Ronald McDonald Beheaded: Finnish Activists Capture Fast-Food Icon

[la bombe]

Funny stuff :p



Finnish food activists don't mess around.

A group of anti-McDonald's extremists have chosen terrorist-like tactics in order to get their message across. First they kidnapped a statue of the fast food franchise's iconic figure, Ronald McDonald.

They then filmed ransom YouTube videos, in an apparent al-Qaeda imitation, complete with black hoods. Calling themselves the Food Liberation Army, the video shows the captors asking questions (in Finnish, though English subtitles appear on the bottom of the screen) such as "Why are you not open about the manufacturing process, raw materials and additives used in your products? What are you afraid of?"

Demanding answers, the group gave McDonald's a deadline to respond, after which they said that Ronald would be executed by guillotine. The Consumerist reports that two members of the group were arrested and the statue was rescued before the execution could take place but the remaining members still beheaded a replica.

Scary! McDonald's spokespeople issued a statement saying, "McDonald's is always available to engage in constructive conversations with our customers, stakeholders and the media. This stunt is in very poor taste."

Clearly, the FLA was looking for a dramatic way to get their (valid) questions across. But we have to agree with McDonald's on one thing--it's hard to get past the distastefulness of the video. (via The Consumerist (http://consumerist.com/2011/02/food-activists-capture-and-execute-ronald-mcdonald-statue-al-qaeda-style.html))
http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/02/16/ronald-mcdonald-beheaded-finnish-activists-capture-fast-food-icon/

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[The Ripper]

;) (http://www.theapricity.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23562) (<-- click me, or alternatively, scroll to the bottom of the first page of the Finnish section. :p)

[Eldritch]

Wasn't this just an attempt at "viral" marketing? The slick "execution" video would suggest so.

[Troll's Puzzle]

Wasn't this just an attempt at "viral" marketing? The slick "execution" video would suggest so.

Yes, it was. Is that a bad thing?

it was a successful 'attempt' too, making some tabloids here. I enjoyed the story and was pleased when they went through with their threat to behead Ronald.

Now I am hoping they up it a notch and am looking forward to waves of Finnish suicide bombers decimating McDonalds francises in the baltic area (given Finnish proclivity to suicide, they should be ultra-elite at such a campaign :D)

[la bombe]

Wasn't this just an attempt at "viral" marketing? The slick "execution" video would suggest so.

So it was viral marketing for McDonald's?

[Eldritch]

Yes, it was. Is that a bad thing?


Not necessarily, I just never quite understood what they try to achieve with it. To make McD's acceptable to hipsters by beheading their own mascot?

Anyway I don't really care one way or the other really. And Carroll's (http://www.carrols.fi/) is a lot better anyway. :p


So it was viral marketing for McDonald's?

If I understood it correctly, yes.

[la bombe]

If I understood it correctly, yes.

Ah, I should've guessed by the way they said they "love" McDonald's hamburgers on their homepage. No one in their right mind loves that stuff, it's naaaasty.

[Troll's Puzzle]

Not necessarily, I just never quite understood what they try to achieve with it. To make McD's acceptable to hipsters by beheading their own mascot?

If I understood it correctly, yes.

I don't think it was a viral campaign for McDonalds ? :mmmm:

i mean, they even had their anti-mcdonalds manifest (mostly pretty tame and unresearched reasons but here are a couple:


10. McDonald's collaborates globally with slaughterhouses and fruit and vegetable farms that use cheap labor of illegal immigrants.

12. McDonald's in no way to researches the diseases caused by their food supply. They do not look for their prevention or treatment. Half of Finland's national budget is earmarked for social welfare and health spending. The majority of this money is spent on deceases caused by nutrition. McDonald's should take social responsibility and conduct research in deceases related to their food supply. "

etcetc

I am naieve but I don't believe it was a cunning ploy by McD's to gain publicity.
Plus, THEY KILLED RONALD!

[Eldritch]

Okay, now I'm determined to get to the bottom of this, instead of speculating here about it. Stay tuned, people.

[alexandra]

i loled.

[Eldritch]

Okay, this wasn't viral marketing for McDonald's but rather for the modern art gallery Helsinki Showroom (http://www.showroomhelsinki.com/).

The deadline for the answers was the same as the time some exhibition was due to open in the gallery.

Also, the FLA's website was somehow connected to the gallery. Btw the police found them before they actually executed Ronald -- the Ronald beheaded in the video was a replica made by the artist Jani Leinonen (https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=787824513).

Most Finnish netizens were unimpressed to the point of boredom by the stunt, actually. However there are exceptions. Finland's most pro-Christian, most pro-American (kind of like one of our members on this forum) Youtuber, UncleSamPatriot (http://www.youtube.com/user/UncleSamPatriot), deeply disapproves:

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[Austin]

Every single day I order extra salt and always super-size my meal and my fries and my drink and ask for extra ketchup and if they don't give it to me I turn off the car and say give me a refund (they give it to me).


How can supposedly mature individuals argue that a private entity is at fault for people eating it's food? We live in a free, consumerist-society where you can destroy yourself a billion different ways legally-speaking. Grow up and shut-up is what I say.

If they want to be strict with their childrens diet then fine. But fuck off otherwise. If I want to eat things that are bad for me and then pay for a gym membership and work it off then I will and I'll do it with a smile on my face.

Coffee is terrible for the body yet I don't see leftist groups up in arms over starbucks, all thanks to a well-placed, corporate green-campaign and green wrapping on the coffee cups...... what imbeciles....


I work for a bank. Every day in my office alone we use 150$ worth of printing toner and probably kill two trees a day. In the mail rooms they have naive young college interns working there and plastered all over the walls are 'Save the planet' posters and 'We are green' initiatives. I then walk back into the building with my keycard and leave the idiot college kids to continue their discussion of how wonderful their global warming bumper stickers are....

[la bombe]

Okay, this wasn't viral marketing for McDonald's but rather for the modern art gallery Helsinki Showroom (http://www.showroomhelsinki.com/).


Damn, that's disappointing. I mean, it was amusing, but I was hoping for something juicier than an art exhibit.

[Motörhead Remember Me]

Damn, that's disappointing. I mean, it was amusing, but I was hoping for something juicier than an art exhibit.

I'm sure they molested him a bit first...

[anonymaus]

That was a real knee-slapper. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Pearl)

[Heimmacht]

Soylent Grün(McDonalds?) ist menschenfleisch!!!! :D
What did they expect? :cool: