Global Franchises

 

There are few constants in the world.  Among them: death, taxes, and the fact that whatever country you find yourself in, if there is a McDonald's, a Big Mac will taste the same.  This is often a great boon to those intrepid adventurers who, having braved such local specialities as duck's blood soup or deep fried chicken's feet, can rest assured that once they are back in a big city, or its adjacent airport, they can touch base with the unwavering, unchanging, comforting familiarity of Burger King or its like.  In these cases, a Whopper can taste so good.

 

There is, however, a dark side to the American cuisine that has been exported around the world, in ironic, homogeneic contradiction to the variety of foods found in the homeland. McDonald's has come under fire in recent years and serves as a useful case study of the perils of culinary imperialisation as practised by those intrepid Yanks.

 

Prince Charles came under fire in 2007 for telling a nutritionist in Abu Dhabi that the key towards fighting poor nutrition and diabetes in her country was to ban McDonald's.  A spokeswoman for the franchise responded by saying, 'Charles was clearly unaware of some of the moves the company has made...such as improved labelling, supporting sustainable agriculture and nutritional changes with choice and variety.'  Her comments illustrate the difficulties the firm has faced as it has become synonymous with rainforest destruction, unfair targeting of children via its marketing, and selling food allegedly virtually bereft of any real nutritional value.