In recent days, different transnational companies from different sectors announced the suspension of operations in Russia, as part of the boycott promoted by Putin’s actions in the attack on Ukraine. Transnational credit cards, footwear, clothing, technology, cosmetics and luxury goods, were announcing different measures in which some completely suspended their activity in Russia, and others canceled the production of certain products.
Public pressure for some restaurant giants such as McDonald’s and Starbucks to suspend their activities in Russia was not long in coming. Since the first Russian McDonald’s opened in Moscow’s Pouchkine Square in 1990, the history of the presence of this restaurant giant in Russia has not been without controversy. There is nothing more powerful and symbolic of Russia’s entry into a globalized market economy than the presence of a fast-food chain of American origin in Moscow. McDonald’s represents for many, not only in Russia, a model in which food is standardized by means of a product made more or less in the same way, no matter where in the world it is consumed. Something that until a few decades ago was unthinkable.
In addition to McDonald’s, companies such as Coca Cola, Pepsico and Starbucks also announced some partial or total suspension of their activities. For many, these measures were necessary to establish not only a position on the intervention in Ukraine, but also, so that Russian citizens little aware of what is happening on their borders, could find out through the lack of consumer products of the day to day. Some companies did not suspend the manufacture of products considered essential, such as powdered milk. Others announced that payment to employees would continue even though production would be suspended.
Historically, the presence of fast food chains of American origin has provoked some resistance among Russian leaders. The fast food model does not only involve food: it represented for many Russian citizens the public social space that they could not obtain in restaurants (many of Russian food) with higher prices. Being able to eat a hamburger or try a soft drink for the first time are memories that are anchored in many of the Russian adults who lived through the fall of the Soviet Union. Given the importance that this was generating in the collective imagination, there were Russian attempts to compete in presence with a fast food chain. There was a very controversial project led by two renowned Russian filmmakers, with very little experience in the restaurant business, but very close to power.
The attempts did not achieve a good position among the population, which today, through these closures, realizes what is happening in Ukraine despite the media management inside the country. The issue of transnational closures is that ultimately it does not affect only the head of the chain, but the entire population that works in the supply and distribution chains for these chains. Undoubtedly, in a globalized world, it is increasingly difficult to define that the effects or benefits of an action only affect a specific population group, without having serious collateral effects for everyone.
Food and society columnist
POINT AND HOW
Food and society columnist. Gastronaut, observer and foodie. She is a researcher in sociology of food, nutritionist. She is president and founder of Funalid: Foundation for Food and Development.