McDonald's $15 Million Make-Good Part of Settlement

McDonald's Corp. ran a $15 million make-good giveaway earlier this week as it continues to handle fallout from the 2001 McScandal in which an embezzlement ring stole $20 million worth of high-level game pieces.

The giveaway ran March 5-7 and gave out 15 prizes of $1 million each. The giveaway was part of McDonald's settlement of a class-action lawsuit that charged McDonald's with fraud for running games during the FBI's 2000 and 2001 investigation into the embezzlement ring.

Consumers said McDonald's knew there were no high-level game pieces in circulation when the July 2001 Monopoly game ran, so consumers had no chance to win the prizes advertised. The suit was settled in Illinois Circuit Court in April 2003. There are no other giveaways or consumer promotions stipulated by the settlement.

Five winners each day were chosen randomly from customers in McDonald's restaurants in the U.S., Canada and U.S. territories. Mystery shoppers picked potential winners and notified them face-to-face in restaurants. (Winners submit affidavits by mail and will be verified by May.) McDonald's will hold another giveaway to award any remaining prize money if it can't verify all 15 winners chosen over the weekend. The Marketing Store Worldwide, Oak Brook, IL, handles.

Oak Brook-based McDonald's ran a similar make-good in September 2001, giving away a total of $10 million to 55 instant winners (October 2001 PROMO). The 2001 Instant Giveaway awarded two $1 million prizes that weren't in the July 2001 Monopoly game, plus another $8 million. McDonald's called the five-day giveaway "a do-over."

McDonald's returned to its traditional on-pack games in March 2003 with Winning Time, then ran Monopoly last summer for the first time since the scandal broke.

In other news, McDonald's sales jumped 23% for February over last year.

The sales increase is due in part to the QSR's launch of new products introduced since February 2003, including entrée-size salads paired by advertising targeting women; McGriddles breakfast sandwiches; less discounting; additional hours; the weak dollar and an extra day because of leap year.

February marked McDonald's sixth consecutive double-digit monthly gain in the U.S., helped in part by the 2003 launch of the "I'm lovin' it" global marketing initiative.