• March 19, 2012

Despite the backfire of McDonald's' recent hashtag-based campaign -- when many chose to use #McDStories to share decidedly unappetizing stories about the QSR -- McDonald's last week launched another meme campaign for its mint Shamrock Milkshake, available around St. Patrick's Day.

Kicked off through a sponsored post on BuzzFeed, the campaign encourages folks to try #Shamrocking -- meaning posting photos of themselves doing an Irish jig while holding one of the milkshakes.

Unfortunately, "shamrocking" has several existing slang meanings, including a "truly unsavory" one defined in the Urban Dictionary, points out Adweek.

"In a way, you have to hand it to McDonald's for jumping right back into the fire after getting burned," Adweek notes, but the hashtag chosen "clearly has great potential for being misused." 

However, McDonald's social media director Rick Wion told Ad Age that #Shamrocking had generated tens of thousands of tweets and hundreds of pictures from fans "sharing their excitement" within its first few days, while the #McDStories effort generated just 2,000 weigh-ins from critics.