Petition: https://www.change.org/p/mcdonalds-get-fast-food-chains-to-introduce-beyond-burgers-plant-based-meat-to-their-menu
All our posts are classified based on category.
Posts - Facts:
Check out this Google Slide for a closer look on all the posts shown in the video.
(click the underlined "Google Slide")
Strategy and Techniques:
Easy to read
Interesting text positions
Text Graphic
Maintained theme: Black and White
Consistent posting
Allowed us to create a layout for our page ==> appears more organized, more interactive.
Instagram accounts that follow a layout of some sort appear more organized, legitimate, and aesthetically pleasing.
These three factors can provide an incentive for people to follow us.
Check out this website to learn more about Instagram layouts.
Posts - Memes:
Check out the Google Slide for a closer look on all the posts shown in the video.
(click the underlined "Google Slide")
A meme is a humorous image, video, or piece of text that is copied (often with slight variations) and spread by Internet users. Using the layout of popular and relatable memes, we decided to add text that made it apply to plant-based meat. Meme's have become a large part of teenager culture, and this is evident in the way that neither of these memes required any explanations. Furthermore, it was the meme posts that garnered the most likes. However, it wasn't all fun and jokes, as swiping the picture will present you with information regarding plant-based meat. Yet, the memes undoubtedly helped us reach a large amount of followers and interest.
Gallery of Instagram Stories - Surveys:
Instagram stories is a feature on the social media app that lets users post photos and videos that vanish after 24 hours. We decided to use this feature and make it as interactive as possible adding surveys and questions that our followers can answer.
In the slide show below you will find some of our surveys (arranged from oldest to newest):
From the responses received, most people were keen in trying the burger. Furthermore, using very appetizing images in our story, as well as, nice graphic art could have played a part in the appeal of plant-based burgers. In the bottom of every picture, you will find text that let's you know how many people saw your story. As evident, these show a very high amount of people who watched our stories. The last one has a higher number, as by that point we were gaining more followers.
Gallery of Instagram Stories - Q&A's:
After posting on our story a box that people can ask questions in, we decided to answer them on our story as well. This overall increased our relationship with our followers, as they would feel that we valued their opinions and took the time to answer their questions.
In order to gain more followers and have people from our school follow us, we decided to indicate in our bio that this was a Woodlands Secondary School Initiative. This also had people from other schools who recognized our school to follow us.
To give people the incentive to follow us, we decided to follow people from our school which would give them some exposure to our account. This strategy worked as many people from our school decided to follow us back.
Gallery of Instagram Stories - Where to get:
We also posted on our story the places that they can try out plant-based meat. Our story specifically focused on the Tim Hortons located at the Westdale Mall that many Woodlands students go to during lunch for a drink or dessert.
Business Account:
We decided to remain anonymous, the only thing they knew is that this account is managed by two Woodlands students. This resulted in us receiving messages from individuals asking us who we are. Using this to our advantage, we told those who messaged us and posted on our story that we'll reveal who we are if we reach 500 followers.
We also asked our friends that had large followings to shout out our account on their story. We have also received praise from an individual who doesn't go to our school saying that he loves our account and thinks what we're doing is great.
In order to track our achievements and gain insights into our account, we decided to switch to a business profile.
Achievements by June 14th:
Our Instagram page reached 150 followers.
Each Instagram story has had more than 120 views.
Most viewed story reached 221 views.
Most liked post received 46 likes.
468 total profile visits from creating this account on June 8th.
Petition and Email:
We decided to create a website on linktree that allows you to create buttons that link you to other websites when clicked. This link was put in our Instagram bio for our followers to check out.
After posting this in our bio, we were able to receive 43 signatures on our petition: "Get McDonald's to add Beyond Burgers (plant-based meat) to their CANADIAN Menu!"
As more Canadian restaurants introduce plant-based meat into their Menu's, we wanted a large restaurant like McDonald's to introduce this sustainable option as well. More than 2.5 million Canadians visit McDonald's restaurants across Canada every day. There are more than 1,400 McDonald's restaurants in Canada that employ more than 90,000 Canadians total. [1] Furthermore, they are the largest buyers of ground beef in the Canadian restaurant industry, purchasing an average of 67 million pounds annually. [2] All this results in them generating $4.5 billion annually and contributing $4.2 million into local Canadian economies every day. [2]
To say that introducing plant-based meat would not reach a lot of people and be a very important step in the fight for sustainable food options and awareness of climate change, would be the understatement of the century. Additionally, if they successfully introduce plant-based meat options, other companies would introduce their own sustainable options in order to have some of the plant-based meat market share.
However, as this number keeps on increasing and more people begin to understand the impact meat production has on climate change, we hope to send the following email to McDonald's Canada's Board of directors.
To : bod@us.mcd.com
Dear McDonald's Board of Directors,
My partner and I have formed an initiative called Meet: Change and our mission is to raise awareness of the issues caused by meat production.
Our natural resources are depleting and the mass production of livestock is speeding up the process of using up our freshwater reservoirs and land. As found on the McDonald's Canada website, McDonald's is the top restaurant buyer for ground beef, annually purchasing 67 million pounds. This makes the company a huge contributor in the climate change and meat production as well.
With this being said, we put forward a sustainable solution that would minimize the footprint McDonald's has on this global issue. We suggest the introduction of plant-based meat in your Canadian Menu. Plant-based meat is 100% made out of plants, such as beans and lentils, and require less land, water, energy. By decreasing the consumption of regular meat, health issues relating to meat consumption will significantly drop.
With plant-based meat, McDonald's can introduce a new item on their menu like Beyond Burger, similar to what's A&W and Tim Hortons have on their menu. If they are priced the same or even slightly more than a regular burger, consumers will be likely to choose the healthier version if it also means that the meat tastes the same. With plant-based meat, it tastes exactly the same as regular meat, and most importantly it also makes the same sizzle sound on the grill. Consumers would not be able to tell the difference between them.
If you do so, you can create a product that you can promote as environmentally friendly. With this label, you can attract more consumers, especially non-meat eaters like vegans and vegetarians, which would increase your demand.
In order to demonstrate that we are not the only ones who believe that the negative impact of meat production should be addressed and minimized as much as possible, we have created the petition: Get McDonald's to add Beyond Burgers (plant-based meat) to their CANADIAN Menu!. In less than a week, we have received over 43 signatures.
We hope that you take our message seriously and reflect on the possible benefits that the company can receive from adding this new sustainable product on their menu.
If you are interested in our stance and any additional benefits, feel free to visit our website and Instagram page.
Sincerely,
Meet: Change (meatchange@gmail.com)
Work Cited:
1. "About Us | McDonalds Canada." About Us | McDonalds Canada. Accessed June 17, 2019. https://www.mcdonalds.com/ca/en-ca/about-us.html.
2. "Our History." McDonalds Canada. Accessed June 17, 2019. https://www.mcdonalds.com/ca/en-ca/about-us/our-history.html.