In Indonesia and Malaysia, boycotts hammer McDonald’s, Starbucks
Ordinarily during the holy month of Ramadan, entrepreneur Putra Kelana breaks fast with his family and friends at several different food outlets across his city in North Sumatra.
But this year, one outlet will not be on the menu: McDonald’s.
Kelana has been boycotting the fast food chain since October when McDonald’s Israel announced on social media that it had donated thousands of free meals to the Israeli military amid its war in Gaza.
“It is not so much an outright boycott, rather a feeling of being deeply unhappy with Israel,” Kelana told Al Jazeera.
“I used to have a McDonald’s sticker on my car which gave me discounts when I used the drive-through, but I ripped it off when the war started.”
“If I could go to Gaza to help fight against the Israeli forces, I would do it. Muslims are being killed by the
Israelis every day. Because I can’t go there in person, the next best thing is to show my support by not using products affiliated with Israel.”
Kelana, who joined a Whatsapp group where members regularly post updated lists of products to avoid, has also stopped drinking Aqua bottled water following reports that French producer Danone invested in several Israeli companies and startups.
Across Southeast Asia, calls to boycott products perceived to have links to Israel are having a noticeable impact on the bottom lines of major brands.
In February, McDonald’s said that war was part of the reason international sales rose by just 0.7 percent during the fourth quarter of 2023, down sharply from a 16.5 percent expansion during the same period the previous year.
“The most pronounced impact that we’re seeing is in the Middle East and in Muslim countries like Indonesia and Malaysia,” McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said in an earnings call.
“So long as this conflict, this war is going on […] we’re not expecting to see any significant improvement.”
Other brands that have been affected by boycotts include Unilever and coffee chain Starbucks.
Unilever, which produces Dove soap, Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and Knorr stock cubes, said in February that sales in Indonesia had experienced a double-digit decline during the fourth quarter last year as a result of “geopolitically focused, consumer-facing campaigns”.
Isna Sari, a housewife in Medan, said she has made several changes to her weekly shopping list since the start of the war, including switching washing up liquid brand Sunlight, owned by Unilever, for local brand Mama Lemon.