I posted a think piece last weekend in this space, postulating that Fast Food – as enticing and addictive as it is – has a special power over the masses. Perhaps enough power to spark a revolution. Now, it appears some Russians have copped to the idea and are preparing to clone McDonald’s…
Proposed logo of ‘Uncle Vanya’s’ new Russian Fast Food chain.
I told you how McDonald’s and half a dozen other Fast Food chains have closed down their Russian businesses in support of Ukraine. I also mentioned that the Putin Team said it would nationalize (i.e.- seize) any foreign businesses that withheld products or services in solidarity with Ukraine in its war with Russia.
Now, it appears someone in Russia – either an opportunistic oligarch, or someone acting as a straw man for Putin himself – has filed a trademark application for a company whose business will consist of, “snack bars; a cafe; cafeterias; restaurants; self-service restaurants.” The proposed logo for the company is just the Golden Arches tipped on its side with a gold bar joining its two legs, making it look like a ‘B’. The name of the new resto chain is ‘Uncle Vanya’s’.
Some sarcasm in that name
Uncle Vanya is the title of a 1897 play by renowned Russian writer Anton Chekhov. The Encyclopædia Britannica describes the play as, “a study of aimlessness and hopelessness.” One assumes the entity that files for the trademark considers McDonald’s effort, closing some 850 locations and furloughing more than 62,000 employees, aimless and hopeless. But the clever name may backfire if enough others see the attempt to usurp McDonald’s place in Russia as equally aimless and hopeless.
More to the point
The move by a Russian party or parties as yet undisclosed to replace McDonald’s telegraphs three things:
Someone believes (or even has hard, inside information) that Putin’s people will nationalize the assets of McDonald’s in Russia and they want to be in on the ground floor of the bidding war for the rights.
Whoever is setting themself up to take over the chain is counting on a strong visual resemblance to McD’s hard-built and coveted Golden Arches business identity as a ticket to instant popularity. They may even be banking on folks on the street thinking it’s the same – real, genuine original – McDonald’s re-opening under a more-Russian name.
And… The perpetrator of the poorly conceived McDonald’s clone believes, as I do, that food – even fast food – has the power to trigger revolutions.
As of this morning…
More than 400 companies large and small have pulled out of Russian in solidarity with Ukraine. More are expected to follow as the Ukraine-Russian war trudges on. Ordinary Russians are bound to be feeling shortages of familiar western products soon if they aren’t already. And the zinger here is, Russia doesn’t have the facilities or expertise to fill the void.
At this writing, self-proclaimed conservative republican political commentator Michael Smerconish on CNN, is asking, “Should Americans boycott [western] companies that don’t exit Russia?” That would sure show Subway and other western chains still operating in Russia how they feel about that. But it would also hurt blameless Subway franchisees at home who have nothing to do with Russia or Ukraine. Boycott supporters please note: Subway has no corporate presence in Russia, just 450 or so local franchisees who own their stores and businesses outright and can do whatever they want.
A little history
The French Revolution was triggered by a mass popular uprising when the ordinary french folks couldn’t get bread. They were starving. Famously (albeit possibly apocryphally) French Queen Marie Antoinette said, “No bread? Let them eat cake!” Off with her head!
The American Revolution was triggered by rising British taxes to pay for its wars in other parts of the world. One of the most aggravating, to American colonists, was the sky-high tax on tea. They showed their displeasure by staging the Boston Tea Party, and the revolution was on.
And perhaps most notably, the original Russian revolution which was triggered by acute food shortages in the 19-teens, and abated by the presence of populist leaders like Lenin and Stalin.
How will we look back on a Russian Revolution of the 2020s, triggered by a sudden withdrawal of Fast Food that many Russians, especially the under 30s, poised to take over control of the world, found intolerable?
Muse on that!
~ Maggie J.