Professional Documents
Culture Documents
SocialMedia2021-fast Food
SocialMedia2021-fast Food
Authors:
Frances Fleming-Milici, PhD
Lindsay Phaneuf, MPH
Hebaq Elmi
Jennifer L. Harris, PhD, MBA
Targeted restaurants Definitions
Targeted fast-food The 12 fast-food restaurants selected for this analysis had total advertising spending of more
restaurants than $60 million in 2019, and:
■ Ranked in the top-ten in advertising spending on Spanish-language TV and/or Black-
targeted TV,
■ Promoted digital (mobile apps and websites) in TV ads, and/or
■ Ranked in the top-ten in spending on digital advertising.
Black-targeted Restaurants that ranked in the top-ten in advertising spending on Black-targeted TV channels.
Hispanic-targeted Restaurants that ranked in the top-ten in advertising spending on Spanish-language TV.
High digital ad Restaurants that ranked in the top-ten in spending on digital advertising.
spending
Fast Food FACTS 2021 documents advertising spending and youth exposure to TV advertising for all fast-
food restaurants in 2019, including detailed analyses of the 27 top fast-food advertisers. This supplement
documents the number of follower/subscribers to restaurants’ social media accounts and provides
examples of social media campaigns that targeted teens and/or Hispanic and Black youth.
All restaurants had Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube social media accounts as of March 2021.
Twenty-three restaurants also had TikTok accounts (Table 1).
Source: Rudd Center analysis of social media accounts, data collected March 2021
McDonald’s ranked number-one on Facebook (followers) and YouTube (subscribers). It also ranked in the
top-five for followers on Instagram (#2), Twitter (#3), and TikTok (#5).
Domino’s ranked fourth on YouTube (subscribers) and sixth on Facebook (followers), and in the top-ten on
Instagram (#7) and Twitter (#9).
Taco Bell ranked number-five on Twitter with 1.9 million followers and number-six on YouTube in number
of subscribers. The restaurant also ranked in the top-ten on all other social media platforms.
Burger King ranked number-four on Instagram and number-six on Twitter, and ranked in the top-ten on all
other social media platforms.
Subway ranked number-four on Twitter with 2.3 million followers, and number-five on Facebook with
more than 23 million followers. On all other social media platforms Subway ranked in the top-ten.
Wendy’s had a significant presence on Twitter and TikTok, ranking number-two and number-four,
respectively. The restaurant also ranked fifth in subscribers on YouTube.
KFC had a significant presence on Facebook and YouTube, ranking second in followers and subscribers on
these platforms and in the top-ten on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok.
Pizza Hut ranked number-four on Facebook with more than 32 million followers and number-five on
Instagram. It also ranked in the top-ten for followers on Twitter (#7) and subscribers on YouTube (#10).
In a nostalgia-driven campaign,
Pizza Hut collaborated with Pac-
Man to create a limited-edition pizza
box that allows customers to play
an augmented reality (AR) version
of the classic arcade game on their
phone.24
In a partnership with Beyond Meat, Pizza Hut advertised its new Beyond
Italian Sausage Pizza. Popular comedian Kevin Hart appeared in promotions
on social media.
Dunkin’ ranked number-one on TikTok. It was the only restaurant to have more than 2 million followers
on this platform and one of two restaurants with more followers on its TikTok account than on its
Instagram or Twitter accounts. Dunkin’ also ranked in the top-ten on all other platforms, including third
on Instagram (followers) and YouTube (number of videos).
Chick-fil-A ranked second in number of videos on YouTube and sixth in number of followers on Instagram.
The restaurant promoted the campaign across social media accounts, and highlighted each of the award
winners in a thread on Twitter.
Chipotle had a notable presence on TikTok, ranking number-two with 1.5 million followers. Chipotle was
one of two restaurants in this analysis with more followers on TikTok than on Twitter or Instagram. It
also ranked number-eight in subscribers on YouTube.
Starbucks had a notable presence on social media, ranking among the top-three on all platforms analyzed.
The restaurant ranked number-one in followers on Instagram and Twitter and in number of videos on
YouTube, far surpassing all other restaurants on these measures. It also ranked third in followers on
Facebook and TikTok and subscribers on YouTube.
TikTok;
■ Subscribers on YouTube; and
This research was funded by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
(RWJF). The views expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect the views of the
Foundation.
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