In an effort to compensate for its losses as a result of the widespread global boycott, the fast food chain McDonald’s is preparing to offer $5 meals in its American restaurants to attract a larger number of customers.
A Bloomberg report said that the giant company’s sales witnessed a slowdown in the growth of its global sales for the fourth consecutive quarter.
It is noteworthy that the pace of decline has accelerated sharply since last October, due to the widespread global popular boycott of McDonald’s products after accusations were made against it of supporting the Israeli army, which is committing massacres against civilians in the Gaza Strip.
In early April, McDonald’s and Allonial Limited said that McDonald’s had decided to purchase its franchise in Israel for 30 years from the Allonial Limited company that owns it, which would return to McDonald’s ownership of 225 restaurants with more than 5,000 employees. employee.
McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said last January that the company had witnessed “tangible damage” in a number of markets in the Middle East and beyond due to the war launched by Israel on Gaza, which Arabs, Muslims and others from around the world responded by boycotting brands that support Israel. In support of Gaza.
McDonald’s is one of the most famous and largest fast food companies in the world, as it owns more than 40,000 branches in more than 120 countries. But their franchises are often owned by local companies that operate independently.
The beginning of the boycott
The story of the McDonald’s boycott began when the chain’s accounts on the X platform (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and Facebook published last October a group of photos providing free meals to Israeli soldiers.
The pictures were accompanied by saying that they will donate about 4,000 meals a day to the occupation army, and they will also receive a 50% discount on the rest of the other food items, in support of the occupation army that has been waging a war on the Gaza Strip since it launched the Al-Aqsa Flood Battle on October 7, 2023.
Pictures of Israeli soldiers carrying bags of McDonald’s meals spread widely on Palestinian, Arab and international communication platforms, sparking a state of anger among the pioneers of the virtual world. Strong calls began to boycott its restaurants around the world via the hashtag “#Boycott_McDonald’s.”
With the spread of the boycott campaign, many agents of the McDonald’s restaurant chain in the Arab world were quick to issue statements in which they confirmed that they have no relationship with McDonald’s Israel branch, and that McDonald’s is a joint-stock company owned not by a specific person but by millions of people around the world, and that they are 100% local companies, with independent management. All profits belong entirely to local companies, and the role of the international company is limited only to allowing the use of the trademark locally, i.e. what is known as the “franchise” system.