(fwd) <nettime> Serbifying McDonalds

[t byfield]

>Date: Mon, 6 Sep 1999 16:30:08 +1000
>From: Scot McPhee <ScotM at cruxfe.com>
>To: nettime-l at bbs.thing.net
>Subject: <nettime> Serbifying McDonalds
>Sender: owner-nettime-l at bbs.thing.net
>Precedence: bulk
>
> [was: FW: How Big Mac Was Able to Refrain From Becoming a Serb Archenemy]
>
> The Wall Street Journal
> September 3, 1999
> How Big Mac Was Able to Refrain From Becoming a Serb Archenemy
>
> By ROBERT BLOCK
> Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
>
> BELGRADE, Yugoslavia -- During most of the 78-day air war against
>Yugoslavia, while NATO kept the bombs dropping, McDonald's kept the burgers
>flipping.
>
> Vandalized at the outset by angry mobs, McDonald's Corp. was forced to
>temporarily close its 15 restaurants in Yugoslavia. But when local managers
>flung the doors open again, they accomplished an extraordinary comeback
>using an unusual marketing strategy: They put McDonald's U.S. citizenship on
>the back burner.
>
> To help overcome animosity toward a quintessential American trademark, the
>local restaurants promoted the McCountry, a domestic pork burger with
>paprika garnish. As a national flourish to evoke Serbian identity and pride,
>they produced posters and lapel buttons showing the golden arches topped
>with a traditional Serbian cap called the sajkaca (pronounced shy-KACH-a).
>They also handed out free cheeseburgers at anti-NATO rallies. The basement
>of one restaurant in the Serbian capital even served as a bomb shelter.
>
> Now that the war is over, the company is basking in its success. Cash
>registers are ringing at prewar levels. In spite of falling wages, rising
>prices and lingering anger at the U.S., McDonald's restaurants around the
>country are thronged with Serbs hungry for Big Macs and fries. And why not,
>asks 16-year-old Jovan Stojanovic, munching on a burger. "I don't associate
>McDonald's with America," he says. "Mac is ours."
>
> This is music to Dragoljub Jakic's ears. The 47-year-old managing director
>of McDonald's in Yugoslavia was the mastermind behind the campaign to
>"Serbify," at least during the war, an American icon. "We managed to save
>our brand," the six-and-a-half-foot-tall Mr. Jakic says with a grin.
>
> That was no easy task. As the fast-food industry's superpower, McDonald's
>is a global symbol of Western pop culture, Yankee know-how and American
>corporate cunning. But prominence on the world stage can be a lightning rod
>for trouble, and the company is often exposed to outbursts of anti-American
>sentiment and a myriad of political grievances. Last month, a McDonald's
>restaurant in Belgium was burned down, and animal-rights activists are the
>suspected arsonists.
>
> Youth Mobs
>
> The sacking of McDonald's in Yugoslavia came after only one night of air
>strikes. Whipped to patriotic fervor by the state-controlled media attacks
>on the "NATO criminals and aggressors," mobs of youths -- many wearing Nike
>shoes and Levi's jeans -- targeted three McDonald's branches in Belgrade and
>restaurants in the cities of Jagodina, Cacak and Zrenjanin, smashing windows
>and scribbling insults on doors and walls.
>
> The incidents shocked Mr. Jakic, who was more worried at the time about
>stray NATO bombs than the rage of his fellow citizens. "We have been in
>Yugoslavia for years, during which time we sponsored schools, sports clubs
>and children's hospitals," he says. "We're part of the community. We never
>thought anyone would do something bad to us."
>
> McDonald's, in fact, was once the pride of Belgrade, opening in the capital
>on March 24, 1988 -- exactly 11 years to the day before the North Atlantic
>Treaty Organization began bombing. It was the first branch in Central Europe
>and quickly became a source of local pride. At soccer matches in the old
>Yugoslavia, when teams from Belgrade met opponents from Zagreb, the Croatian
>capital, Belgrade fans would taunt their rivals with chants of "We have
>McDonald's and you don't!"
