded to Wikipedia Commons in 2012. 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:McDonalds_wrapping_paper_with_various_languages,_Bucharest,_Romania.JPG

Comments

This is awesome. Your use of many different sources makes it obvious that this claim is false. Great job.

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This is a really nice fact check! I like how you incorporated many different sources to state that this claim is false.

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great job on analyzing so many resources to prove that this statement is wrong

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Should McDonald's avoid using blue/white wrappers since some customers think that the fast food chain is taking sides?

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This is a great fact check. It uses so many good sources to show that the claim is false.

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great work with providing links and various other sources that support your fact-checking and the clarification of the use of blue and white wrappers

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@zenyogi I'd argue no. Blue and white are generic colors that could mean a plethora of things, just like any other set of two generic colors. When I see blue and white, I think of my the colors of my middle school, the Culver's chain, or Greece. The probability of coincidence of multiple ideas having the same set of two colors is pretty much always 100%.

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Good with the providing evidence from other sources and stating how the claim is false and how the evidences prove that this claim is incorrect.

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I don't think I've seen this amount of sources ever in a fact check. Great job!

Answer 2

This claim is false. First of all, these colors are nothing new for McDonald's wrapping. According to PolitiFact, these generic wrappers have been used for years and come in a variety of colors for special orders, limited-edition products, and supply shortages. Therefore, these wrappers are not a political statement from McDonald's.

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2023/oct/27/viral-image/mcdonalds-didnt-introduce-blue-and-white-food-wrap/

Comments

Good job getting right to the point and proving that the claim is false.

Answer 3

This claim is wrong.  According to the U.S. News, the blue and white colored wrapper does not represent any political statement. The spokesperson also claims that this type of wrapper has been used for years, and is only used when they are out of regular wrappers. According to McDonald’s, they use a variety of colors as limited-edition or for special orders, but blue and white wrapper does not represent political statements in the Israel-Hamas war. 

False claim McDonald's changed wrappers to support Israel | Fact check (usatoday.com)

Answer 4

This is false. According to USA Today, the blue and white wrapper was used long before the war going on between Israel and Hamas. They are used for special addition products or if there is a shortage of normal wrappers.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2023/10/30/false-claim-mcdonalds-changed-wrappers-to-support-israel-fact-check/71349660007/

Answer 5

This claim is incorrect as it seems to be used as a substitute for the main wrappers used as they have had a shortage.

According to usatoday, “The wrapper shown in the video is one of several similar designs used for special orders, limited-edition products or temporary shortages of standard wrappers, McDonald’s said. The blue and white wrappers have been in use since well before the Israel-Hamas war.”

So to prove this as false as this type of pattern of color and wrapper were made before the war and just limited until then.

Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2023/10/30/false-claim-mcdonalds-changed-wrappers-to-support-israel-fact-check/71349660007/