Vegetarian’ Rashmika Mandanna Faces Severe Backlash Over McDonald’s Chicken Ad; Fast-Food Giant Disables YouTube Comments
MUMBAI — National Crush Rashmika Mandanna has found herself at the center of a raging social media storm. The Pushpa actress is facing intense scrutiny from fans and netizens after starring in a major promotional campaign for McDonald’s India, where she is seen enthusiastically promoting and consuming their non-vegetarian items, including the McSpicy Chicken Burger and Fried Chicken.
The internet was quick to point out a glaring contradiction: Rashmika has publicly claimed on multiple occasions, including an appearance on a popular lifestyle video podcast detailing “What I Eat in a Day,” that she strictly adheres to a vegetarian and plant-based lifestyle.
The Spark: Advocacy Meets Advertising
The controversy erupted shortly after McDonald’s rolled out its high-profile digital campaign featuring the actress. In the commercial, Rashmika is shown relishing the fast-food giant’s signature spicy fried chicken and burger options.
The ad quickly went viral, but for all the wrong reasons. Social media sleuths wasted no time digging up older clips of the actress where she proudly discussed her shift toward a vegetarian/eggetarian diet, as well as her association as a brand ambassador for vegan beauty brands.
Netizens immediately flooded platforms like Twitter (X), Instagram, and YouTube, calling out the actress for what they deemed “sheer hypocrisy.”
“Apparently, vegetarian Rashmika Mandanna enjoys McDonald’s chicken burgers. Celebs and their endless hypocrisy for money,” wrote one disgruntled user on X. Another commented, “If she is promoting it for others, she should at least have the common sense not to fake enjoying it so realistically. It feels like false advertising to her followers.”
McDonald’s Steps In to Control Damage
As the wave of trolling intensified, the comment sections on McDonald’s India’s official YouTube channel and Instagram handles turned into a battlefield. Users began relentlessly spamming the promotional videos, questioning the integrity of the endorsement.
In a bid to control the public relations fallout and protect the campaign, McDonald’s took the drastic step of completely turning off the comments section on the specific YouTube videos featuring the actress.
While turning off comments is a standard corporate damage-control tactic to prevent a barrage of negative engagement, the move only seemed to validate the internet’s frustration, with users taking the conversation to Reddit and other open forums to continue the debate.
The Broader Debate on Celebrity Endorsements
While a large segment of the internet continues to grill the actress, a section of her fanbase has jumped to her defense, pointing out that acting and commercial endorsements are ultimately a business.
| How Netizens are Reacting |
| The Critics: Argue that public figures should align their paid endorsements with their publicly stated personal ethics to remain credible. |
| The Defenders: Maintain that an actor’s job is simply to perform, and consuming or promoting a product on camera doesn’t dictate their real-life choices. |
Rashmika is far from the first Bollywood celebrity to face public flak for a mismatched brand endorsement. Netizens have drawn parallels to Alia Bhatt being trolled for promoting sugary ice creams and soft drinks despite advocating a strict no-sugar lifestyle, and Akshay Kumar facing severe backlash for endorsing a pan masala brand despite his heavily publicized fitness-first routine.
Neither Rashmika Mandanna nor McDonald’s India has released an official statement regarding the online backlash or the decision to mute public comments.
