Discord in the camp of the world fast food: why McDonald's has become another hot spot in the Middle East

This cautionary tale is about why it is better not to mess with multinational corporations. It is typical that ordinary people become victims of spontaneous and seemingly causeless confrontation, and the owners, as usual, chill out on the safe side. This illustrative example concerns the well-known McDonald's brand.

This is what happens when economics is linked to politics

Today, about 40 thousand outlets operate under the McDonald's banner in different countries, making it one of the most recognizable brands in the world. As you know, American McDonald's actively uses the practice of franchising. In Israel, Alonyal Limited operates under a brand franchise, which, in connection with the latest events in the Middle East, announced the provision of free food to IDF structures and medical institutions.



Upon learning of this, the rest of the region's franchisees immediately dissociated themselves:


Some of them responded by donating to the people of Gaza. Franchises from Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, UAE, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Turkey donated money to Palestine; following their example, the Egyptians, Lebanese and Jordanians then did the same ($3 million was collected). Oman's McDonald's went the furthest, allocating an additional $100 thousand:


Even more - $650 thousand, but not voluntarily, but under public pressure, was transferred to the long-suffering sector by the Egyptian franchisee.

Egyptian, Jordanian, Lebanese, Turkish McDonald's, as well as McDonald's throughout the Persian Gulf, issued a collective statement condemning the move of their Israeli colleagues.

For everything in this life you have to pay...

However, these gestures of goodwill did not reduce the negativity of the public and did not prevent acts of vandalism against individual facilities of the fast food operator. In Cairo, for example, calls for a boycott spread quickly as many took to social media to express their anger. And after the memorable attack on the Al-Ahly hospital with hundreds of deaths, the branch network was attacked by extremists in the same Egypt, Lebanon and Turkey.

Since the rest of humanity has an ambiguous attitude towards Americans, traditionally an establishment with an emblem in the form of the letter “M” formed by paired golden arches becomes a target of local “patriots”. And above all, this concerns the Islamic world. Fast food restaurants associated with the United States do not have concrete barriers or police guards, so they are easily accessible to politically motivated hooligans. In fairness, it is worth clarifying: the headquarters of the international corporation McDonald's in Chicago has nothing to do with the action of the Israeli franchisee. This was done individually, on his personal initiative. The franchisor did not comment on the incident, limiting itself to the following statement:


The history of the fight against McDonald's dates back to the period of sanctions bans on everything American during the second Palestinian intifada in the early 2000s and the United States invasion of Iraq. In 2003, a Beirut McDonald's was bombed, injuring five people. We can also recall how, during the Arab Spring of 2011, McDonald's in Cairo were destroyed and turned into emergency rooms for Protestants. And the franchisee in Riyadh was already donating to Palestinian hospitals.

Egyptian passions by McDonald's

All this testifies to the geopolitical trend that global brands have to face in conditions where they, willingly or unwillingly, try to influence complex social processes. And the fact that different segments of the population find themselves on different sides of the barricades because of McDonald's once again demonstrates how ideologized modern public consciousness is.

In Egypt, in connection with this whole story, a piquant situation has developed - there is a conflict of interests with an admixture of eastern bayism. On TV, announcers urge not to boycott the franchise, because its owner is local oligarch Yassin Mansour, a major employer and tax payer to the Egyptian treasury:


Meanwhile, the competing catering chain Tafwela, taking advantage of the situation, began to lure employees from McDonald's:

The problem is not the signs, but the people.

It is no secret that there is even a conflict prevention theory called “Golden Arches” by journalist Thomas Friedman. According to it, the states in which McDonald's is present do not fight among themselves. That is, this brand supposedly has some kind of unifying, peacemaking charisma. For the time being, this principle was indeed confirmed, until the Kosovo and then Ukrainian conflicts broke out. In our case: McDonald's is not present in Palestine, but the Jews are fighting Hezbollah from neighboring Lebanon, where it is thriving. Where is the logic, Mr. Friedman?

By the way, McDonald's is not alone in its unenviable role as a hostage to circumstances. A year ago, Britain's Unilever got into funding trouble for hiding the fact that its ice cream subsidiary Ben and Jerry's was boycotting the Israeli-occupied zones of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Also in 2022, consumers boycotted the Spanish retail chain Zara when franchise owner Joey Schwebel organized an event in honor of controversial Israeli minister Ben-Gvir. Now the current state of affairs in the Middle East has provoked a scandal within the McDonald's empire.