A video circulated showing a Muslim man warning some shoppers outside a McDonald’s branch in Medina, Saudi Arabia, against buying meals from one of the famous American restaurant chain’s outlets.
Foreigner berates those waiting outside McDonald’s in Medina
The video has garnered over 12 million views on the first Instagram account that posted it, within the first days of its publication, and has been shared by several other accounts across social media platforms.
In the video, a man speaks forcefully in English while directing the camera towards a group of people waiting outside a McDonald’s branch in Medina. The video begins with the statement: “Muslims eating McDonald’s in Medina.”
Then another man’s voice speaking English is heard, addressing the waiting customers, saying: “My brothers and sisters, remember, there is still a Zionist here (referring to the McDonald’s branch). Beware. Don’t let them deceive you.”
He continued before leaving the scene and stopping the recording: “There are other places you can eat at. Support local businesses.”
The video was posted by a young American blogger named “Wayoflifesq”, who has over 400,000 followers on Instagram, more than half a million on TikTok, and 1.7 million subscribers on YouTube.
The video was accompanied by the comment: “McDonald’s won’t receive any Muslim money,” and the continuous advice to boycott the famous brand. He affirmed that the queues at McDonald’s, which used to be long in the past, have become shorter; he said: “But thank God, Muslims are no longer buying as they used to.”
The post received over 340,000 likes, while the comments reached 13,000 comments.
McDonald’s Boycott Campaign
The campaign has received positive responses in Arab and Islamic countries and several Western countries as well. Earlier, Twitter users shared pictures of other McDonald’s branches in the city, which appeared empty of customers.
This comes after the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement (BDS) added the famous fast-food chain to the list of companies it calls for boycotting. BDS noted that the fast-food chain is one of the companies supporting its boycott campaigns, although it pointed out that it was not the entity that initiated the call for it.
Regarding this section, it said that the companies listed therein come because of the “complicity of these brands in the genocide and apartheid committed by Israel against the Palestinians.”
It is worth mentioning that McDonald’s faced a widespread backlash due to the franchise owner’s donation of meals and drinks to Israeli soldiers during the Israeli war on Gaza.
BDS had pointed out that the company’s branch in Malaysia had pursued the boycott campaign against Israel thereby suing McDonald’s against BDS Malaysia, accusing it of “defamation” and causing damages exceeding one million dollars.
