--- title: McDonald's Flipping Its Arches Inspires Internet Backlash description: The fast food chain is honoring International Women's Day by turnings its iconic golden arches upside down, making them W's. canonical: https://time.com/5190183/mcdonalds-arches-w/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-03-07T21:51:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-12T21:25:16.000Z og:title: People Are Mad McDonald's Flipped Its Arches for Women's Day og:description: The golden W's are meant as a nod to International Women's Day og:url: https://time.com/5190183/mcdonalds-arches-w/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6baf031a551914c1/69892a15db2987087825f045/mcdonalds-arch.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4000 og:image:height: 2250 og:image:alt: McDonald's Same-Store Sales Top Estimates as Declines Abate og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: People Are Mad McDonald's Flipped Its Arches for Women's Day twitter:description: The golden W's are meant as a nod to International Women's Day twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6baf031a551914c1/69892a15db2987087825f045/mcdonalds-arch.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # McDonald's Is Flipping Its Arches for Women's Day and People Are Mad > Sponsored content. 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The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Updated: Dec 12, 2023 9:25 PM UTCPublished: Mar 7, 2018 9:51 PM UTC  Golden arches mark the entrance to a McDonald's Corp. restaurant in Shelbyville, Kentucky, U.S., at dawn on Friday, Jan. 23, 2015\. McDonald's Corp., the world's largest restaurant chain, posted same-store sales that declined less than analysts expected as menu changes started to turn around results in the U.S. Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg via Getty Images Golden arches mark the entrance to a McDonald's Corp. restaurant in Shelbyville, Kentucky, U.S., at dawn on Friday, Jan. 23, 2015\. McDonald's Corp., the world's largest restaurant chain, posted same-store sales that declined less than analysts expected as menu changes started to turn around results in the U.S. Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesBloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Updated: Dec 12, 2023 9:25 PM UTCPublished: Mar 7, 2018 9:51 PM UTC No, you’re not living in a very literal [Upside Down](http://time.com/5000105/stranger-things-season-2-memes/): the iconic [golden arches](http://time.com/4643000/the-founder-michael-keaton-review/) of some McDonald’s franchises across the country will be flipped on March 8 as a nod to [International Women’s Day](http://time.com/3734862/international-womens-day-progress-action/), that’s all. It’s a “celebration of women everywhere,” a McDonald’s spokesperson [told _Business Insider,_](http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2018/03/07/mcdonalds-arches-upside-down/) and it’s a first in the brand’s history “in honor of the extraordinary accomplishments of women everywhere and especially in our restaurants.” The gesture will go beyond the outdoor signs, including all of the fast food brand’s social media logos in the M-to-W changeup. And 100 restaurants are getting special “packaging, crew shirts and hats and bag stuffers” for the day, too. But the internet is skeptical of the fast food chain’s approach to recognizing women’s contributions, calling out McDonald’s for their treatment of workers and highlighting what some see as hypocrisy in paying lip service to a holiday without backing it up with corporate policy. McDonald’s flipping its arches is not the only way a brand is making a statement in honor of the holiday, of course: already, [Barbie has released](http://time.com/5188776/barbie-mattel-historical-women/) a line of commemorative dolls representing history-making women, and [Google is making](http://time.com/5189856/international-womens-day-2018/) its own play for telling women’s stories. > [](https://twitter.com/McDonalds/status/971740083899465728) > [](https://twitter.com/truebe/status/971450954053697536) > [](https://twitter.com/saritasgupta/status/971758526958919680) > [](https://twitter.com/AnandWrites/status/971758449737551872) > [](https://twitter.com/mrsmaryallen/status/971770474559451137) > [](https://twitter.com/TheDweck/status/971765847223095298) > [](https://twitter.com/willystaley/status/971754355333517312) > [](https://twitter.com/trotbkevin/status/971767776225394688) > [](https://twitter.com/jayasax/status/971757902204755968) > [](https://twitter.com/MilwaukeeDSA/status/971761238626701313) > [](https://twitter.com/wanderlustlaura/status/971757283003846656) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5190183/mcdonalds-arches-w/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5190183/mcdonalds-arches-w/"},"headline":"McDonald's Is Flipping Its Arches for Women's Day and People Are Mad","datePublished":"2018-03-07T21:51:04.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-12T21:25:16.000Z","description":"The fast food chain is honoring International Women's Day by turnings its iconic golden arches upside down, making them W's.","url":"https://time.com/5190183/mcdonalds-arches-w/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Food & Drink","viral"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6baf031a551914c1/69892a15db2987087825f045/mcdonalds-arch.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6baf031a551914c1/69892a15db2987087825f045/mcdonalds-arch.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"McDonald's Same-Store Sales Top Estimates as Declines Abate","caption":"McDonald's Same-Store Sales Top Estimates as Declines Abate","creditText":"Bloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5190183/mcdonalds-arches-w/","name":"McDonald's Is Flipping Its Arches for Women's Day and People Are Mad"}}]}] ```