An article to give you a clear picture of what's going on with McDonald's in the Middle East!
By Fatty Dubai
Today there is a news I do not know if you have seen: the UAE McDonald's donated 1 million dirhams to the Mother's Giving campaign!
This news gave Fatty a whole lot of joy, so you can say that the desire to survive is very strong! However, in the feedback of public opinion, many netizens do not seem to buy it.
So here's the thing, and a lot of people don't know it: a lot of areas in the Middle East are now boycotting McDonald's!
"#BOYCOTTMCDONALDS." is trending almost every few days.
It all started back in October 2023, when the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was already raging, and then McDonald's Israel did something particularly commercially illogical: McDonald's Israel said that it would provide 4,000 free meals a day to military, police, and healthcare organizations at five of its locations in the country.
This stirred up a hornet's nest, and pro-Palestinian Muslims and others are saying that since we can't trash the Israeli McDonald's, we'll trash our own!
There was a boycott of McDonald's on the internet, with all kinds of pictures and all kinds of jokes, the general idea being that every hamburger and fries that McDonald's sends to the Israeli army becomes a bullet that is fired at the Palestinians.
Then Lebanon, Malaysia, including other country's McDonald's clarified: "we have nothing to do with the Israeli McDonald's ah, we are the Muslim McDonald's ah!"
McDonald's in four Arab countries in the Middle East - Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Oman - immediately chose to cut ties with Israeli McDonald's: they expressed their support for the Palestinians and donated a total of 1.2 million dollars to aid Gaza. McDonald's in Turkey also donated $1 million dollars
You'd have to say that McDonald's officials are actually quite innocent, because this was a unilateral act by Alonyal, the special needs operator of McDonald's in Israel, which you can understand as an authorized franchisee.
Alonyal Group has been granted the local operating rights of McDonald's in Israel for more than 30 years. Understandably, McDonald's sought to douse the flames quietly, but the boycott intensified across the Middle East, impacting sales
On April 4th, McDonald's officially announced that it was buying back all 225 McDonald's restaurants in the region from Israeli distributor Alonyal, and retaining over 5,000 employees!
That's the ace up their sleeve! They flipped the table and walked away! And then you see the news: McDonald's UAE starts donating to official structures.
Next move? Middle Eastern McDonald's will likely donate to local governments under the guise of charity. The control and influence Middle Eastern governments wield over public opinion are beyond imagination.
Once the big brother says it's settled, this storm will gradually subside. People's memories are shorter than a fish's. When the dust settles, they'll go back to munching on burgers as usual.
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