Goodbye, American soft power: McDonald’s exiting Russia after 32 years

by 8DonCo Fri May 20, 2022 3:08 pm

Goodbye, American soft power: McDonald’s exiting Russia after 32 years is the end of an era

In 1990, McDonald’s opened up its first restaurant in the Soviet Union, serving a record of 30,000 customers in a single opening day.
The iconic American chain is leaving Russia and its 62,000 employees behind as hundreds of Western brands exit the country following its invasion of Ukraine.
For a generation of Russians, McDonald’s represented their first exposure to capitalism and American culture.

Goodbye, American soft power: McDonald’s exiting Russia after 32 years 107064554-1653062640264-gettyimages-1239070707-ARP2359253

Soviet customers stand in line outside the just opened first McDonald’s in the Soviet Union on January 31, 1990 at Moscow’s Pushkin Square.
Vitaly Armand | Afp | Getty Images
It was 4 a.m. and a trickle of Russians had already begun lining up outside the building in the freezing winter cold, hours before opening time.
When the doors opened, hundreds of hungry, bundled-up Muscovites rushed in for their first-ever taste of this alien creation: the Big Mac.

It was January of 1990 and McDonalds was opening its very first restaurant in the Soviet Union, becoming one of the few Western companies to breach the Iron Curtain in its final days as it slowly opened up to the world.

nhomcho.forummotion.com

Goodbye, American soft power: McDonald’s exiting Russia after 32 years

Goodbye, American soft power: McDonald’s exiting Russia after 32 years