“You’re seeing the risk play out right now of that business model,” said Andrew Gilman, founder and CEO of CommCore, a consulting group with expertise in crisis communication. “It’s less control.”
No matter how clearly franchise operators state their position, “if somebody incites a mob, their store is at risk,” Gilman said.
On a corporate level, McDonald’s should “watch carefully” how people are reacting to its brand locally and in other markets, to see if customers are drawing conclusions about where it stands. “They have to monitor that,” he said.