# McDonald’s intentional spelling errors drive charity tin success

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2017/11/07/mcdonalds-intentional-spelling-errors-drive-charity-tin-success/
- Published: 2017-11-07T14:21:38+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

**How can you draw attention to charity collecting tins on a busy counter at a fast
food restaurant? McDonald’s Egypt managed it, by including some intentional spelling
errors.**

The collecting boxes were part of McDonald’s Egypt’s ongoing support for an education
development project in the Cairo slum area of Ezbet Khairallah.

At first the spelling mistakes and collecting boxes went largely unnoticed. But 
soon customers started noticing them, photographing them and criticising McDonalds
via social media. Some of them pointed out the irony of spelling mistakes by McDonalds
in a campaign for an education charity.

## Advertisement

**SEE ALSO: [Use spelling mistakes in META tags](https://fundraising.co.uk/1999/07/18/use-spelling-mistakes-meta-tags/)(
18 July 1999)**

The fast food company’s responses, however, made it clear that these weren’t genuine
mistakes. In response to the criticism and mockery, McDonalds’ social media accounts
replied: ““Disturbed by the spelling mistakes? You have the right to, but not all
people have the same chance in education. Watch the video to know more.”

> ضايقتك الغلطات الإملائية؟
> ليك حق، بس مش كل الناس عندها نفس الفرصة في التعليماتفرج
> على الڤيديو واعرف أكتر[#لو_مضايقاك_غيرها](https://twitter.com/hashtag/%D9%84%D9%88_%D9%85%D8%B6%D8%A7%D9%8A%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%83_%D8%BA%D9%8A%D8%B1%D9%87%D8%A7?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
> [#بالباقي_تعليم](https://twitter.com/hashtag/%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%82%D9%8A_%D8%AA%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%85?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
> [pic.twitter.com/YJmnR98NBc](https://t.co/YJmnR98NBc)
> — McDonald's Egypt (@McDonaldsEgypt) [October 26, 2017](https://twitter.com/McDonaldsEgypt/status/923593851742416896?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

As well as the educational element of the campaign, McDonald’s was also supporting
the education charity financially by donating  a percentage of its Happy Meal sales.

**SEE ALSO: [Corporate fundraising tip no. 2: check and double-check your spelling](https://fundraising.co.uk/2011/09/22/corporate-fundraising-tip-no-2-check-and-doublecheck-your-spelling/)(
22 September 2011)**

The video that revealed McDonald’s strategy achieved 1.1 million views within 12
hours, and has notched up over five million since then.

The campaign was developed by creative agency FP7/CAI and digital agency Digital
Republic.

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/BaqnNdhjbTo/

 

 * **Have you tried intentional or humorous spelling errors in your fundraising 
   campaigns? With what results?**
 * **Do you know what the most common misspellings of your charity’s name are? Have
   you registered one or more as a domain name to capture those errors and redirect
   them to your website?**

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   8 October 2019)
 * **[The Brain Tumour Charity adopts eco-friendly collection boxes](https://fundraising.co.uk/2022/09/27/the-brain-tumour-charity-adopts-eco-friendly-collection-boxes/)**(
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