Jericho, a popular streamer on Twitch, recently blew a huge promotional deal with McDonald’s. Along with a promotional stream, Jericho was also photographed for an upcoming McDonald’s ad campaign. However, a verbal slip supposedly sent executives from both the streaming platform and the massive fast food chain into a frenzy. Jericho went into depth about the situation in a more recent stream, taking responsibility for his mistakes and expressing hope that Twitch will once again include him in future promotional content.
Although it’s unfortunate that a couple of innocent mistakes cost the streamer what was most likely a massive sponsorship, it’s hard not to laugh at what exactly he said that caused the deal to fall through. During the stream, McDonald’s gifted Jericho will some Big Mac Coins, a currency that can be used in exchange for a free Big Mac from the fast food chain. When referring to the gift, Jericho mistakenly called the coins, “Whopper Coins”, accidentally referring to the sandwich that can be found at McDonald’s competitor, Burger King.
Later on in the stream, while playing Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the streamer mentioned that he was going to use, “Red Robin”, referring to the red variation of the character Robin, in his next match. Unfortunately, that name also belongs to another popular burger chain and McDonalds competitor, a slip up that reportedly made McDonalds executives furious and even created “legal issues”.
Jericho explained that his mistakes, although honest ones, upset the higher ups at Twitch who arranged the McDonalds promotion, and that he most likely won’t be involved in promotional content “for the foreseeable future”. The streamer went on to mention that he has had hundreds of brand deals in the past that went perfectly fine, and that he simply made an honest mistake, but he completely owned up to his actions and admitted fault, expressing that he’s trying his best to smooth things over with both Twitch and McDonalds.
The issue most likely won’t hurt McDonalds too terribly, as the brand remains an American staple and probably the most recognizable fast food restaurant in the entire world. Even so, Jericho’s mishap proves to be just another example of why streamers have to be diligent in watching what they say during promotional shows, even when they’re simply mentioning the name of the character they’ve selected.
