Photo courtesy of McDonald's
"So Brave!" is Broadly's new humor column in collaboration with the feminist satire site Reductress.It's #InternationalWomensDay and in 2018, nothing says "we celebrate women" like a corporate logo! In a bold and daring move that rivals the innovation of "Lady Doritos," a McDonald's in Lynwood, California, has flipped the iconic "M" logo upside down to celebrate International Women's Day—a beautiful holiday that lifts up brands of all kinds across every social platform. After all, corporate bravery is entirely about celebrating an idea so fundamentally obvious, it’s almost impossible to disagree with. Even Republicans celebrate the vague idea of women!While McDonald's has passed on plenty of opportunities to actually help women over the years (like increasing worker's wages, improving shoddy benefits, bringing back the McRib), today, they've courageously chosen a purely symbolic measure.
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As their US sales have been steadily declining, McDonald's has boldly thrown a Hail Mary from the corporate end zone, hoping that someone, anyone, would latch onto this with anything other than outright mockery. Honestly, we have to give that ragtag group of PR executives a lot of credit for brushing all context aside and sending out this brave message to the world.We’re sure Walmart is kicking themselves for not doing this first. They wouldn't even have to flip their "W" or anything!International Women's Day is the perfect time to highlight the real problem: that other corporations are playing it safe by pandering to social justice warriors with absurd initiatives like disclosing gender pay gap data, which benefits absolutely no one. We applaud McDonald's for bravely going against the grain of real social progress, and for taking on a cause that is as devoid of substance as their menu items.