All Together Now

Somewhere along the line when I was coming up in my professional career and just starting to pay attention to business and brands and marketing, I heard an interesting little factoid that stuck with me:

There has never been a major war in a country that has McDonald's.

At the time, this is how I parsed that statement:

Big companies and global capitalism is so invested in making money that they (by hook, crook, or political maneuvering) won’t allow a war to disrupt commerce in any way.

It said that big business controls us all, controls culture, that we exist to serve them.

But something happened a few weeks ago that made me question that assumption.

What happened was that McDonald's announced it was closing 850 stores in Russia in response to that nations unprovoked attack on Ukraine.

For a monolith like McD’s to close 850 stores as a show of solidarity, as a reflection of the will of the people to protest, to sanction, to fight back is pretty freakin’ cool if you ask me.

Cool, because it shows me that big business can serve us.

When we unite, we control them.

And because McDonald's listened and responded to the will of the people, they increased their brand loyalty in the hearts and minds of billions around the world.

It gives new meaning to the words on their signs:

"Billions and Billions Served".