McDonald’s apologizes after people said an ad supported Taiwan independence from China
January 21 2019
BY Lucy Handley
An ad from McDonald’s Taiwan that sparked a row about whether it showed support for the country’s independence from China has been withdrawn.
The commercial, broadcast on YouTube, showed a student’s exam admission ticket stating her nationality as Taiwanese. She drops the ticket on the street and it’s run over by a truck, before being washed clean by a water sprayer. The ad then rewinds and the student is shown eating an Egg McMuffin, known as a Man Fu Bao — which reportedly has a similar pronunciation in Mandarin to “full of good luck.”
People in China protested against the ad online, accusing the company of supporting an independent Taiwan, according to a report on the Focus Taiwan website on Saturday.