It’s being hailed across AdTech and media circles as clever. Fresh. “A youth-facing play.”
McDonald’s and Snapchat two companies that understand habit better than most have joined forces. The result? A campaign that lets young people trade MyMcDonald’s loyalty points for a Snapchat+ subscription. Snapchat says that this is a limited-time offer, from June 10th - July 7th, and only for new Snapchat+ subscribers in the US.
On the surface, it reads like just another quirky brand crossover. But beneath it lies a cultural failure so tone-deaf it verges on dangerous. Because while the marketing world claps itself on the back, those of us on the frontlines are burying kids lost to digital manipulation, targeted exploitation, and the synthetic opioid crisis being fuelled by platforms just like Snapchat.
Right now, across the US, UK, and Australia, children are being extorted online for explicit content. Some are being groomed. Others are being offered drugs by accounts that vanish before law enforcement can trace them. Snapchat has become one of the preferred tools in these operations. Its disappearing messages, map-based friend finder, and rapid identity cycling make it an ideal environment for predators and dealers. That’s coming directly from federal investigators and coroners' reports.
According to the US Department of Justice and data from the Families Against Fentanyl coalition, there is a documented link between social media platforms and the supply chain for counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl. Snapchat is named again and again and again.
Meanwhile, we’re also in the middle of an unprecedented wave of image-based sexual extortion. Young boys as young as 8yrs (yes and even younger) in particular, are being targeted en masse manipulated into sending explicit content under false pretences, then blackmailed. When they panic, many feel there’s no way out. These crimes often begin in apps like Snapchat, where surveillance and support tools are minimal, but reach and psychological pressure are off the charts.
So McDonald’s decided now was the moment to reward young people with premium access to that same platform? For buying more fast food?
McDonald’s knows behavioural design. Its entire loyalty infrastructure is built to reward impulse. Repeat purchases, instant gratification, variable reward schedules it’s textbook operant conditioning. Snapchat+ enhances that conditioning. It allows users to track who rewatched their content, customise icons, and boost visibility. These designed to hook young users deeper into the attention economy.
So what we have is a campaign that actively incentivises kids to consume more fast food in exchange for digital features that make them more visible, more trackable, and more exposed. There is no ethical universe in which incentivising young people to exchange calories for increased access to a platform implicated in drug trafficking and child exploitation makes sense.
So now we have a grinning Ronald McDonald handing over access to surveillance tools like it’s a toy in a Happy Meal.This partnership tells children: If you consume more, you get more access. More privilege. More visibility. It ignores the UNCRC General Comment No. 25, which clearly outlines that digital environments must prioritise children’s rights, safety, and best interests. It ignores the increasing pressure on tech platforms to regulate access and mitigate harm. But in America? It gets celebrated. Because performance still trumps principle.
This campaign needed nothing more than someone in the room to say: “This is not a good idea.” It needed a school principal. A digital risk strategist. A frontline child protection officer. Someone who’s seen the forensic images. Someone who’s sat with a family after a digital interaction turned fatal. It needed someone who knows what happens when surveillance features get dressed up as gifts. When trust is replaced by traction. When the biggest fast-food chain in the world uses its reach not to protect kids, but to push them further into digital ecosystems already failing them.
Imagine if this “first-of-its-kind” campaign didn’t just pretend to understand young people, but actually tried to protect them.
This campaign doesn’t ask what young people need. It only asks what they’ll click. Snapchat and McDonald’s didn’t partner to serve youth. They partnered to cross-pollinate their addiction models.
And when the headlines fade, and the next funeral is held for a child lost to an online drug sting or sexual extortion scam, this partnership will still be there. In the background. Incentivising risk. Monetising access. Trading trust for engagement.
If you’re a brand, a marketer, or a comms lead reading this: do better.
We can help. This collaboration between two behemoths could have been done brilliantly with the right people in the room.
