Friday, June 4, 2010

They Sell Burgers, You Know

You made Jesus facepalm

Ah, McDonalds. Home of my favorite french fries, though only when they're right out of the fryer, so hot you can hardly eat them. OM NOM NOM NOM.

Hmm. Maybe this cutting back on salt thing isn't so good for me.

Anyway, because a burger is never just a burger and everything is an assault on someone's religious beliefs, Red Cardigan is deeply offended by a McDonald's ad that runs in France in which gay people are being, well, people. Red Cardigan does not live in France. She lives in the United States, like me. Personally, I don't care if McDonalds uses tentacle porn (go ahead, search that, I dare you) to advertise its products in France, because I don't live there. But not Red Cardigan. Like any good Christian, she's deeply offended by something that doesn't affect her at all.

I realize that a certain segment of the population suffers from same-sex attraction. But the push to normalize homosexual activity, to force a narrative that insists that homosexual acts are normal and that the attraction is a good thing, is an attempt to make positive and good what is contrary to the moral law and to the teachings of many mainstream religions, Catholicism among them.

And that has what to do with burgers? Hey, guess what, gay people buy burgers, too! I know, it's astounding. It's almost like those homosekshuals are people, too. Huh.

France, of course, doesn't have to worry that much about their (largely) nominally Catholic population having any objection to this ad. France's growing Islamic population, however, might, since Islam also views homosexual acts as sinful. At present, the Islamic population in France is not inconsiderable, accounting for about six percent of France's total population.

"I'll tell the Muslims! You'll see!" has to be the weirdest threat from an American Christian, but you see it all the time these days. "We're reasonable, but those guys? Fucking crazy. You do not want me to get them involved."

In America, of course, McDonald's is marketed as a family-friendly, child-welcoming restaurant. A commercial winking at the idea of a father's cluelessness regarding his homosexual teenage son's dating adventures would probably not fly here, given McDonald's market in this country. But that's one of the things I hate about huge multinational corporations--they can play the game of being all things to all people, and show ads with mothers, fathers, and small children in this country, and gay-friendly ads France, without apparently seeing any contradiction between the two.

*headdesk* There is no contradiction, honey. You see, McDonalds isn't selling morality or religion. They sell fast food. In the United States, fast food is automatically considered family fair, being quick and cheap, so of course the advertising is family friendly. France, however, has a different culture, therefore McDonalds' advertising in France is different. That's right, the entire world is not exactly the same. I bet that ad was even in French. Wow! We'll wait while you mull that one over.

McDonald's got into trouble two years ago over their support of a gay organization; pro-family groups organized a boycott at the time. In the present economy, some families have seen McDonald's as an inexpensive, family-friendly restaurant to take the kids to for an occasional treat--but this ad in France may make some people think twice about that choice.

I'm getting pretty tired of multinational corporations trying to override the religious and moral views of huge numbers of people so they can look trendy while selling fat-laden unhealthy food or other wasteful and unnecessary products. You might say I'm not lovin' it.

If by "got into trouble" you mean "nobody noticed our little hissy fit and McDonalds continued to post profits", then yes. But, no, McDonalds isn't trying to "override the religious and moral views" of anyone. They are selling burgers. An ad featuring a gay person doesn't override anything, it simply acknowledges that gay people exist and buy fast food. Which they do. Welcome to reality.


9 comments:

  1. V:And you know what they call a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in Paris?
    J:They don't call it a Quarter Pounder with Cheese?
    V:No, they got the metric system there, they wouldn't know what the fuck a Quarter Pounder is.
    J:What'd they call it?
    V:They call it Royale with Cheese.
    J:Royale with Cheese. What'd they call a Big Mac?
    V:Big Mac's a Big Mac, but they call it Le Big Mac.

    For some reason, that's the first thing that popped into my head reading this. Totally irrelevent non sequitur that it is

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh my...
    I just watched the ad in question. It's just cute. Do fundie kids never think about anything but sex? I probably wouldn't have understood that ad before I was thirteen.

    ReplyDelete
  3. it was a cute commercial, barring the fact that it annoyed me that the kid didn't feel comfortable telling his dad about himself. not that i think [if it were real] that he'd HAVE to tell - it being HIS life, he can do with it as he please. it annoyed me because it WAS a fake, and would have possibly been a bit stronger if the dad knew and was comparing his number dates with women to his son's number of dates with men. or something.

    meh.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh, PF, you get all the fun commenters...

    ReplyDelete
  5. "fast food is automatically considered family fair"

    OK, McDonald's food is only fair but perhaps you meant "family fare".

    Put food on your family! Make the pie higher! (George W. Bush)

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'll believe Dubbya said that, TTCH [although i'd more readily believe QUAYLE said that - Dan Quayle was more scarey even than Cheney and all the regime of the Puppetmaster...] but what the hell is it supposed to *mean*?
    or is it zen? lol

    ReplyDelete
  7. http://www.snopes.com/politics/bush/piehigher.asp

    ReplyDelete
  8. *falls down laughing*

    that's WONDEROUS!!! thanks :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. @ttch

    … And … he was … the freaking … President of the United States of America …?

    Someone, please give me a list of everyone who voted for him so I can pie their houses. Or post it online and shame them forever and ever. (And ever.)

    I’m so blogging that. Oh, Lordy.

    ReplyDelete

Comments are for you guys, not for me. Say what you will. Don't feel compelled to stay on topic, I enjoy it when comments enter Tangentville or veer off into Non Sequitur Town. Just keep it polite, okay?

I am attempting to use blogger's new comment spam feature. If you don't immediately see your comment, it is being held in spam, I will get it out next time I check the filter. Unless you are Dennis Markuze, in which case you're never seeing your comment.

Creative Commons License
Forever in Hell by Personal Failure is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at foreverinhell.blogspot.com.