Fast food prices in focus after L.A. wage increases

Plus, brands celebrate the solar eclipse [View this email in your browser]( Fast food prices in focus after L.A. wage increases Workers celebrated a pay rise victory in LA this week after wages at fast-food chains were increased to $20 per hour per a new law, which went into effect on April 1. The graph below shows that the majority of media interest came when the law officially changed, but this did not line up with public interest in reporting of the story. That’s because about 70% of the engagements came from one story, published last Friday by CBS, which reported on fast-food workers celebrating the change and talking about what a difference it would make in their lives. While this was the dominant narrative for web coverage, there were counter narratives, which mostly focused on potential rising costs for consumers and potential layoffs. These stories appeared in the likes of the [New York Post]( and [USA Today]( and while they resonated somewhat, it was [Rap TV’s Instagram post]( citing the New York Post that saw the most engagement, with more than 100k interactions. This was still less, however, than Rap TV’s other post [announcing the pay increase]( which had almost 300k engagements. The lesson here — if a piece of news is big enough, you’ll see multiple narratives vying to be the single source of truth, and each of those angles will have legions of people to support and amplify them. How brands celebrated the solar eclipse A rare phenomenon estimated to attract the attention of 32 million people in the United States? Of course that means brands are going to get a piece of the action. As we all stared up into the sky on Monday to watch the 2024 solar eclipse, several consumer brands were also taking part in the fun. Brands in the food industry were obvious participants, as any round menu item can instantly imitate the sun’s disappearing act behind the moon (see Texas Roadhouse roll [here](. Two of the most prominent of these, however, were Krispy Kreme and Burger King. Krispy Kreme sparked some excitement with a limited release of its Total Solar Eclipse Doughnut, which features a classic glazed doughnut topped with chocolate icing and an Oreo cookie. The brand’s [Instagram post]( earned over 25.2k engagements, although some customers were disappointed they didn’t come with a pair of solar eclipse glasses. Burger King also [celebrated the event]( by offering a BOGO deal on its Whopper for the entire week after the eclipse. One brand did offer something that was arguably more important for the eclipse (regardless of how tasty these food items are) and that was Warby Parker. The eye-wear company did its part by giving away free solar eclipse glasses at its stores nationwide. As you can imagine, they ran out fast, and maybe that was to do with its cheeky promotion. We personally give our stamp of approval to the brand’s [Instagram Reel]( referencing The Twilight Saga: Eclipse — one of the most important solar eclipses of the 21st century. NEWSWHIP FOR CROWDTANGLE USERS Learn how NewsWhip can help replicate the work you’re doing in CrowdTangle [Learn more→]( MONITOR AND MANAGE LIVE ISSUES How brands monitor and manage live issues with NewsWhip Spike [Read blog →]( REPORT: INFLUENCE THROUGH INSIGHT How comms leaders are bringing wider understanding to management decisions [Read report →]( NEWSWHIP SPRING G2 BADGES NewsWhip awarded eleven G2 badges for Spring 2024 [Read blog →]( [Twitter icon]( [Website icon]( [LinkedIn icon]( Copyright (C) 2024 NewsWhip. All rights reserved. You're receiving this email because you opted in for the NewsWhip blog newsletter and updates. Our mailing address is: NewsWhip 42 Pearse Street Dublin, D02 YX88 Ireland Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe](