If this was intentional PR, then someone wildly misread the room

Some marketers thrive on "bad PR." The Paul brothers and Tesla are good examples.

An old adage says, there is no such thing as "bad PR".

The old adage is dumb, of course there is bad PR, that’s why people hire PR firms to begin with

they want more people to see it so they removed it from YouTube?

It is hard to buy this type of mass coverage along with:

"Wow McDonald's they really have a moral compass and listen to the people!"

If I was cynical marketer I would say make a couple of copies. And then pull it from your channel. Then spread those on social media.

If I was a cynical troll I would generate something ghastly, spread it on social media, and claim it was from McDonalds.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1184701899747516

they probably understand it’s impossible (or very hard) to fully delete viral content and that it’d get re-shared

PLUS they double dip as they get extra search traffic for their brand from people trying to find the video

the forbidden fruit is more enticing

I've encountered far too many people who actively seek out ads or look forward to them, people I usually respect, its baffling.

Outrage and clickbait has more than one form and it works surprisingly well on masses, part of orange mans success story. Just look at us discussing it, it wouldn't happen with (much more costly) normal MCD ad.

It worked