By Munir K. Nasser
Chief Correspondent, Washington, DC
Albawaba.com
The McDonald’s Corporation in the United Stated denied that the campaign to boycott its products in the Arab world is having any effect on business.
Mike Gordon, McDonald’s spokesman in Oak Brook, Illinois near Chicago, told Albawaba.com that his Corporation is not taking any steps to counter the boycotts. “To us, it is business as usual.”
He stressed that McDonald’s does not really have a stand on the boycott.
Gordon said his Corporation is not in contact with the US government on this issue. “We have no comment on this. We are in the hamburger business, and our partners are running McDonald’s restaurants,” he said.
When asked if the boycott is hurting McDonald’s business in Saudi Arabia, he said: “Our business in Saudi is just fine. Our partners are doing well and they are now celebrating Ramadan and they are doing a good business.”
McDonald’s spokesman was reacting to news reports from the region saying that McDonald's fast food chains in Saudi Arabia has been suffering a slump following calls from leading Gulf clerics for a boycott of US products in protest of Washington's support for Israel.
Gordon stressed that McDonald’s business in the Arab world are owned and managed by Arab businesses. He said that local McDonald’s partners run the businesses and the US headquarters provide service, support and expertise to run those businesses. “Our business in Saudi Arabia is owned by Saudi partners and run by Saudi management teams,” he said. “We consider our business there very local as we do around the world. Saudi Arabia is no different.”
Gordon refused to comment if there were boycott campaigns against McDonald’s in other Arab countries, such as Jordan and Egypt. He said, however, that in Jordan and Egypt McDonald’s businesses are structured the same way as in Saudi Arabia.
“We have Jordanian partners and Egyptian partners, and they are independent businesses and they are run by local business managers and staff from the local communities,” he said.
Gordon denied that the McDonald’s campaign to donate money to Palestinian hospitals was designed to appease the anti American feeling in the region because of the perceived US bias towards Israel. He said McDonald’s has a long history of supporting children’s causes through efforts of local partners. “One of the typical ways that McDonald’s and its customers raise these monies for children’s causes is through promotions and donation tags to product sales,” he explained. “In the case of our Saudi partners, they have chosen, in celebration of Ramadan, to take a portion of the proceeds from one of their extra value meals and donate those monies to Palestinian pediatric hospitals. This year our partners have selected to support this worthy cause,” he said.
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