Not long ago, a crisp $5 bill would get you an entire meal at McDonald’s, any day of the week.
It’s not a reality in 2024, but the brand doesn’t want to let go of its Value Meal maker label—despite the price of a deliciously salty order of fries going up by close to 50% in five years.
Across the menu board, prices have drastically increased, but that’s not stopping the fast food giant from trying to flip public perception over the inflamed cost of burgers. In a recent blog post, Joe Erlinger, president of McDonald’s USA, debunked some of the more dramatic examples of prices hikes circulating on social media.
But the post fell flatter than a single beef patty.
“Recently, we have seen viral social posts and poorly sourced reports that McDonald’s has raised prices significantly beyond inflationary rates,” Erlinger wrote. “This is inaccurate. And for a brand that proudly serves nearly 90% of the U.S. population every year, we feel a responsibility to make sure the real facts are available.”
The blog post continued, “I can tell you that it frustrates and worries me, and many of our franchisees, when I hear about an $18 Big Mac meal being sold—even if it was at one location in the U.S. out of more than 13,700. More worrying, though, is when people believe that this is the rule and not the exception, or when folks start to suggest that the prices of a Big Mac have risen 100% since 2019.”
Erlinger went on to list the accurate prices of McDonald’s menu items, and while they weren’t up by 100%, they also were not budget friendly. He listed the average price of a Big Mac meal as $9.29, which is still a 27% increase from 2019. The price for a 10-piece McNugget meal is up 28%. And a medium fry, 44%.
Big Macs with a side of the Streisand effect
Erlinger pressed that McDonald’s competitive pricing will “be an area of conversation and focus in the coming months.” He also urged customers to download the app for greater savings.
Yet, after the blog post dropped, outlets like Today, CNN, and CNBC kept right on reporting on the increased price of burgers and fries, because the reality is that it’s a lot less affordable to grab a meal even at America’s most beloved fast-food chains—and that includes McDonald’s.
In essence, the news about price hikes that McDonald’s was trying to combat just circulated more widely, and for a longer period.
Of course, McDonald’s is not the only chain raising prices. But it seems that public perception of sky-high fry prices is unsettling to the Big Mac makers.
As the home of the Value Meal, the corporate face of fast food clearly doesn’t want to be seen as anything less than affordable. It’s now joined the list of growing fast-food chains that are knocking down prices, if only for a limited time.