It's been a bad year for McDonald's. Not long ago the company announced its first quarterly loss ever. Now, with the war in Iraq, it's a prominent target of anti-American sentiment around the planet. Of course McDonald's is not alone — Coca-Cola, Budweiser, Starbucks, and many other American brands have been targeted with boycotts.
But in trolling through photos on Yahoo's news site, I've become gradually obsessed with how many McDonald's outlets have either come under attack, or been put under armed guard. I was hoping that some magazine or newspaper would collect these photos — and there must be many more available, if one has the photo-agency contacts to collect them — but before these disappear I figured the list I could do is put together the links. To me it's kind of an astonishing series — Ronald McDonald burned and held at gunpoint, windows smashed, soldiers with machine guns all over the planet protecting the Golden Arches.
Obviously, attacking a McDonald's is not strictly logical, however much the chain may appear to be a sort of corporate viceroy. These are just franchises, run by locals.
On the other hand, marketing experts always say that branding is about emotion, not logic. Reuters quotes a McDonald's spokeswoman saying the various boycotts and attacks have not had an impact on sales, but that really isn't the point. (Although it is sort of interesting to ponder the cumulative losses, not to mention how much all those cops and soldiers are being paid.) "As a global entity, McDonald's is just a brand," the spokeswoman said to Reuters. "Most of the restaurants are local franchises and support their local community. So why do they attack McDonald's?"
Just a brand? Please. What's interesting here is that this is an example of a kind of brand blowback happening on a worldwide scale. McDonald's is actually a truly awesome brand, authentically global in its reach, and understood everywhere with total clarity. Normally this is its strength. For a moment or two, it is just the opposite.
Links are below, but click quickly: The news photo archive is ephemeral.
In Quito, Ecuador, on March 20, protestors haul a Ronald
McDonald statue, to be burned. For reasons that aren't clear, they
seem to have scrawled a swastika on his chest.
More recently, protesters there demonstrating outside the U.S. embassy
"and two fast food restaurants" were tear-gassed,
on March 26. .
On March 19, an Indonesian protestor points
a toy gun at Ronald's face, as though he were threatening him, outside
a Jakarta McDonald's.
In Barcelona, Spain, students attack
a McDonald's after an anti-war demonstration, March 26. Another
view.
The windows of this Paris
McDonald's were smashed during an anti-war demonstration on March
20. What looks like the same outlet is still
under armed guard on March 25.
In Strasbourg, France, a McDonald's outlet that was pelted with meat and
fake blood by protesters. Here,
armed guards have secured the location on March 22.
In Seoul, South Korea, activists scale
a McDonald's signboard and demand a stop to the war on March 26. Twenty
were arrested.
In Manila, protesters advocate a boycott against U.S. products at a demonstration
outside a McDonald's on March 26. They also torched
a pack of Marlboro Lights.
In Lahore, Pakistan, a McDonald's outlet is protected
by armed police officers on March 20.
In Karachi, Pakistan, more guards, with what I guess are assault rifles,
defend
another McDonald's on March 23.
On the other side of the world, demonstrators burn a U.S. effigy of some
sort during a demonstration
outside a McDonald's, on March 26. Earlier, police in riot gear formed
a wall
of resistance outside a McDonald's in Buenos Aires, on March 20.
