It’s difficult to understand how a gay-affirming McDonald’s ad from France that recently went viral could lead an LGBT group to sever ties with the company, but that is apparently what has happened. The National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce wrote a June 3 letter to James Skinner, vice chairman and CEO of McDonald’s, informing the company of NGLCC’s decision:
“It is the intention of this letter to inform you of the souring state of relations between our two organizations and express our utter dismay at the blatant geographic pandering to the LGBT community in the recently released TV ad in France, while McDonald’s has continued to distance itself from the LGBT segment in the United States,” the letter begins.
The letter goes on to say, “Barring a significant change in policy on the part of McDonald’s, please consider this letter as official notice that the NGLCC will not accept future support or membership by McDonald’s or any of its subsidiaries.”
Remember, it was McDonald’s involvement with the NGLCC that led the anti-gay American Family Association to launch a boycott of the company in 2008. Timothy Kincaid at Box Turtle Bulletin posted an analysis earlier today that helps explain how we got from the AFA boycott to this point.
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McDonalds in the US has distanced itself from the LGBT community and the president of the company has stated that the French ad will not run in the US. Interestingly, he noted that there had been no negative fallout from the ad in France. Go figure?
There’s been a couple of occasions when I was forced to buy gas from Exxon over the years, but I can hold out for the next hamburger joint indefinitely. I’ve always preferred Burger Queen anyway, unless the American Family Association gets to them too.