McDonald's comes through with "something bigger" for #PeaceDay

"We love the intention, but think our two brands could do something bigger to make a difference."

That was the rather chilly response by McDonald's to Burger King's cheeky McWhopper proposal for Peace One Day.

But it turns out they actually meant it:

According to Burger Business, McDonald’s was the key impetus behind this global initiative to provide food assistance to refugees and other displaced people by the United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) food-assistance wing.

McDonald’s funded this 30-second TV spot, by their agency TBWA. Liam Neeson is the VO.

The objective, according to McDonald's, is to "raise awareness of the refugee crisis; and encourage people to donate to the WFP to make a tangible difference.”

Other participants in the program are  McCain Foods, Cargill, DreamWorks Animation, Facebook, MasterCard, OMD, Twitter, United Airlines... and Burger King.

Hunger is a root cause of human conflict, because people will do anything to ensure that they and their families can survive. In turn, conflict causes food insecurity, as crops are destroyed, farmers are displaced, and field-to-fork infrastructure is disrupted.

On a 2014 visit to Turkey, Pope Francis summarized the idea that the "war on terrorism" starts with fighting poverty and hunger in at-risk regions:  "What is required is a concerted commitment on the part of all ... [to] enable resources to be directed, not to weaponry, but to the other noble battles worthy of man: the fight against hunger and sickness."

Burger King wants to make love, not war, with McDonald's #PeaceDay

This is awesome, and not just as a marketing coup.

Burger King today placed this full-page ad in the New York Times and Chicago Tribune, offering to collaborate with McDonald's on a "McWhopper" for Peace One Day.

Burger Business quotes Fernando Machado, Burger King SVP for Global Brand Management: “We’re being completely transparent with our approach because we want them to take this seriously,” Machado says. “It would be amazing if McDonald’s agrees to do this. Let’s make history and generate a lot of noise around Peace Day. If they say no, we’ll hopefully have, at the very least, raised much-needed financial support and consciousness for the great cause that is Peace One Day. And both are well worth the effort.”

McDonald's, however, did not take the burger bait:

I'm not surprised, but I'm still a little disappointed. It was a fun and clever ploy, however McDonald's countered coldly with a holier-than-thou attitude. In the end, though, I now know about Peace One Day. And yesterday, I did not. The bigger question is, what am I going to do about it?