Egypt's boycott campaign of pro-Israel Western franchises grows

Egyptian consumer goods have, in recent days, flourished as a direct result of a massive boycott campaign targeting the sales of Western products amid an ongoing Israeli war against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Many argue, however, that the boycott has inflicted grave losses on the North African country's already ailing national economy and employment market as most of the Western products, especially food and beverages, are locally produced based on the franchise system using local materials.

On Thursday, 2 November, the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce (FEDCOC) called on citizens in an official statement to suspend the boycott movement, which has been taking a toll on local businesses.

"[These companies] operate under the franchise system, employing tens of thousands of Egyptians, paying taxes and social insurance to the State Treasury… the Egyptian franchises account for less than one per cent of the business volume of the blacklisted brands," the statement read.

Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS), a Palestinian-led movement that has been calling for boycotting Israeli brands and others supporting the Zionist state, has in recent weeks published blacklisted companies covering most sectors adopted by social media activists in Egypt.

كتير من الشركات العالمية مترابطة مع بعض وليهم مصالح مشتركة شريكة في الحرب على فلسطين ومصالحها تتقاطع مع الكيان الصهيوني السرطاني اللي هو بطبيعة الحال قاعدة عسكرية متقدمة موجودة في وسط بلادنا ، جزء من الشركات دي مرتبطة بالاقتصاد الإسرائيلي بدرجات متفاوتة. pic.twitter.com/7dvvsznxaD

— BDS Egypt (@BdsEgypt) October 23, 2023

"The boycott rode on a declining trend in sales…as inflation and the devaluation of the local currency have harmed purchases in general," prominent political sociologist Said Sadek told The New Arab.

McDonald's Israel has ignited the situation after it gave away food donations and discounts to Israeli soldiers following the ongoing Israeli-Hamas fighting that had claimed the lives of thousands of Palestinians, sparking the outrage of Egyptians and Arabs in general.

Popular no more

McDonald's Egypt, however, declared its support of the Palestinian cause, donating millions of pounds.

But the US franchise's attempt to appease the public did not stop Egyptians from antagonising the once-most favourite fast food restaurant.

When visiting a local McDonald's branch on Giza-Wahat Road, west of the capital Cairo, one worker on a weekend evening shift, where the occupancy is usually the highest, claimed to TNA that the business had been as usual. There was only one person present inside the branch during that time, though.

At another popular American fast food restaurant, Hardee's, the TNA correspondent was the only guest ordering dinner, also on a weekend night.

Egypt's oldest soda brand, 'SPIRO SPATHIS,' comes back leading sales in Egyptian market as a result of the massive success of the Boycott Movement.

Spiro Spathis: 103 years old (1920)
Israeli Occupation: 75 years old (1948)#BDS #FreePalestine #Gaza_Genocide pic.twitter.com/ut2SuOLcx8

— علي هشام (@Ali_Hisham) October 30, 2023

Most Western restaurants have, in recent days, put forward special offers and discounts to garner customers. McDonald's currently offers an average-sized coffee for 20 Egyptian pounds (US$0.65) and its famous Ice Cream Cone for half of this price.

Once one of the most favourable coffee places in town, the originally American Starbucks, was almost empty of guests on a Friday morning, the first day of the Weekend in Egypt, where occupancy is always the highest. A worker there told a TNA correspondent while making her a medium roasted flat white cappuccino that "life is not the same as three weeks ago."

A problematic situation 

The ongoing campaign has also led to local products earning more profit. A source at the local soda brand Spiro Spathis told TNA, on condition of anonymity, fearing for his job, that the company has been operating around the clock for two shifts instead of one ever since the boycott campaign has paid off and has people started to look for the local soda products rather than American brands.

The company's sales soared by 350 per cent over the past few weeks, local news outlets reported.

In the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, people recently protested outside several McDonald's branches, leading them to shut down eventually.

Scary scenes in Egypt as call to boycott western brands like #McDonalds has turned to ugly chaotic scenes of thugs demonstrating in front of branches asking customers to leave.

🔴This is not support for #Palestine
🔴These ugly scenes won’t help #Gaza
🔴This is terrorism
🔴A… https://t.co/grsrU0OnKu

— Nervana Mahmoud (@Nervana_1) November 2, 2023

In Cairo's Maadi neighbourhood, some activists drew graffiti representing the Palestinian cause near a McDonad's branch there, which led some workers in the restaurant to engage with the protesters.

Other social media users, however, made fun of the campaign for promoting low-quality products instead of the foreign brands people are used to.

On the other hand, several local companies and restaurants launched initiatives online, offering jobs to workers laid off by Western firms for competitive wages.

"It's a rather problematic situation. What's going on has been benefiting local production and harming franchises, while both have been injecting money into the national economy," economic researcher Ahmed Hamy told TNA.

"The boycott has begun galvanising the public opinion on a cause. But in a nutshell, it will persist due to several other reasons, including the rising inflation and continuing Israeli-Palestinian conflict," Sadek predicted.