KUALA LUMPUR – The boycott of McDonald’s and Starbucks in Malaysia is apparently gaining traction, as many netizens are sharing videos of empty outlets that were once known to be crowded hotspots.
X (formerly Twitter) user Faizal Hamssin shared a photo of an empty McDonald’s outlet in Jalan P Ramlee in the city centre here, saying it was always crowded previously.
“I walk past this McDonald’s at Jalan P. Ramlee daily, and this is the first time that I’m seeing the outlet this empty. It’s Sunday (October 29), 8.30pm. This is anecdotal, but it looks like the boycott, this time, is unique. It’s big, consequential. I’ve never seen anything like this in KL.”
A TikTok user known as ‘tehkekopi’ shared on October 30 an empty McDonald’s outlet at night.
However, a McDonald’s employee uploaded a video that went viral on Tiktok and X, showing a long list of orders all over the floor of a kitchen despite the supposed boycott.
“(Netizens) just say they want to boycott, but order (McDonald’s) from home,” the caption said.
The boycott is seemingly affecting employees as well. One post in particular, by X user amaaawesome posted that her brother-in-law, who is deaf working part-time at a McDonald’s in Kelantan, was seeing fewer shifts.
“Since the boycott started, he didn’t get called for work. Anyone who knows any job vacancy, please DM me. He just got married, I feel sorry for him.”
A check by Scoop found that McDonald’s Malaysia turned off comments on its Instagram page today.
Meanwhile, a Starbucks outlet in Ampang was empty yesterday evening, as shown in a video posted by X user Putri Kanay4.
The video was captioned with the words “Starbucks Ampang Mati (Starbucks Ampang dead)”, and Putri Kanay4 said the solidarity for Palestine movement is going strong, so brands apparently associated with Israel are being boycotted around the country.
X user Layla Arissa posted on October 29 that Starbucks at USJ 21 Main Place mall was empty while Yahya Mohamad Hassan tweeted on October 27 the outlet at KL Sentral looked deserted at night.
“Starbucks Coffee has already been boycotted. There are absolutely no customers.”
The boycott of Mcdonald’s this time was largely triggered by its Israeli franchise giving thousands of free meals to hospitals and troops in the Israel Defence Forces.
In response, McDonald’s Malaysia (Gerbang Alaf Restaurants Sdn Bhd) said since its acquisition by Lionhorn Pte Ltd under the Reza Group companies from Saudi Arabia in 2017, it has been a 100% Muslim-owned entity.
Meanwhile, Starbucks in the US is fighting with its workers’ union over a social media post about the Israel-Hamas war.
The Seattle-based chain has filed a federal suit against Starbucks Workers United in Iowa over a pro-Palestine post shared by a union account. – November 3, 2023