MARSHFIELD, Mo. — A tiny little Missouri town is enjoying its 15 minutes of fame thanks to a good-natured “sign war,” instigated by a McDonald’s restaurant in Marshfield.
The sign that set things off?
“HEY DQ! WANNA HAVE A SIGN WAR?”
Now, the county seat of Webster County, population 7,425, has attracted more than 1 million Facebook interactions after the Marshfield Dairy Queen fired back, not so subtly:
“WE WLD BUT WERE 2 BUSY MAKIN ICECREAM”
Dairy Queen’s obvious jab at McDonald’s notoriously out-of-order McFlurry machines left no doubt that the store’s employees were up for the challenge, WDAF-TV reported.
McDonald’s fired back, “THAT’S CUTE. OUR ICECREAM MAKES ITSELF,” and DQ never missed a beat, retorting, “YOU MEAN IT ACTUALLY WORKS,” adding, “SHOCKER.”
“WOW, SALTY, LIKE OUR WORLD FAMOUS FRIES,” McDonald’s fired back.
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Quickly recognizing the social media gold unfolding in their backyard, the Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce amplified the sign war by promoting it on the organization’s official Facebook page, and it certainly didn’t hurt that other area businesses jumped in on the fun.
A local bank wrote, “Ice cream machine broken? We have a loan for that.”
Of course, not every business in town can compete with the fast-food chains’ preferred form of communication and had to improvise.
“Roses Are Red, Violets Are Blue, We Want In On The Sign War Too…” a message in a storefront on plane white paper read, while SignEffx, which specializes in printing banners and decal wraps, took the opportunity for a little self-promotion, People magazine reported.
“No invite to the sign war? It’s okay … we know who makes the best signs in town!” the Marshfield SignEffx wrote on a new banner.
Randy Bryant, local director of operations at McDonald’s, told Ozarks First: “Marshfield is such a close community, we’re all like family here.”
Bryant credited team member Mario for launching the give-and-take.
“He said, ‘It’s hot. The world is throwing everyone challenges and negativity.’ So we all found a way to laugh and have fun as a community. And what’s better than an old fashioned sign war?”
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