American Anti-Gay Blog Calls for McDonald's Boycott--Over TV Ad in France

Anti-gay American pundits have taken umbrage at the fact that TV viewers are being treated to a McDonald's ad that suggests the fast food chain is friendly to gays--even though the ad was only broadcast in France.

In the ad, which debuted in France last month, a gay teenaged boy and his father settle in to eat lunch at one of the chain's restaurants. As the father orders, the boy carries on a brief, romantic conversation via cell phone. The father tells the son that, as a younger chap, the father was a hit with the girls. The father then laments the fact that the boy goes to an all boys' school--and the boy reacts with a slight smile, suggesting that the earlier phone conversation was with one of his male classmates. The ad's slogan tells patrons to "Venez comme vous etes," or, in plain English, "Come As You Are." But the ad won't be coming to America.

In a June 13 interview with the Chicago Tribune, McDonald's operations chief Don Thompson agreed that the ad had provoked controversy, and said that it would not be aired in the U.S. The controversy has been in the United States, however, and not in France, where the ad has played.

The Chicago Tribune noted that, "A French TV ad featuring a gay teen and his father has stirred some controversy - not there, but here," and asked Thompson, "Can you talk about that?"

"It is an example that markets, cultures are very different around the world," said Thompson, who then went on to mention his own religious beliefs. "I've never shied away from the fact that I'm a Christian," said Thompson. "I have my own personal beliefs and I don't impose those on anybody else."

Thompson went on to note that religious traditions and cultural sensitivities are different from culture to culture, before adding that McDonald's--which is a worldwide brand--had a set a "core values, and the world is getting much closer." Thompson said that there were "conversations" about "things that may have an implication in one part of the world and may be the cultural norm in another part of the world. And those are things that, yes, we're going to learn from. But, you're right, that commercial won't show in the United States." Thompson went on to acknowledge that, "there have been no negatives coming out of France" with respect to the ad.

But globally, the video has become a viral Internet sensation, reported Canadian media company Canwest News Service. Within a week of its YouTube debut, the video had scored over half a million hits online. McDonald's spokesperson Nathalie Legarlantezec stated, "We wanted to show society the way it is today, without judging: there's obviously no problem with homosexuality in France today."

In America, however, it's another story: some anti-gay pundits evidently do have a problem with homosexuality, and, what's more, with French viewers seeing suggestions of it in their fast food ads. Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly made the ad the focus of one of his segments, as noted by EDGE columnist Ryan Shattuck on June 9.

"At the controversial heart of O'Reilly's comments regarding the Totally Gay Liberal McDonald's commercial is his intelligent question, 'Come as you are.... Do they have an Al Qaeda ad, you know, come as you are? You know?' "

Continues Shattuck, "In O'Reilly's mind, a father nonchalantly stating 'Let me tell you, I was quite the ladies' man. Too bad your class is all boys' is comparable to the full support of gay rights. And the support of gay rights is comparable to promoting Al Qaeda. Obviously. So if we follow this logic, anyone who eats french fries at McDonald's supports terrorism. The end.

"O'Reilly ends his segment with, 'It will never run in the U.S... I guarantee you that will not run here.' And he's right: television commercials in the U.S. never have gay characters or themes," adds Shattuck, before listing (and linking to) an array of exceptions to that rule, ranging from a Orbitz commercial to an ad from rival fast food chain Quiznos. "This ridiculous ad won't make anyone gay anymore than it will make anyone a terrorist," observes Shattuck."In fact, it barely achieves its goal of making anyone hungry."

Where columnists sought to elicit laughter from the controversy, anti-gay pundits continue even now to use the ad to drum up outrage. Blogger Peter LaBarbera, of the anti-gay website Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, cited the ad long after the initial Internet buzz in order to call for a boycott.

"Changeable, male homosexuality is not 'who you are' but is more rightly understood as a high-risk perversion--as evidenced by its disproportionately high linkage to various sexually transmitted diseases including HIV," declared LaBarbera. "Getting by on the technicality that this youth-corrupting ad is only running in another (more decadent, less religious) country is the coward's way out of a shameful PR disaster for the fast-food behemoth," LaBarbera added, going on to write, "And that defense has only alienated both sides of the debate: pro-'gay' advocates are upset that the McDonald's-France commercial is not running in the U.S."

Added LaBArbera, "McDonald's and its CEO, Jim Skinner (and COO Don Thompson) owe an apology to French moms and dads--and French young people--for promoting the unnatural, disease-producing homosexual lifestyle to French boys as some kind of innocuous, natural--and "cool"--identity."

In a postscript, LaBarbera invited "pro-homosexuality activists" to eat at McDonald's, writing, "if you want to negate our boycott: have at it! The Big Macs, fries and Quarter-Pounders, dripping with grease and loaded with fat-producing calories, are there to be eaten." LaBarbera then thoughtfully included a calorie guide to several items from the McDonald's menu.

The fracas is reminiscent of a flap that erupted among right-wing American talking heads last year when an ad for Heinz brand mayonnaise aired in the U.K. The ad sought to impress the brand's credibility by depicting the mother of a typical English family as a New York deli man, but the nuance of the depiction was taken literally by many anti-gay Americans, who thought that the ad was promoting transnational same-sex marriage.

Some U.K. viewers also missed the point, with the result that conservative Brits complained and the ad--originally slated for a five-week run--was pulled after only a few days.