Cookie Policy

McDonald's sign
McDonald's Cookie Policy

EFFECTIVE DATE: May 25, 2018

McDonald’s uses cookies and other tracking technologies to learn more about how people use our websites (“Sites”) and mobile device application (“Mobile Apps”) and improve your online experience.  In this McDonald’s Cookie Policy, we provide information about these technologies and how to control them. This policy forms a part of McDonald’s Global Privacy Statement

 

Topics:

  • Cookies & other technologies
  • How we Use Cookies
  • Cookies served through our Sites and Mobile Apps
  • How to Control and Delete Cookies

 

1. Cookies & Other Tracking Technologies

A “cookie” is a small text file that is placed onto an Internet user’s web browser or device and is used to remember and/or obtain information about the user.  A cookie will typically contain the name of the domain from which the cookie has come, the “lifetime” of the cookie, and a randomly generated unique number or other value.

A “web beacon” is a small object or image that is embedded into a web page, application, or email and is used to track activity.  They are also sometimes referred to as pixels and tags.    

Please note the following:

  • You might be assigned a cookie when using our online services.
  • We offer certain features that are available only through the use of cookies and other similar technologies.
  • We may use both session (for the duration of your visit) and persistent (for the duration of a fixed period of time) cookies and other tracking technologies. 
  • Our online services and other areas related to our business may have web beacons.

2. How We Use Cookies

We use cookies, web beacons and other similar technology, to collect information for the purposes described McDonald’s Global Privacy Statement.  We may also combine the information collected by these technologies with information we have collected about you by other means that are described in the McDonald’s Global Privacy Statement.

We may use these technologies to:

  • uniquely identify you or your device;
  • allow you to access and use our online services, where without them, our online services may not work properly;
  • further system security where appropriate;
  • statistical purposes, in order to measure use of our websites and mobile apps; 
  • improve our products and services;
  • help us monitor the performance (e.g., traffic, errors, page load time, popular sections, etc.) of our online services;  
  • remember you, for your convenience, when you visit our online services
  • help customize your experience;
  • to market to you through targeted advertising; and
  • for other purposes described in the section of the McDonald’s Global Privacy Statement titled, “How we use the information we collect.”

For example, we may use certain technologies to determine whether you have opened an e-mail or clicked on a link contained in an e-mail, how you use the pages and content in our mobile apps, or whether you have clicked on a McDonald’s online advertisement.  

Both we and others (such as our advertising networks) may use these technologies to collect information about your online activities, over time and across third-party websites and devices, and when using our online services to further personalize your experience with us.

We may use cookies for a variety of purposes.  For example, we track the total number of visitors to our Sites and Mobile Apps on an anonymous aggregate basis.  We may also employ cookies so that we remember you when you return to the Sites, to keep track of the items in your shopping cart if you purchase merchandise online, to administer certain contests and sweepstakes and to help customize your McDonald's web experience.  We may associate personal information with a cookie file in those instances.  

3. Cookies served through our Sites and Mobile Apps

Tracking technologies can either be persistent (i.e., they remain on your computer or device until you delete them) or temporary (i.e., they last only until you close your browser).  

In particular, our Sites and Mobile Apps use the following categories of cookies:

 

 

 

4. How to Control and Delete Cookies

Please be aware that restricting cookies may have an impact on Sites and Mobile Apps’ functionality. 

Website Cookie Settings Tool:  You have the right to decide whether to accept or reject cookies, except strictly necessary cookies, by using our Cookie Settings Tool.

Cookie Settings tool

 

 

Brower Controls:  You can also use the options in your web browser if you do not wish to receive a cookie or if you wish to set your browser to notify you when you receive a cookie. Click on the “Help” section of your browser to learn how to change your cookie preferences.  If you disable all cookies, you may not be able to take advantage of all the features of our Sites and Mobile Apps.  

Targeted Advertising:  When you use our online services, we (and our vendors who provide services to us) may collect information about your activities so that we can provide you with advertising tailored to your interests.   

Because we take part in advertising (“ad”) networks, you may see certain ads on other websites.  Ad networks allow us to target the information we send you based on your interests, other information related to you, and contextual means.  These ad networks track your online activities over time by collecting information through use of cookies, web beacons, and web-server logs.  The ad networks use this information to show you advertisements that may be of particular interest to you. The ad networks we take part in may collect information about your visits to websites that also take part in the relevant ad network, such as the pages or advertisements you view and how you use the websites.  We use this information, both on our online services and on third-party websites that take part in the ad networks, to provide you with advertising tailored to you, and to help us assess how effective our marketing is.  

You can opt out of targeted advertising by visiting www.aboutads.info/choices or www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp. If you choose to opt out, you will continue to receive advertisements but they will not be tailored to your interests.

Mobile Advertising:  You can opt-out of having your mobile advertising identifiers used for certain types of targeted or personalized advertising by accessing the settings in your mobile device. 

Do Not Track:  Some newer web browsers may have a "Do Not Track" preference that transmits a "Do Not Track" header to the websites you visit with information indicating that you do not want your activity to be tracked.  McDonald’s does not currently take actions to respond to Do Not Track signals because a uniform technological standard has not yet been developed. We continue to review new technologies and may adopt a standard once one is created.