CAIRO: Midway through a recent evening in Cairo, a worker cleaned tables in an empty McDonald’s restaurant. Branches of other Western fast-food chains in the Egyptian capital also appeared deserted.
All have been hit by a boycott campaign over Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip since the deadly Hamas attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7.
Western brands are feeling the impact in Egypt and Jordan, and there are signs the campaign is spreading in some other Arab countries including Kuwait and Morocco.
Some of companies the campaign is directed at are perceived to have taken pro-Israeli stances, and some are alleged to have financial ties to Israel or investments there.
As the campaign has started to spread, boycott calls circulated on social media have expanded to list dozens of companies and products, prompting shoppers to shift to local alternatives.
In Egypt, where there is little chance of people taking to the streets because of security restrictions, some see the boycott as the best or only way to make their voices heard.
“I feel that even if I know this will not have a massive impact on the war, then this is the least we can do as citizens of different nations so we don’t feel like our hands are covered in blood,” said 31-year-old Cairo resident Reham Hamed, who is boycotting US fast food chains and some cleaning products.
In Jordan, pro-boycott residents sometimes enter McDonald’s and Starbucks branches to encourage scarce customers to take their business elsewhere. Videos have circulated of what appear to be Israeli troops washing clothes with well-known detergent brands which viewers are urged to boycott. “No one is buying these products,” said Ahmad al-Zaro, a cashier at a large supermarket in the capital Amman where customers were choosing local brands instead.
In Kuwait City on Tuesday evening, a tour of seven branches of Starbucks, McDonald’s and KFC found them nearly empty. A worker at one Starbucks, who declined to be identified, said other US brands had also been affected.
In Rabat, the capital of Morocco, a worker at a Starbucks branch said the number of customers had dropped off significantly this week. The worker and the company gave no figures.
McDonald’s Corp said in a statement last month that it was “dismayed” by disinformation regarding its position on the conflict and that its doors were open to all. Its Egyptian franchise has underlined its Egyptian ownership and pledged 20 million Egyptian pounds ($650,000) in aid to Gaza.
Starbucks did not respond to a request for comment on the campaign. In a statement on its website updated in October, it said it was a non-political organisation and dismissed rumours that it had provided support to the Israeli government or army.
Other Western companies did not immediately respond to requests by Reuters for comment.
The boycott campaigns have spread in countries where pro-Palestinian sentiment has traditionally been strong. Egypt and Jordan made peace with Israel decades ago, but those deals did not lead to a popular rapprochement.
The protests also reflect a groundswell of anger over an Israeli military operation that is more destructive than previous offensives, causing a humanitarian crisis and killing 13,300 civilians, according to authorities in Hamas-run Gaza. Israel said about 1,200 people were killed in the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, and that about 240 were taken hostage.
Previous boycott campaigns in Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous nation, had less impact, including those advocated by the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
“The scale of the aggression against the Gaza strip is unprecedented. Therefore, the reaction, whether on the Arab street or even internationally, is unprecedented,” said Hossam Mahmoud, a member of BDS Egypt.