Category: Mcdonald’s
McRib fake-out? Sticky lawsuit claims no ‘actual pork rib meat’ in fan-favorite McDonald’s menu item
A class-action lawsuit filed last month is challenging McDonald’s over a cult-favorite menu item, the McRib.
The lawsuit, filed on December 23 in U.S. District Court in Chicago, alleges that McDonald’s engaged in false advertising when promoting the limited-time menu item.
‘We’ve always been transparent about our ingredients so guests can make the right choice for them.’
The four plaintiffs in the complaint are Peter Le of Baldwin Park, California; Charles Lynch of Poughkeepsie, New York; Darien Baker of Chicago, Illinois; and Darrick Wilson of Washington, D.C.
RELATED: McDonald’s team admits workload on hated AI Christmas ad ‘far exceeded’ live-action shoots
Photo by David Paul Morris/Getty Images
The complaint claims that the McRib “does not contain any meaningful quantity of actual pork rib meat — indeed, none at all.” The plaintiffs claim that the fast-food chain uses lower-quality cuts of meat instead of rib meat, including, “inter alia, pork shoulder, heart, tripe or scalded stomach.”
In December 2024, when the McRib was available, the complaint shows that the McRib was one of the most expensive individual items on the menu, even exceeding the price of a Big Mac on average.
As a result, had they “known that the McRib did not contain any actual pork rib meat, [the plaintiffs] would not have purchased the McRib or would only have purchased it for a lower price.”
In a statement obtained by CBS News, McDonald’s USA said, “This lawsuit distorts the facts, and many of the claims are inaccurate. Food quality and safety are at the heart of everything we do — that’s why we’re committed to using real, quality ingredients across our entire menu. Our fan-favorite McRib sandwich is made with 100% pork sourced from farmers and suppliers across the U.S. We’ve always been transparent about our ingredients so guests can make the right choice for them.”
CBS also reported that McDonald’s denied the specific claim that the McRib contains pork hearts, tripe, or scalded stomach and that the company said the McRib has a base of 100% seasoned boneless pork.
The complaint emphasizes that the marketing for the McRib was “materially misleading” for consumers, potentially affecting their purchasing decisions.
The McRib was first introduced in Kansas City in 1981.
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McDonald’s team admits workload on hated AI Christmas ad ‘far exceeded’ live-action shoots
Another advertiser wants consumers to know how hard people worked on its artificial intelligence-driven ad.
Sweetshop Films is behind the recently pulled McDonald’s Christmas commercial that appeared on YouTube but lasted only about four days before being dropped like a hot Christmas coal.
‘The results aren’t worth the effort.’
The ad was generated entirely by AI for McDonald’s Netherlands, which took ownership of the fact that it was poorly received.
“The Christmas commercial was intended to show the stressful moments during the holidays in the Netherlands,” the company said in a statement, per the Guardian.
“However, we notice — based on the social comments and international media coverage — that for many guests this period is ‘the most wonderful time of the year,'” they added.
Sweetshop Films defended its use of AI for the ad. “It’s never about replacing craft; it’s about expanding the toolbox. The vision, the taste, the leadership … that will always be human,” said CEO Melanie Bridge, per NBC News.
Bridge took it one step farther, though, and claimed her team worked longer than a typical ad team would.
“And here’s the part people don’t see,” the CEO continued. “The hours that went into this job far exceeded a traditional shoot. Ten people, five weeks, full-time.”
These statements were not met with holiday cheer.
RELATED: Coca-Cola doubles down on AI ads, still won’t say ‘Christmas’
X users went rabid at the idea that Sweetshop, alongside AI specialist company the Gardening Club, put more effort into producing the videos than a typical production team would for a commercial.
The Gardening Club reportedly made statements like, “We were working right on the edge of what this tech can do,” and, “The man-hours poured into this film were more than a traditional Production.”
“So all that ‘effort’ and they still managed to produce the ugliest slop [?] just goes to show how useless gen AI is,” wrote an X user named Tristan.
An alleged art director named Haley said she was legitimately confused by the idea of the “sheer human craft” claimed to be behind the AI generation.
“What craft? What does that even look like outside of just clicking to generate over and over and over and over again until you get something you like?” she asked.
Another X user name Bruce added that “AI users are like high schoolers who got good grades because they tried hard, then are shocked to find at university they get judged on results, not effort. I have no doubt they try hard. But the results aren’t worth the effort.”
Photo by Tim Boyle/Getty Images
The Sweetshop CEO did indeed express that the road to the McDonald’s AI ad was a painstaking endeavor, claiming that “for seven weeks, we hardly slept” and “generated what felt like dailies — thousands of takes — then shaped them in the edit just as we would on any high-craft production.”
“This wasn’t an AI trick. It was a film,” Bridge said, according to Futurist.
The positioning of AI generation as “craftsmanship” is exactly what Coca-Cola cited for its ad in November, when it said the company pored through 70,000 video clips over 30 days.
The boasts resulted in backlash akin to what McDonald’s is receiving, which included reactions on X like, “McDonald’s unveiled what has to be the most god-awful ad I’ve seen this year — worse than Coca-Cola’s.”
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Female caught on video tossing cup of scalding coffee on McDonald’s manager, who suffers burns
A female was caught on video tossing a cup of scalding coffee on a McDonald’s manager in Michigan earlier this week — and the manager suffered burns as a result, MLive reported.
The incident took place Tuesday morning at a McDonald’s at 3700 Dixie Highway in Buena Vista Township, the outlet said. Buena Vista Township is a few miles east of Saginaw.
‘F**k you, b***h! Catch that hot-a** coffee!’
Buena Vista Township Police Detective Russ Pahssen told MLive that the female manager called 911 saying an angry customer assaulted her.
More from MLive:
The customer had placed an online order and sought a refund for two sandwiches, Pahssen said. Another patron recorded the last two minutes of the interaction at the restaurant’s front counter.
The manager handed the customer a coffee and tried pacifying her, while the customer claimed she had been there for more than an hour, the footage shows. The conversation reaching an impasse, the manager told the customer to have a great day and turned to walk away.
The female customer removed the lid from the coffee cup, threw the contents at the manager, and yelled, “F**k you, bitch! Catch that hot-ass coffee!” as she exited the restaurant, according to video of the encounter without redacted audio.
The video also shows the McDonald’s manager screaming after the coffee hits her body.
Pahssen told MLive the manager suffered minor burns; the outlet noted that the coffee burned her back and left arm.
Pahssen shared video of the assault on Facebook and asked the public to help identify the assailant, the outlet said.
“I must have gotten about 100 tips,” Pahssen noted to MLive. “Within about two minutes, we had her identified.”
The following is video of the encounter with redacted audio; the coffee toss takes place toward the end of the clip just after the 1:45 mark:
However, Pahssen said officers weren’t able to locate the 48-year-old suspect, MLive reported, adding that police have submitted paperwork to the Saginaw County Prosecutor’s Office, requesting she be charged with felonious assault.
Investigators did not name the woman Thursday because she had not been arraigned on any criminal charges, WJRT-TV reported.
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