Beatle in McDonald’s causes a stir
Written by Michael Vass
If you are a vegetarian, McDonald’s is probably not one of the top stops in your search for food. I think that is a safe statement. And it is priobably true unless you happen to be Paul McCartney.
Sir McCartney has the odd position of being one of 4 men that is in McDonald’s every day. In a manner of speaking. Because it’s not actually Sir McCartney but his image, and that of the rest of The Beatles; and the McDonald’s happens to be in Liverpool.
Still this is more than enough to raise the ire of the former Beatle.
Now I know that McCartney is a vegetarian, and has been since 1975. I understand that he is an ambassador for PETA and I learned that he is president of the Vegetarian Society of Great Britain. But I think he is a bit too angry here.
Perhaps he is just trying to draw more attention to PETA and being a vegetarian. Maybe he wants some good publicity. But it’s a bit silly to be amazed that images are being used to peddle anything. Television has been around his whole life, as have been movies. MP3’s people listen to his old songs on also play the Yellow Submarine and such. It is 2008 after all.
And the fact that the Beatle’s were from Liverpool just adds to the advertising. I would be shocked if every store didn’t have a photo of the Beatle’s or some type of memorabilia. That doesn’t make the businesses full of bad people, it makes them business people (which in this environment might still make some think of them as bad people).
But I also see the conflict. But I wonder if railing against the hometown of one of the biggest bands in history is the right way to go. Why not give that McDonald’s an autographed photo that says:
‘I don’t eat meat, maybe you should try the salad instead – Paul’
Now wouldn’t that be original and effective? And think of the publicity he could raise by having a press release to give them this item. And if they dared refuse the gift, especially on live TV then he has a real attention getting cause that spreads the word on vegetarian lifestyles.
Maybe it’s me. How would you handle it if it were you?
