Is McDonald’s an ‘it’ or a ‘they’?

When you're writing about a company, a board, a government department, or similar, do you use the singular pronoun 'it' or the plural pronoun 'they'?

Historically, the singular 'it' has been used when referring to companies. Speaking technically, it really should be 'it’ or ‘its' as while a company is made up of individuals, the company itself is a single unit.

But recently, 'they' has been creepin' in, possibly because people are using ‘they’ more abundantly (yes, yay, good) possibly because we are all simps for McDonald’s (I do love a cheeseburger but does Maccas deserve to be recognised as a group of people rather than an entity that pumps lard into my veins? Unsure).

For example:

Last month, instead of sending out boxes of fresh ingredients and recipes, Marley Spoon sent out boxes of fresh bees. The company will be releasing their report on the incident soon.

Last month, instead of sending out boxes of fresh ingredients and recipes, Marley Spoon sent out boxes of fresh bees. The company will be releasing its report on the incident soon.

Does it matter which you use? Not really but many people, myself included, feel that the singular ‘its’ is more appropriate as a pronoun for companies. Using ‘they’ or ‘their’, pronouns we use mostly for individuals or groups of people, confers some sort of fundamental humanness that we shouldn't pass on to companies.

Fun fact, this is Ronald McDonald in Thailand giving the traditional wai greeting.

It's a small thing but fight the power, buy local, eat the rich, and use its, not they, when talking about businesses or companies. This has been a short writing lesson with a side serve of anti-capitalism.

TL;DR? When referring to a company, business, board, government department or similar, use ‘its’ instead of ‘they’ pronouns unless you intentionally want to humanise the brand and show them as a group of people.