Fact Check

Hey 'Crypto Bro's,' That McDonald's Billboard is Fake

So is that tweet about McDonald's not hiring anyone who has traded in cryptocurrencies.

Published Jan. 12, 2022

 (Reddit)
Image Via Reddit
Claim:
McDonald's put up a billboard reading "Hey Crypto Bro's, We Are Hiring."

Does McDonald's have a problem with cryptocurrency? Has the company explicitly stated that it will hire or not hire people who have traded crypto? The fast food chain's relationship with Bitcoin and other digital currencies was called into question after a few photoshopped images were circulated on social media.

In June 2021, a number of cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, Dogecoin, and Ethereum saw their values briefly plummet. As cryptocurrency investors worried about their thinning portfolio, a supposed screenshot of a tweet sent by McDonald's goading these people about their losses and telling them that they could still get a job at the restaurant was circulated on social media:

This doesn't appear to be a genuine tweet from McDonald's. There's no record of it on @Mcdonalds Twitter timeline, and we weren't able to find any archives of this alleged message.

Shortly after this tweet went viral, an image supposedly showing a McDonald's billboard with this same message (including the same erroneous apostrophe in "Bro's") was circulated on social media:

This is not a genuine photograph of a McDonald's billboard. This image was created by digitally editing a photograph of a busy intersection in Poland that was taken by Flickr user Kuba Bożanowski in 2009. Here's a look at the fake image (left) and the real photograph (right):

There's at least one other fake image related to McDonald's and cryptocurrency. Another fake tweet has been shared online that supposedly shows McDonald's stating that it would not hire anyone who has traded cryptocurrencies. This, again, is a fake tweet:

A spokesperson told Check Your Fact that "this is a fake post and not published from an official McDonald’s account."

So what exactly is McDonald's relationship to cryptocurrency? While a person's involvement (or lack thereof) in cryptocurrencies probably won't come into play when making hiring decisions, McDonald's has shown interest in NFTs and cryptocurrencies. In November 2021, McDonald's announced a McRib NFT:

And in September, Forbes reported that McDonald's had started accepting Bitcoin payments in El Salvador.

Sources

FACT CHECK: Did McDonald’s Send A Tweet Saying It Wouldn’t Hire People Who Have Traded Cryptocurrencies? https://checkyourfact.com/2021/06/24/fact-check-mcdonalds-tweet-wouldnt-hire-people-traded-cryptocurrencies/. Accessed 11 Jan. 2022.

Fact Check: Will McDonald’s Not Hire Anyone Who Dealt with Cryptocurrency? - THIP Media. https://www.thip.media/health-news-fact-check/fact-check-conspiracy-theory-health/fact-check-will-mcdonalds-not-hire-anyone-who-dealt-with-cryptocurrency/22062/. Accessed 11 Jan. 2022.

“Fact Check-McDonald’s Did Not Tweet That It Would Not Hire People Who Have Traded Cryptocurrency.” Reuters, 10 Jan. 2022. www.reuters.com, https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-mcdonalds-tweet-idUSL1N2TQ2E5.

“McDonald’s Enters Crypto Market with ‘Saucy’ McRib NFT.” New York Post, 2 Nov. 2021, https://nypost.com/2021/11/02/mcdonalds-enters-crypto-market-with-mcrib-nft/.

McEvoy, Jemima. “McDonald’s Starts Accepting Bitcoin In El Salvador.” Forbes, https://www.forbes.com/sites/jemimamcevoy/2021/09/07/mcdonalds-starts-accepting-bitcoin-in-el-salvador/. Accessed 11 Jan. 2022.

Dan Evon is a former writer for Snopes.