ABOUT

Background: 2% of India’s population is disabled, that’s nearly 27 million people - more than the entire population of Australia. 27 million individuals who are routinely left out of marketing efforts, national initiatives and even the most basic experiences, because of our deep-set apathy towards the disabled. Disability is an invisible problem in India, with the government and most companies doing the bare minimum. As McDonald’s, our mission was to ‘Make Delicious Feel-Good Moments Easy for Everyone’. But when we discussed disability, we somehow only fixated on the easy i.e., access and not feel-good experience. Strategy: For most, eating a burger has been a very familiar experience. In pop culture and even in everyday life, the two-hand hold became an iconic code for burger eating. But for people with limited upper limb mobility, eating their favourite burger often meant loss of dignity and independence, and a whole lot of embarrassment. Our research revealed that instead of being able to focus on the taste, they worried about making a mess or looking clumsy in a restaurant. Execution & Impact: We announced EatQual initiative and packaging on 3rd December 2020, International Day of Persons with Disabilities, as a promise to make the experience of eating a burger equal for everyone, via press release and social media. In-store events were organised in three cities: Mumbai, Pune & Chennai; where children with disabilities were invited to enjoy our burgers with the new packaging. On social media, we collaborated with influencers from the differently abled community like Deepa Malik - a Paralympic winner, Suyash Jadhav - Indian Para Swimmer and Dhaval Khatri - a differently abled painter. And today, we have EatQual packs available across our stores, for anyone who might need them.