It has been claimed on social media that the fast food restaurant closed its branches in Iceland due to a public boycott related to the war between Israel and Hamas.
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Messages circulate on social media claiming that McDonald’s exodus from Iceland is recent and the result of a concerted public campaign, but this is not true. The messages are accompanied by an image generated by artificial intelligence that shows a dilapidated McDonald’s building and a caption wondering if boycotts work.
Other messages link the alleged boycott to pages supporting Palestine, echoing recent Calls to boycott McDonald’s worldwide due to its alleged support for Israel. However, the closure of McDonald’s in Iceland has nothing to do with any public boycott.
The fast food chain left the country on October 30, 2009 following the 2008 Icelandic financial crisis, which caused the value of the Icelandic krone to plummet. This meant that the imports needed for McDonald’s products became too expensive for the restaurants to continue making money. McDonald’s Iceland was especially dependent on importing meat from Germany.
The BBC reported at the time that McDonald’s also blamed the “unique operational complexity” of doing business in an isolated nation with a population of only 300,000. Iceland’s first McDonald’s restaurant opened in 1993.
Jon Gardar Ogmundsson, an Icelandic McDonald’s franchisee, declared at the time that the restaurants “have never been so busy… but at the same time profits have never been so low.” McDonald’s was replaced by the local fast food chain Metrowhich sells similar products. Use cheaper local ingredients.
At the time of writing, there are no McDonald’s restaurants left in Iceland, but the latest cheeseburger and fries from the American company that was sold in the country is on display at Snotra House, a shelter in the south. Apparently, the food is live-streamed on their website, which usually reaches 400,000 views. Reports from earlier this year claim that, even now, it remains mold-free.
McDonald’s: Target of boycotts over Israel war
McDonald’s has been a major target of boycotts since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in October 2023.
She was criticized for giving away thousands of free meals to Israeli soldierswhich sparked protests against the chain that have especially affected sales in the Middle East, Indonesia and France. The company uses a franchise system which allows independent operators to receive licenses to manage the fast food giant’s establishments.
McDonald’s previously stated that the conflict in the Middle East had “significantly impacted” some of its financial results in the final quarter of 2023. McDonald’s called boycott ‘disheartening and unfounded’.
Chief executive Chris Kempczinski said McDonald’s sales in the Middle East, as well as some outside the region, had been significantly affected by “misinformation” about the company’s stance in the war between Israel and Hamas.