[chongli]

For a globally recognizable brand like McDonald's, the move to leave the country has a symbolic meaning. It sends a message to the Russian people that something is deeply wrong with the direction taken by their government. Of course, some Russians will interpret the move differently, but that cannot be avoided.

[cbozeman]

I don't think this is the reasoning at all.

I think trying to conduct transactions in a heavily sanctioned nation that's also fighting a war of aggression against a neighbor, and incurring heavy losses, is causing a headache for the bean counters, and it has finally become more trouble than it's worth, financially.

These enormous multinational behemoths - as an entity - don't give two shits about the people dying in Ukraine, Russian soldiers dying, or the Russian people enduring hardships. They care about profit.

It's no different than the stance on civil rights, or LGBQT+, or any other issue. If you look historically, these companies only bother to "do the right thing" once it has the potential of threatening profits. It may sound cynical, but the historical record is pretty solid.

[whywhywhywhy]

Always disgusted me how two faced the vocal companies like Disney and Apple were about LGBTQ+ rights in the US yet all too happy to throw the same community under the bus when Russian, Chinese and UAE profits were on the table.

They're only interested in the community as a PR tool, not the actual lives of the people, it's gross.

[adventured]

The parent did not say that was the reason, they said McDonald's leaving has symbolic meaning - which it absolutely does in a huge way.

> These enormous multinational behemoths - as an entity - don't give two shits about the people dying in Ukraine, Russian soldiers dying, or the Russian people enduring hardships. They care about profit.

Of course they do care about the context, very obviously, precisely because it can affect their profits. Which is why so many companies rapidly bandied together and left Russia, even when they legally didn't have to. The stigma of being associated with Russia is brand damaging, which is ultimately profit damaging (and Russia isn't worth enough as a market for most corporate giants to warrant taking that brand hit). That's the clear corporate equation.

[chongli]

Thank you. Far too often people will jump in and cry "all corporations only care about profits!" which is about as interesting a statement as "all programming languages are Turing-equivalent".

[jquery]

All international conglomerates are amoral. Some are more amoral than others.

[m000]

Any big organization is amoral. This includes countries.

[ushakov]

> Of course, some Russians will interpret the move differently

Russian propaganda will say something like: “McDonalds, evil American company, left our people without jobs and betrayed our trust”

most people would believe this

the blame will be shifted from Russian Government to “evil American corporation”

[FpUser]

>“McDonalds, evil American company, left our people without jobs and betrayed our trust”

You got me curious and I decided to check. They actually carried out reasons stated by McDnalds and respected the fact that through the whole process company has behaved responsibly towards employees and seeks their future employment as a condition for perspective buyers. I saw no signs of propaganda in the article.

https://lenta.ru/news/2022/05/16/mcdonalds/

[jquery]

Sure, but not everyone is convinced by the propaganda. Some people are just plain mad they don’t have something they used to have. We’ve tried appeasing a mad expansionist dictator in the past, didn’t go so well.

This is especially keen with apple products.

[ushakov]

Apple products can be brought from overseas

with McDonalds they would just make a clone which uses same formulas and suppliers

[adventured]

It's about removing sanction: denying the Russians - particularly the urban Russians - their veneer of civilization, affluence, westernization. The notion that they had accomplished something material positive in regards to moving forward in the world among nations after the Soviet collapse.

Sure they can clone brands, and sometimes they can clone products and services, you can also go to Walmart and buy Great Value brand products that are 85% as good as the brand goods. Most people still don't want to do that if they can afford not to.

People buy brands primarily (not exclusively) for social reasons of status, not because they're vastly superior to all alternatives (off brands, generics, house brands, etc). They don't need that Chanel or Louis Vuitton bag, or iPhone, they want it to show off.

Removing sanction is about the West no longer pretending Russia is a civilized nation, no longer pretending their culture is a civilized one (rather than a barbarous relic of the conquest-obsessed primitive past of the European great powers conflicts).

[PolygonSheep]

> denying the Russians - particularly the urban Russians - their veneer of civilization, affluence, westernization.

Yeah I feel very civilized, affluent, and Western when I walk into a McDonalds.

[jquery]

This is largely true in other countries. Affluence is relative but it’s seen as a very clean and consistent burger joint.

[thriftwy]

I think you're taking your words fairly serious, whereas they would cause a lot of good laughs outside of the bubble of "the West".

For starters, why do you think that Russia would care whether you are currently pretending anything about Russia.

[ogurechny]

The scale of these delusions can only match the scale of Putin's delusions. How detached from real life should one be to reason about people as though they were homo economicus, pathetic humanoid consumers?

Linking “brands” to “civilization” is just a widespread publicist cliche that is only observed in various “analysis” in media. When you look at what people actually did, there is no trace of such feeling. Those who were critical of the state politics reacted to the news with “things are looking turbulent, better buy some buckwheat just in case”. Those who were supportive of the state politics reacted to the news with “things are looking turbulent, better buy some buckwheat just in case”. See, no one seriously cared about McDonalds® burgers or Apple® devices, but that didn't affect “economical prognoses” in the slightest. I can make my own: not even in most glorious America there is enough people to start an uprising over McDonalds being unavailable.

What's more important, outside of lucky industries like IT, not many people can even afford to care about brands. Those who make a lot usually work in export or budget spending (or “spending”) sectors, and they are the ones who perfectly understand that their wealth depends first and foremost on supporting any decision that comes from above, not following some capitalist dreams (even though this is a typical corporate manager situation). Those who make a lot more than a lot, and used to buy castles, villas, yachts, and so on in Europe and elsewhere, had zero problems with that for decades, despite the common knowledge that almost none of them had made those kind of money independently, and with hard work. One might even theorise that shooting down Boeing full of Europeans (as opposed to lesser people across the world routinely dying on TV screens) was Putin's particularly devilish plan of forcing his daughter to stop enjoying life abroad and move back home. Such are customs in modern “high society” of “successful people”. Have anyone noticed that when US arrested Abramovich's mansion, he seemed to get irritated, and made some un-business-like comments along the lines of “I'm no different from other people buying those, what's your fucking problem?” Might be the rare occasion of him telling some truth.

There has been a very nice rebuttal back in March. I am grateful to English translators because now I don't have to state all of that myself: https://www.getrevue.co/profile/belkitz/issues/weekly-newsle...

[jquery]

this is pure copium and old fashioned antimodernist ranting. if it helps you sleep at night, great, but it wont work on everyone. some people dont appreciate their nation becoming north korea 2.0