Got a lead on this from Drudge, and did the legwork on my own.

McDonald's sorry for burger blunder



"Tasteless," is how charitable groups have branded a McDonald's burger in Norway that they claim ignores the starvation crisis in Africa. McDonald's is red-faced, and may donate proceeds from its controversial "McAfrika" burger.

"It's inappropriate and distasteful to launch a hamburger called 'McAfrika' when large portions of southern Africa are on the verge of starvation," says Linn Aas-Hansen of Norwegian Church Aid.

She stood outside a McDonald's restaurant in downtown Oslo this week, passing out free "catastrophe crackers" to passersby in protest. "This is a special, protein-rich cracker that we hand out to people in the hunger-stricken areas," she said.

Among those who got a taste of the crackers was an apologetic spokesperson for McDonald's in Norway, Margaret Brusletto.

She said McDonald's was sorry the name of its new burger, meant to reflect an African recipe, has negative connotations. "That wasn't our intention," she said. "At the same time, we acknowledge that we have chosen an unfortunate time to launch this new product."

There was no word as to whether McDonald's will pull its "McAfrika" burger off the market despite the protests in Norway, where aid organizations have launched one of the world's largest relief programs ever aimed at getting food to starving millions in southern Africa.

McDonald's officials, however, were due to meet representatives of the aid organizations on Thursday. "We expect that McDonald's will contribute to the fight to stem starvation," said Bjorg Mide of Norwegian Church Aid. "The company can, for example, share proceeds from the sale of this hamburger with the aid organizations."

Brusletto said that's "a possibility we will consider."



Aside from the typical liberal paternalism of assuming that any reference to Africa must by necessity refer to starving and helpless innocent White Men's Burdens that can't possibly survive without our wonderful biscuits, one must note the irony of socialists decrying mass starvation which is almost exclusively the result of socialist policies.

Of course, nothing McDonalds will do to try and atone for this ghastly crime will make these people happy. They just don't know it yet.

Like many large corporations that are highly sensitive to public opinion, McDonalds has spent decades bending over backwards trying to make the Left happy. Even non-radical environmentalists admit that they have been in the forefront of progressive farming practices, and they tout charitable works, recyclable packaging, low-cal alternatives, and meatless burgers (nobody ever buys them, but they keep trying).

Yet, McDonalds, to its puzzlement, is still almost number one on the hate list for the Left. What else can they possibly do? The real answer, of course, is to die. Like other corporations, along with capitalism, the free market, and the American way of life in general, the Left wants them dead, dead, dead. McDonalds, of course, does not possess the philosophical wit required to perceive this, so they are condemned to keep pushing that rock up the hill.

One will, of course note, the less-than-subtle shakedown attempt in the second-to-last paragraph. Also typical.

Just once I'd like to see a McDonald's spokesman stand up and tell these little shits to stuff a Big Mac where the sun doesn't shine. To tell them that McDonalds employs almost two million people worldwide, in areas where most other employment amounts to slave labor, and that in some countries it is actually the largest employer. That they are one of the largest markets for meat and produce that is almost always purchased from local farms. That maybe real jobs might make a little more difference to a lot of poor people in Africa than their stupid little biscuit handouts.

Just once.

Here's a typical load of leftist crap. There are countless sites like this. This one is from a university student, naturally. A good little product of our Marxist Myrmidon factories. I don't know who this kid is, but I would bet good money he ain't working his way through college.