McDonald's faces first crisis in four years

The most well-known fast food chain in the world has reported a 1% drop in sales for the first time since the pandemic, according to a report last Monday by the Financial Times. For CEO Chris Kempczinski, the fast food leader present in over one hundred twenty countries has become a victim of inflation, as, compared to 2019, the prices of its offerings have increased significantly. Last May, the president of McDonald's America announced that the iconic Big Mac had seen a 27% price increase and that the average portion of fries now costs 44% more than before the pandemic. Kempczinski attributed the 1% drop in sales to the fact that people are less willing to eat out, and are more conscious of their finances. Additionally, among young Millennials and Gen Z, there is an increasing general focus on health and, consequently, on a more balanced diet. The popularity of the all-organic American supermarket Erewhon is a great example of this trend, but that's not all: political conflicts happening around the world have played a central role in the decline of multinational sales. In 2022, following the invasion of Ukraine by the Kremlin, the American brand decided to suspend all its operations in the Soviet state, while the current conflict between Palestine and Israel over the Gaza Strip, although not mentioned at all by CEO Kempczinski, continues to persuade hundreds of thousands of consumers to forego Big Macs and fries.

The BDS Movement (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) is a pro-Palestine movement that calls for people to boycott companies and brands that actively support the Israeli occupation in the Palestinian territories. The movement has gained significant traction on social media, especially after the start of the Gaza war in October 2023. The hashtag #BDS has more than 400,000 posts on TikTok, and the official profile of the organization on X has 430K followers. McDonald's has been one of the most actively boycotted brands after the Israeli branch of the franchise donated thousands of free meals to Israeli military troops, who were accused of massacring hundreds of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Many netizens had urged the giant to condemn the actions of the Israeli franchise but received complete silence. In an attempt to mend the situation, last April, McDonald's headquarters bought the license for all locations in Israel, in an effort to contain the ongoing outrage and boycott on social media as much as possible. The brand's reputation has suffered serious global damage, to the extent that the financial group Morgan Stanley stated that the only way to get out of this crisis would be to offer meals for 5 dollars to appeal to a market segment that now seems to have retreated.