Popeyes Is Offering Free Chicken Sandwiches as a Jab at McDonald's

The shade is flowing.

COLE SALADINO/THRILLIST
COLE SALADINO/THRILLIST

In case you missed it, McDonald's is finally leaping into the fast food chicken sandwich wars next week. To celebrate the big debut, the golden-arched fast food chain is selling a limited-edition drop with early access to the sandwich on Thursday. Of course, you didn't think Popeyes would let the occasion pass without a little bit of shade, did you? 

The Louisiana-style fried chicken chain is ribbing McDonald's by offering free chicken sandwiches the same day. Because McDonald's is requiring fans to hit up its site (chkndrop.com) to score the merch and early access, Popeyes is going a similar route—for anyone who just slightly misspells the Mickey D's URL. If you accidentally, or purposefully, head over to ckndrop.com on February 18, you can snag a Popeyes sandwich instead.

Courtesy of Popeyes

"The Popeyes team took note and found the 50 most likely ways to misspell the early access website and obtained those domains," a rep for Popeyes said in a statement. "So, if someone who’s looking to get McDonald’s new chicken sandwich misspells that URL, they might find themselves being redirected to Popeyes’ website where they will find a code for a free Popeyes Chicken Sandwich instead, if they are one of the first 500 to misspell their way to any of the 50 URLs." 

Yes, unfortunately, the Popeyes deal is limited to the first 500 people who head to the URL, so you'll need to be quick about. With these kinds of giveaways, you should always go into them with the expectation that they may be sold out. 

The McDonald's site went live at 12 pm ET and will stay up for a few hours, giving you the chance to take sides. Or, here's a wild idea, do both. Maybe even taste test them side-by-side. After all, this McD's launch has been a longtime in the making.

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Megan Schaltegger is a staff writer at Thrillist.