Racial hoax causes PR headache for McDonald’s

[Sofiyya 1,687]

Ironically, the books about Little Black Sambo were about a Southern Indian boy, not an African.

ah right, you're too young to remember:

By 1979, Sambo's had 1,200 outlets in 47 US states. However, in the late-1970s, controversy over the chain's name drew protests and lawsuits in communities that viewed the term Sambo as pejorative towards African-Americans, particularly in the Northeastern states. Several of the restaurants were opened as or renamed to "The Jolly Tiger" in locations where the local community passed resolutions forbidding the use of the original name or refused to grant the chain permits.[1] In March 1981, in a further attempt to give the chain a new image the company again renamed some locations, this time to "No Place Like Sam's".[2] By November 1981, the company filed for bankruptcy.[3] Neither the name change nor bankruptcy protection reversed the downward trend, and in 1982 all but the original Sambo's at 216 West Cabrillo Boulevard in Santa Barbara, California, closed their doors.[4] 618 of the locations were renamed Season's Friendly Eating by February 1983.[5] Several locations were sold to Denny's.[6]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sambo%27s

[Sergi9 110]

McDonald's already has blatantly racist commercials. They don't need signs too.

Regardless... EVERYONE will still eat there!

I will not eat at McD's and no one can make me. I will pee there when I am traveling in a foreign country.

[웃 910]

I will not eat at McD's and no one can make me. I will pee there when I am traveling in a foreign country.

:blink::blink::blink::blink:

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

I will not eat at McD's and no one can make me. I will pee there when I am traveling in a foreign country.

Say it ain't so! I love that place. When I saw those golden arches in Minsk after eating Belarusian food for a week straight, I thought I hit the mother load. Big Macs, fry's, quarter pounders, MacChickens and coke all day long.

[Sofiyya 1,687]

Hey, for hubby and I, there's a Mickey D's in Rabat that's "our place".

[SuperDuper! 230]

Ironically, the books about Little Black Sambo were about a Southern Indian boy, not an African.

A pic is worth a 1000 words.

[Sofiyya 1,687]

A pic is worth a 1000 words.

My link

[SMOKE 1,426]

Say it ain't so! I love that place. When I saw those golden arches in Minsk after eating Belarusian food for a week straight, I thought I hit the mother load. Big Macs, fry's, quarter pounders, MacChickens and coke all day long.

i hear you. i was in out in the provinces of the philippines for 2 1/2 weeks. we went into cebu city, i saw the golden arches. i felt like i was looking at the gate to heaven...yah, i ate like i was never going to again too.

[Fandango 1,440]

Racist.

I would say it's more classist.

[Fandango 1,440]

Say it ain't so! I love that place. When I saw those golden arches in Minsk after eating Belarusian food for a week straight, I thought I hit the mother load. Big Macs, fry's, quarter pounders, MacChickens and coke all day long.

the fry's what?

[Fandango 1,440]

I've never read that Sambo book before, but it was pretty stupid.

The tigers turned into butter? #######?

[TBoneTX 46,123]

I miss the original orange-roof Howard Johnsons, now nothing but a memory of what motoring in America used to be.

Si, man (sigh, man).

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Sambo restaurants used to have pics on the wall...like a bunch of them to form a scene (at least the ones in Washington state did), and I believe some peeps found those pics offensive. They might have been pics out of the book you refer to "Little Black Sambo".

If the content of the book isn't racist what exactly was the offence?

The question here is whether the term "blatantly racist" applies to Sambos, where the alleged racism is, if anything, entirely coincidental rather than attempt by the chain to single out and marginalise racial minorities.

Putting up a sign indicating that blacks will receive different treatment than other customers obviously would be blatantly racist because it would imply that McDonalds acts towards black customers in a racially motivated way. It isn't the same as putting pictures up on walls from a children's book.

Edited June 14, 2011 by fishdude

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

If the content of the book isn't racist what exactly was the offence?

The question here is whether the term "blatantly racist" applies to Sambos, where the alleged racism is, if anything, entirely coincidental rather than attempt by the chain to single out and marginalise racial minorities.

Putting up a sign indicating that blacks will receive different treatment than other customers obviously would be blatantly racist because it would imply that McDonalds acts towards black customers in a racially motivated way. It isn't the same as putting pictures up on walls from a children's book.

It was the way the pics depicted "Sambo". When the blacks first made a big deal of it way back when I was like "####### is their problem now?". But looking back now I can see where they would find those pics offensive. I'l try to find those pics on google. They aren't as bad as some might think...someone who has never seen them, but they do cross the line these days.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

It was the way the pics depicted "Sambo". When the blacks first made a big deal of it way back when I was like "####### is their problem now?". But looking back now I can see where they would find those pics offensive. I'l try to find those pics on google. They aren't as bad as some might think...someone who has never seen them, but they do cross the line these days.

The pictures from the restaurant, not the books. Incidentally the book was only deemed racist because when the book was republished different illustrations were used for the American market.