Muslim preacher distances from McDonald's Ramadan campaign as Western brands continue fight against global boycott

A popular Muslim preacher's move to distance herself from claims that she promoted McDonald's - among Western brands hit by a global boycott over the Gaza war - has called into question the effectiveness of aggressive Ramadan campaigns by fast food companies trying to win back their once large Muslim customer base.

Ustazah Asma' Harun, who has millions of followers on her social media accounts, strongly denied that she had promoted McDonald's after doctored pictures emerged showing her posing with the fast food's mascot.

In a statement released last night, Asma' said she had been invited to give a talk at a mosque in Shah Alam, where a McDonald's team had earlier arrived with free meals for attendees.

Asma' said she had nothing to do with the McDonald's event.

"The picture was doctored. I never made a statement, neither verbally nor in writing, as claimed. Everything written in the post is fabricated and a fraud," she said responding to a troll account on Facebook.

McDonald's has however uploaded a short TikTok video of Asma's religious talk on March 5, showing her speaking against the backdrop of the fast food company's "Kongsi Rezeki Ramadan" campaign banner.

The company has also uploaded similar talks by other prominent Muslim preachers.

One user, reacting to Asma's denial, called on her and other religious speakers to sue McDonald's for uploading their talks.

"If the ustazah and other ustazahs won't cooperate with McD's, then why don't you sue the company? It seems to be deliberately trying to thwart the boycott efforts by manipulating the da'wah (Islamic propagation) efforts of the ustazahs. Pathetic," wrote user Bella Muslim on Facebook.

MalaysiaNow has contacted the PR company hired by McDonald's for a response.

Asma's denial shows that the global boycott of Western interests has not yet abated, despite aggressive efforts by various multinational companies to defend themselves against accusations of supporting Israel's war against the Palestinians.

In Malaysia, near-empty outlets, the closure of hundreds of branches and falling profits have not deterred local franchisees of some of the biggest Western fast food brands from trying to win back Muslim customers.

Checks revealed that their official social media accounts feature numerous Ramadan menus as well as videos and photos of their senior executives visiting mosques and orphanages with free meals in hand.

Nowhere has the Ramadan campaign been as aggressive as at McDonald's.

Alongside Starbucks and KFC, McDonald's has also drawn the ire of Palestinian supporters worldwide who accuse big US multinationals of contributing billions to the US economy, and therefore played a part in financing Washington's military aid for Israel.

McDonald's Malaysia, however, fought back the claims, saying it is an independent entity distinct from the global McDonald's Corporation.

In the early stages of the boycott in 2023, the company's bosses had also approached state muftis and religious scholars while announcing a contribution to the government's humanitarian fund for Gaza, none of which was able to reverse the boycott trend, which saw the usually crowded McDonald's outlets almost deserted even during peak hours.

At one point, the company even resorted to legal threats against critics and those who supported the boycott on social media.

On all of its official social media channels, the company shut down the comment sections, vary that any attacks linking it to the Gaza war could scupper the whole campaign.

Meanwhile, many reactions to Asma's post last night blamed her for not issuing the denial earlier, despite McDonald's announcing her as a speaker in its programme two days before the event on March 5.

"The damage has been done. You should have withdrawn if you had known McDonald's was involved, in order to avoid slander. Now it's too late," said Faris Adnan.

Ahmad Yasin wrote: "You did not address the issue, you denied working with McD but did not question why McD uploaded your talk. If McD made a mistake, you should demand an apology and ask McD to remove your video."

Others couldn't help but comment on McDonald's Ramadan campaign.

"Have you noticed, McD has been actively using religious messages in its marketing these days to attract customers?" said user Matahari Pagi.