Today in History - May 8: Massive Olympics promotion backfires big time for McDonald's
A promotional scheme from McDonald's during the 1984 Olympics ended up losing the fast food giant a huge sum of money.
The scheme was premised on a simple idea. Customers would be given scratch-off cards with Olympic events printed on them.
If the United States won a medal, the holder would win free food. A gold medal was worth a Big Mac, a silver french fries, and a bronze would come with a free drink.
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Carl Lewis launches into the long jump pit at the Los Angeles 1984 Olympics. Getty Images
"When the US wins, you win," the slogan read.
The success of the scheme for the business stemmed from the hopes that American athletes would not win big.
The US had boycotted the previous Olympics in Moscow in protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
In 1976, the US had come in third place in the medal tally behind the USSR and East Germany.
But after the campaign was announced, things went pear-shaped on May 8, 1984.
Fifteen countries announced a boycott of the Games.
That included Olympic heavyweights the USSR and East Germany, as well as Albania, Afghanistan, Angola, Bulgaria, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Ethiopia, Hungary, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Laos, Mongolia, Poland, Vietnam, South Yemen and Upper Volta.
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McDonald's offered a promotion that would pay off for customers if American athletes won a medal. McDonald's
The Soviet Union led the boycott claiming "security concerns and chauvinistic sentiments and an anti-Soviet hysteria being whipped up in the United States".
Other countries joined in solidarity, mostly Communist countries who received substantial economic support from Moscow.
With so much of the competition out of the Games, the United States suddenly became favourites in countless events.
The United States won 174 medals, including 83 golds.
McDonald's franchises around the country reported having a shortage of Big Macs as winners swarmed the stores with their scratch-off cards.
The promotion turned out to be extraordinarily expensive for the chain, though the true cost was not revealed.
But McDonald's was not unhappy with the result. They did the same thing in 1988 and 1996.
The Olympics, meanwhile, were happy to have viewers invested in the more obscure events, if only because there was a Big Mac riding on it.
Sam the Olympic Eagle, mascot of the 1984 Summer Olympics during the opening ceremony. Getty
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