>
> In 1996, the company began expanding, opening restaurants in seven other
>Serbian cities. But on March 26, the day after the mob attacks, Mr. Jakic
>closed all his restaurants. He then called his top managers to Belgrade for
>brainstorming sessions to devise a survival strategy.
>
> 'Restaurant Is a Target'
>
> Within a week, they had launched a campaign to identify the plight of
>ordinary Serbs with the big burger joint. "McDonald's is sharing the destiny
>of all people here," read a sign at one branch. "This restaurant is a
>target, as we all are. If it has to be destroyed, let it be done by NATO."
>
> A key aspect of the campaign was to present McDonald's as a Yugoslav
>company. Though they are registered as local businesses, every restaurant in
>Yugoslavia in fact is 100% owned and operated by McDonald's. Mr. Jakic says
>McDonald's needed to get Serbs to view the company as their own.
>
> It was in this vein that he and his team decided to redesign the logo with
>the Serbian cap, cocked at a haughty angle over one arch. Traditional
>national emblems, like the sajkaca, have undergone a revival in recent years
>with the rise of Serbian nationalism.
>
> Mr. Jakic says the choice of the cap had nothing to do with politics. "The
>sajkaca is a strong, unique Serbian symbol. By adding this symbol of our
>cultural heritage, we hoped to denote our pride in being a local company,"
>he says.
>
> The company also brought back the McCountry pork burger, first released
>throughout Central Europe in early March, and lowered its price. The economy
>of preindustrial Yugoslavia was based on the pig trade, and pork is
>considered the most Serbian of meats. Mr. Jakic says his relaunch wasn't an
>attempt to pander to local sentiments, but to give people a break during
>hard times.
>
> There was no time for premarket trials of his plans. "We just jumped in,"
>Mr. Jakic says. In less than a week, McDonald's had printed new banners,
>tray liners, lapel buttons and posters of the redesigned arches set against
>the blue, white and red colors of the Serbian flag. On April 17, Belgrade
>restaurants were reopened and more than 3,000 free burgers were delivered to
>the participants of the Belgrade marathon, which was dominated by an
>anti-NATO theme. At the same time, the company announced that for every
>burger sold it would donate one dinar (about a nickel) to the Yugoslav Red
>Cross to help victims of NATO's airstrikes.
>
> 'A Hamburger Guy'
>
> At McDonald's corporate headquarters in Oak Brook, Ill., spokesman Chuck
>Ebeling says the Yugoslav campaign was a product of local management and was
>in no way directed or encouraged by the head office. Mr. Jakic "was
>functioning as a hamburger guy and not as a politician," Mr. Ebeling says
>"He was doing what he felt he should do, and needed to do, to be locally
>accepted and to maintain the support of local government and of his
>employees. He demonstrated how adaptive he could be under the
>circumstances."
>
> Mr. Jakic says he was praised by his superiors at a meeting at McDonald's
>regional headquarters in Vienna. And while he says he is happy his campaign
>helped McDonald's to prosper during exceptional circumstances, he was also
>quick to return to business as usual. As soon as the war ended, on June 10,
>the arches reappeared, without the green cap. "We simply believed that our
>message was received and there was no reason to continue," Mr. Jakic says.
>
> Asked if the cocky sajkaca had been ditched forever, Mr. Jakic smiles. "We
>will make an investigation to see how it worked, and then maybe we'll
>fine-tune it," he says. "We've not abandoned it completely."
>
> The campaign certainly made an impression here. At one McDonald's, a green
>book for customer comments records the delight of Belgraders when the
>restaurant reopened and unveiled its new approach. "We are so happy to see
>the campaign to help people hurt by the war. It's very humane and the only
>way to justify the business of an American restaurant in Yugoslavia," wrote
>Andjela, Aleksandra and Dragan, on April 18. The same day, Isidora wrote:
>"McDonald's is the only American who wished to become a Serb."
>
>
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