Some students at The American University in Cairo are boycotting McDonald’s, believing the American fast food chain gave a portion of its profits to Israel after its assault on Gaza.
The protest, though, is based on a false rumor, circulated by e-mail and Facebook groups in December.
Yomna Zaki, a psychology major, said she is boycotting McDonald’s and Starbucks. “They’ve announced they were giving their profits to Israel.”
“The messages about McDonald’s giving its revenues to Israel until next Saturday do not originate from, and are not affiliated with, McDonald’s,” Tara Handy, senior manager of Corporate Media Relations for McDonald’s, told AlArabiya.net. “This is completely false and appears to be nothing more than a rumor or hoax.”
But Zaki said she would continue to boycott the restaurant. “I used to boycott McDonald’s a long time ago and then I stopped. But after the last bombings in Gaza I resumed boycotting,” she said. “I know a lot of friends who are also boycotting McDonald’s.”
The restaurant chain is the subject of a number of rumors. In fact, Israeli supporters have falsely accused McDonald’s of providing portions of its profits to the Palestinians.
What McDonald’s restaurants actually does is provide portions of its annual operating costs to the Ronald McDonald House Charities in the US, which support children in need.
Likewise, its Israel franchises donate thousands of sheqels to benefit children in Israel, and its Egyptian franchises donate money to children’s charities in Egypt and other Arab countries.
It is yet unclear whether or not McDonald’s at AUC was affected by this boycott.
“We still don’t have a history to judge upon. We don’t have any comprehensive record sales to compare this semester to,” said Islam Hassan, AUC branch manager of McDonald’s.
“Our sales were higher last semester, but that was because of the availability of coupons. We don’t know the reason for the decrease, it is not necessarily because of the boycott.”
Not all the students are supporting the boycott. Those students feel the protest indirectly affects Egypt’s economy.
“I’m not boycotting McDonald’s because it’s a franchise, if I do then our employees are gonna lose their jobs, we will lose a lot of money while they won’t get affected,” said Sara Hesham Zayed, a mass communication student at AUC.
McDonald’s is the world’s largest chain of fast food restaurants, serving nearly 58 million customers daily.
“[Boycotting McDonald's] may not make a difference, but I feel proud of myself for doing it, that’s the least I could do to help the Palestinian people,” Zaki said.
- By Sulafeh Al Shami
February 28th, 2009 at 10:09 am
Sulafeh,
This is a very well written and an objective article. It goes in line with a new tradition in the Arab Region whereby people shoudl learn not to make decisions based on rumors and heresay.
Well done!
March 24th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
I boycott McDonald’s because of its healthy food.
March 25th, 2009 at 10:29 pm
Sulafeh, thank you for your efforts.
This article contains misleading information, McDonalds did not send some of its profits to Israel after the war on Gaza, and I never heard that rumor anywhere (and I looked it up everywhere and couldn’t find it either). Everyone I know who boycots McDonalds did/does so because it supports Israel before as well as after the war on Gaza. McDonalds themselves are proud that they benefit the Israeli economy, serve Kosher and close on Sabbath
http://www.mcdonalds.com/countries/israel.html
They also have a program called McSmile where they send children with cancer to world tours like US Disney or Eu Disney etc… and they only take children from Israel from the entire Middle East region.
Let’s all McSmile at that. ~_~
April 22nd, 2009 at 3:33 pm
“[Boycotting McDonald's] may not make a difference, but I feel proud of myself for doing it, that’s the least I could do to help the Palestinian people,” Zaki said.
Zaki, you feel proud of yourself for boycotting a chain based completely on lies? Your stubbornness astounds me and you should be ashamed of yourself for your closed-mindedness and refusal to accept basic fact. The article makes clear that Israel providing extra aid to Israel after the recent Gaza assault is nothing more than an elaborate rumor–you think it’s honorable to continue spreading a lie by refusing to eat there?
People like Zaki are the best examples of why the Middle East offers a culture so susceptible to conspiracy. She chooses to believe what she wants to believe–she believes, unflinchingly, any rumor that fuels her hatred for Israel. She, her friends and countless others refuse to alter their actions and thoughts based on reality, and for that, AUC and Egypt will continue living in a shadow of truth.
August 30th, 2009 at 7:17 am
Christian Amundson , i totallly agree with you, the problem is that the ignorances is not only present in the Middle East but have also spread to private communities in Egypt like AUC and many other private universities in the country, and if this is how we as WELL educated OPEN minded people think, then what shall we expect from the people down streets, who are died because of poverty and who are losing every hope in this life…shall they be open minded or also follow some stupid rumors…i agree with Sara ( in the article) because she THINKS adn uses her BRAIN..it is very true..by boycotting..we are ONLY effecting out economy…..Zaki..you are a psychology major ..u should be OPEN minded otherwise…..
September 2nd, 2009 at 2:08 am
Zaki,
That most definitely is the LEAST you could do to help the Palestinian people, because you are in fact, not helping them by boycotting a franchise in Egypt one bit.
I agree 100% with Christian. Until you choose to stop believing baseless rumors and actually DO something with truth behind it, nothing will ever change with this issue. Although, choosing to believe something you know to be false sounds to me like you aren’t actually looking for change, just more of the same.
September 8th, 2009 at 1:23 am
If Mcdonald’s had actually given a portion of its proceeds to Israel after its “assault” on Gaza, I would actually give them my business. Instead, McDonald’s should be boycotted because of its blatantly racist 365 campaign in which it celebrates “black history” EVERY SINGEL DAY OF THE YEAR.