It all began with a spontaneous sign in the sleepy town of Marshfield in Southwest Missouri. "Hey DQ! Wanna have a sign war?" wrote McDonald’s employees on the fast food restaurant’s outdoor marquee on July 13th. Little did they know that this seemingly benign act of provoking a nearby Dairy Queen would take an unexpected turn and get real messy, real fast... Or did they?
Whether or not McDonald’s was looking for a fight, they certainly found one after the crew of Dairy Queen accepted the challenge and hit back with a brutal roast. "We would but we’re 2 busy making ice cream," the message read, mocking McDonald's famously broken ice cream machines. Then the joints started roasting one another, spending a great deal of time coming up with hilarious clapbacks and accidentally inviting other local businesses to join in on the action too.
This whole road sign melee took the internet by storm and has since gone viral on social media. Thousands of people are now deeply and fully invested in this war of words, wondering who will walk away in defeat. Scroll down to enjoy the gentle ribbing between the businesses and read some cleverly written signs. Let us know which are your favorite ones, and be sure to share what you think of this whole ordeal in the comments below.
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Businesses in a small Missouri town are roasting one another in a hilarious road sign war that has gone viral
Image credits: Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce
Photos of the bantering signs were originally shared by the Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce, and they definitely have been enjoying the attention. "Thanks to everyone around the US who has shared our little [town’s] sign war," the account posted on Facebook. "We’ve all had a lot of fun watching the signs change. Who knew a fun little sign war would bring so many people together!" They thanked everyone for showing love to their little town and shared their surprise: "Our original post has over 34k shares and has been viewed over 4 million times! (We don’t even have that many people in Marshfield!)"
It all began with a spontaneous message on a McDonald’s outdoor sign
Image credits: Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce
The crew of Dairy Queen accepted the challenge and took the ‘sign war’ to heart
Image credits: Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce
The crew at the Marshfield Dairy Queen became aware of McDonald’s challenge on the morning of July 13th, shift lead Angela Jones told USA Today. Well, they certainly wasted no time in coming up with a roast mocking McDonald's ice cream machines that are frequently broken. It has become almost like a running joke that has inspired software engineer Rashiq Zahid to create a virtual map called McBroken. The site shows McDonald's locations in the United States, tracks which of them have working ice cream machines, and helps to prevent the disappointment of ordering from the ones that do not.
Image credits: Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce
Of course, it didn’t take long for McDonald's to hit back, and it was on from there. What eventually started as a fun little challenge quickly grew into a phenomenon that captured the attention of the whole town. In the next few days, many local businesses joined in on the war of words and had some fun participating in the conversation. Like Wendy’s, where employees sent a message to McDonald's stating, "Hot and crispy fries don't arch".
Then, other local businesses chimed in on the situation as well
Image credits: Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce
Image credits: Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce
We managed to get in touch with a representative of the Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce who was kind enough to have a little chat with us. "Everyone in town was excited," they told Bored Panda. "There was a lot of buzz and anticipation in person and on social media as we all waited to see what sign would be next!"
According to them, many local businesses jumped at the opportunity to participate in the outdoor signage war when they saw how much the community was enjoying the messages — "they wanted to be a part of the fun."
When asked how it feels to know their post has reached millions of people online, the representative said they were completely shocked to learn their post went viral. "We just wanted to share with our local community! It’s been crazy watching it continue to be shared. The comments have been mostly positive and it seems like everyone really has enjoyed it," they added. "A lot of people [were] saying things like 'we really needed this'. We are glad we could be a conduit to share how awesome Marshfield is, and how our community always comes together."
The Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce wanted to thank everyone who took part in and shared their fun sign war with others. "We reached people all over the world with our post and we really hope it brightened your day as much as it lifted the spirit in our town!"
Eventually, Dairy Queen came up with another clapback
Image credits: Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce
Image credits: Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce
And McDonald's responded, using the opportunity for some self-promotion
Image credits: Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce
Image credits: Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce
The fast-food joints continued their hilarious sign banter back and forth, and everyone was getting deeply invested in who will back down first
Image credits: Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce
Image credits: Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce
Image credits: Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce
Image credits: Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce
Image credits: Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce
Marshfield Wendy's is managed by Hamra Enterprises, which typically sends memos to the restaurant about the messages to display on their outdoor signage. When Eve Metheny, Hamra's director of brand marketing, received an email from the Marshfield crew asking if they could participate with a response, she didn’t hold back. After all, Wendy’s is well known for its accurate burns delivered sizzling hot on its made-up National Roast Day holiday, so Metheny started sending out messages to the restaurant daily.
"If you read the comments (about the 'sign wars'), the general consensus is it brings a smile to people's face," Metheny said. "People want to laugh and chuckle about things like that, so I think people are just craving that right now," she added, mentioning the long list of roasts she already has in store.
Image credits: Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce
Image credits: Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce
Needless to say, residents of the town had their fair share of entertainment as well. "It's important for a community our size because there are citizens within our community who are entrepreneurial and they need our support, now more than ever," Marshfield Mayor Natalie McNish said, adding that she has enjoyed watching this community-wide participation.
Moreover, Marshfield local Shannon Graham created a Facebook group following the event to share the signs with a broader audience. "For me, I thought it was just really great that this little, tiny town could not only boost the morale of their own town, but they did something that boosted the world's morale," Graham said. Aptly titled 'Sign Wars of Marshfield Missouri', the group has already amassed over 3,000 members who are quickly sharing and eagerly waiting for new hilarious sign messages to grace their feeds.
Later on, residents started sharing other signs from around town in the comments
Image credits: Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce
Image credits: Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce
Image credits: Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce
Image credits: Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce
Image credits: Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce
Image credits: Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce
Image credits: Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce
Image credits: Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce
Image credits: Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce
Image credits: Hill Realty Group of Keller Williams
Image credits: Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce
Image credits: Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce
Image credits: Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce
Image credits: Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce
Image credits: Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce
Image credits: Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce
Image credits: Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce
Image credits: Gault & Co. Realty
Image credits: Sully Loves Sugar
Image credits: Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce
Image credits: Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce
Image credits: Rockwood Family Dental
Image credits: Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce
Image credits: Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce
Image credits: Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce
When it comes to the original opponents, Jones at Dairy Queen explained that the restaurant will continue posting new messages until a forfeit, which won't be coming from them. At the same time, Randy Bryant, local director of operations at McDonald's, delivered a wholesome message to local outlet Ozarks First. "Marshfield is such a close community, we’re all like family here. Mario on our team had a great idea to get this all started! 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?"
Commenters on social media had a blast as well, sharing their reactions and chiming in with their own hilarious responses. So what did you think of this entertaining sign war? What was your favorite comeback from the local businesses? Be sure to share your thoughts in the comments and let us know who you believe to be the winner of this small-town battle.
Here’s what people had to say about the sign war
