What’s going on with McDonalds? 

The fast food franchise is drawing concern after it took to social media to voice an apparent plea for assistance — less than 24 hours after the company received its third stock price downgrade in three days. 

“Help,” McDonald’s shared with its 4.7 million X followers on Wednesday morning. The burger chain’s blunt message quickly racked up thousands of likes and reposts and has been viewed nearly one million times. 

The beloved franchise was quickly inundated with messages of support from other major American corporations who offered a helping hand: “ok but like emotionally, spiritually or technically? we’re outside. just say the word,” commented electronics retailer RadioShack. “Is everything okay,” food delivery service Grubhub asked inquisitively. “We’re ready,” the Empire State Building chimed in. 

McDonald’s elaborated on its shocking plea, albeit with a message that raised more questions than it answered: “tmrw is 6/12. im not okay,” the account shared soon after. 

The company’s SOS signal was initially linked to McDonald’s recent stock troubles, spurred by speculation that the explosive growth of GLP-1 weight loss drugs would reduce American consumers’ appetites for fast food. On Tuesday, McDonald’s shares dropped by as much as 1.7 percent after an equity analysis firm downgraded its stock rating to sell from buy.

That theory was debunked some two hours later, when McDonald’s offered another clue. The account shared an image of an unidentified woman holding her hand over her eyes in a facepalm gesture, stamped with the text: “grimaces bday party venue just canceled what do i do.” McDonalds captioned the post: “freaking out rn i have 24 hrs.” 

Grimace is a fuzzy purple character that was introduced to McDonald’s commercials in 1971 as a milkshake stealing villain. The rotund mascot was later redeveloped with a more friendly persona and was used to advertise McDonald’s milkshakes and soft drinks. 

In 2023, McDonald’s announced that Grimace’s birthday would fall each year on June 12. That year the fast food franchise celebrated the beloved purple mascot by adding to its menu a berry-flavored “Grimace Shake” for the months of June and July. In 2024, however, McDonald’s failed to commemorate Grimace’s special day. 

From McDonald’s recent string of posts it looks like the company is reviving the tradition. Only it might need some help finding a new location to host the festivities.