McDonald’s Flipped Its Arches Upside Down To Make A Powerful Statement

March 8th is “a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women,” according to the official International Women’s Day website. Additionally, the day serves as a call to action to accelerate gender parity. 2018 saw a McDonald’s in Lynwood, California, that may have given you the impression that you were seeing ghosts.

When you glanced through your Facebook feed the following morning, you might have spotted something that looked like a glitch, or even that you were in an episode of Black Mirror. It was not an error; none of those notions were accurate.

It wasn’t a trick of the eyes: the iconic McDonald’s arches emblem was inverted. It had nothing to do with their ongoing Twitter beef with Wendy’s, and it just looked like a huge, bubbly “W.” In “celebration of women everywhere,” McDonald’s revealed that the emblem has been reversed.

Although the sign at the Lynwood, California restaurant may have already been flipped, McDonald’s turned its arches inside out on Thursday, March 8, International Women’s Day, across all of its social media platforms. Workers wore hats and shirts with the “W”-style emblem, and 100 retailers countrywide had unique packaging with the logo on them.

Wendy Lewis, a spokesman for McDonald’s, provided some context.

Wendy Lewis, the chief diversity officer at McDonald’s, stated, “We flipped our iconic arches for International Women’s Day for the first time in our brand history in honor of the extraordinary accomplishments of women everywhere and especially in our restaurants.”

Lauren Altmin, a McDonald’s spokesperson, continued, “The new logo honors women everywhere.” Altmin said, “We have a long history of supporting women in the workplace and giving them the chance to grow and succeed.” “We are proud to share that, in the United States, six out of ten restaurant managers are women today. We take pride in our diversity.” Every social media platform used by the company saw a change in the logo, and 100 restaurants got unique “packaging, crew shirts, hats, and bag stuffers.”

Similar steps have been made by other brands to recognize women. With the launch of the “Jane Walker” bottle, Johnnie Walker donated $1 from each bottle to organizations that support women. Gender-related discussions are still highly relevant in popular culture. And vice president of Johnnie Walker Stephanie Jacoby stated, “We firmly feel there is no better time than now to introduce our Jane Walker icon and contribute to trailblazing organizations that share our mission.” “We are honored to celebrate everyone’s contributions to the advancement of gender equality as well as the numerous accomplishments of women.”

Brawny started a campaign called “Strength Knows No Gender,” in which she substituted female characters for the Brawny Man and gave $100,000 to Girls, Inc., an organization that assists young women in developing their financial and leadership abilities. McDonald’s did not, however, declare that it would be contributing to this effort.

Can You Solve This Tricky Viral Math Problem

We all love a good brain teaser, especially when it involves math—whether we admit it or not. A tricky math problem recently went viral, leaving the internet divided and proving once again that even simple-looking equations can be deceptive.

My Math Struggles & A Challenge

Here’s a quick personal anecdote: I recently started preparing for the GRE and realized that I hadn’t taken a formal math class in nearly nine years. Confidence? Gone. My quantitative reasoning skills? Rusty at best. So, I decided to brush up by taking online high school math courses, starting from the absolute basics.

When I came across this viral math puzzle that was stumping the internet, I thought, “This is my moment! Let’s see if I still have my 9th-grade math chops!” Spoiler: I did not.

The Viral Math Puzzle Taking the Internet by Storm

The problem originally surfaced in Japan, where researchers found that only 60% of people in their 20s managed to solve it correctly. It quickly spread online, turning into yet another viral challenge because, apparently, we love testing our brains with tricky equations (or we just enjoy arguing over the answers).

At first glance, the problem looks simple. But the devil is in the details. My gut told me there was some sort of trick involved—it seemed too easy. However, instead of embarrassing myself by attempting it publicly, I turned to the internet for guidance. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that someone, somewhere, has already tackled your problem and made an instructional video about it. So, I spent my morning watching people do math on YouTube. Exciting stuff.

The Math Problem:

6 ÷ 2(1 + 2) = ?

Go ahead, solve it. I’ll wait.

Video : Viral problem from Japan

Common Wrong Answers

If you got 1 or 9, you’re not alone. Many people arrived at these answers because of a little acronym called PEMDAS (Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, Subtraction).

You may remember PEMDAS from school—or perhaps the mnemonic “Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally.” The rule dictates that you must solve problems in this specific order:

  • Parentheses
  • Exponents
  • Multiplication & Division (from left to right)
  • Addition & Subtraction (from left to right)

So, following PEMDAS, some people calculated it as:

  1. Solve inside the parentheses: (1 + 2) = 3
  2. Rewrite the problem: 6 ÷ 2(3)
  3. Some then treated 2(3) as a single term and multiplied first: 6 ÷ 6 = 1

However, others applied division before multiplication:

  1. 6 ÷ 2 = 3
  2. Then, 3 × 3 = 9

Both groups were confident in their logic, but only one approach was correct.

The Correct Answer

The correct answer is 9. Here’s why:

Step 1: Solve the Parentheses First

(1 + 2) = 3

Now the equation is rewritten as:
6 ÷ 2(3)

Step 2: Follow the Order of Operations

According to PEMDAS, division and multiplication are performed from left to right (since they share the same level of priority in the hierarchy).

  1. 6 ÷ 2 = 3
  2. 3 × 3 = 9

Wait… Isn’t the Answer 1?

Some people argue that implicit multiplication (like 2(3)) takes precedence over division. However, modern mathematical notation treats multiplication and division equally. Since they appear side by side in the equation, we solve left to right.

If the equation had been written as:
6 ÷ (2 × 3)

Then, you would multiply first and get:
6 ÷ 6 = 1

But because the given equation lacks parentheses around 2(3), the correct answer remains 9.

Why People Get It Wrong

The confusion stems from different ways of interpreting notation and how we were taught order of operations. In some older textbooks, implicit multiplication (like 2(3)) was given higher priority than division, leading to the alternative answer of 1. However, under modern mathematical conventions, division and multiplication hold equal weight and should be solved left to right.

Video : 13 Riddles That Are Trickier Than They Seem

Math Rules Are Not Always Universal

Believe it or not, different countries and academic institutions teach math slightly differently. Some older math textbooks might suggest treating multiplication next to parentheses as having higher priority, while others follow the standard left-to-right rule. This is why debates like this never really die down—people were simply taught different methods!

How to Avoid Future Math Confusion

  1. Always follow the standard order of operations – PEMDAS (or BODMAS, if you learned it that way).
  2. If in doubt, add brackets – Parentheses make everything clearer and help prevent confusion.
  3. Be consistent – If you’re solving problems with others, use the same approach so that everyone gets the same answer.
  4. Check multiple sources – Sometimes, even textbooks disagree. Looking at different explanations can help clarify tricky concepts.

Final Thoughts

This viral math problem is a perfect example of how simple-looking equations can spark endless debate. The way you approach it depends on how you learned math, but if you apply PEMDAS correctly, the answer is 9—at least according to current conventions.

So, did you get it right, or are you questioning everything you thought you knew about math? Either way, at least we can all agree that math is a lot trickier than it looks!

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