Arab franchises react negatively to McDonald’s Israel’s announcement that free lunches would be provided to Israeli soldiers.Famously, two nations with McDonald’s restaurants had never experienced war, according to Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Thomas Friedman in the late 1990s.
The famous American fast food chain is at war with itself, even as conflict rages between Israel and Hamas.McDonald’s is donating thousands of free meals to the Israel Defence Forces and citizens after Hamas attacks
Franchises of McDonald’s have taken positions on both sides of the dispute in the Middle East; those in Muslim nations have rejected McDonald’s Israel’s plan to give free meals to the Israeli troops.
Along with distancing themselves from their Israeli counterparts, franchises in Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, Bahrain, and Turkey have jointly promised to donate over $3 million to aid Palestinians in Gaza under siege.
After pledging $100,000 to aid humanitarian efforts in Gaza, McDonald’s Oman wrote on X on Sunday, saying, “Let us all combine our efforts and support the community in Gaza with everything we can.”
We implore God Almighty to shield all Arab and Muslim nations, including our own, from hatred and evil.
McDonald’s Israel converted its Instagram account to “private” after proclaiming that it supports the Israeli army in response to criticism. The majority of McDonald’s restaurants are locally owned and run throughout the world, despite being one of the most recognisable American trademarks.
McDonald’s instance illustrates the complex geopolitical dynamics that global brands have to manage in a time when companies are frequently required to comment on contentious social and political issues.
Friedman popularised the “Golden Arches” notion of conflict prevention in his 1999 book The Lexus and the Olive Tree, and this debate has reignited the conversation around it as well.
Many disputes involving nations that own the McDonald’s trademark, such as the Kosovo War of 1998–1999 and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, have cast doubt on the idea that nations wealthy and stable enough to sustain massive chains such as McDonald’s do not wage war on one another.
Though the American fast food company is present in nearby Lebanon, Israel has clashed with Hezbollah fighters there. McDonald’s is not present in Gaza or the occupied West Bank.
The Golden Arches Theory of Conflict Prevention is definitely out of date now, according to Paul Musgrave, an associate professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, who spoke with Al Jazeera.
Despite the existence of McDonald’s in 2022, conflict broke out between Russia and Ukraine. Today, disputes within the McDonald’s corporation reflect the true anxieties and fervour of the area.
A worldwide brand’s position on the Israel-Palestine issue has not spared McDonald’s from controversy.
Investors criticised the UK-based multinational Unilever this year for neglecting to reveal that Ben and Jerry’s, a subsidiary of the company, had chosen to boycott Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank in 2021.
When Canadian-Israeli billionaire Joey Schwebel, the chairman of Zara’s Israeli franchise, held a far-right campaign event last year, some customers boycotted the Spanish brand. Itamar Ben-Gvir, an Israeli minister, in his residence.
The human rights records of other nations, such as China, have also sparked controversy surrounding major brands.
Human rights advocates claim that cotton cultivated in China’s Xinjiang province, where Japanese company MUJI operates, is exploited for forced labour, and in 2021, the retailer came under fire for publicly supporting this claim.
Musgrave stated, “It has been shown to have some holes in the dream that capitalism and trade would quiet nationalism and other forms of fervour.”
The fact that various McDonald’s franchisees end up on opposing sides shows how politics permeates everything.
