Singapore snorts over McDonald's toy pig
blunder
SINGAPORE, Jan 22 - McDonald's apologised to Singapore on Friday
and brought a pig back to its toy menu, after a decision to leave
the animal out of its Chinese zodiac collection upset many in the
predominantly ethnic Chinese nation. McDonald's this month started
selling cartoon character miniatures depicting the 12 animals of
the Chinese zodiac calendar, but the pig was replaced by love god
Cupid as McDonald's said it did not want to offend Muslims.
But the move, just ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday and
Valentine's Day in February, backfired as many Chinese customers
complained in chatrooms and blogs that they would not have a chance
to buy the animal sign of their birth year.
"We're sorry, and we're grateful," the fast food chain said in a
half-page advertisement in the Straits Times newspaper, saying it
never intended to offend anyone.
Multi-racial Singapore has successfully avoided racial tension
since deadly riots in the 1960s, though the government sees race as
the biggest potential fault line in society.
"I understand that we need to respect our Muslim citizens as
Singapore is a multiracial and multicultural society," Pauline Koh,
whose daughter was born in the Year of Pig, wrote to the Straits
Times.
"However, in this case, the Pig is one of the Chinese zodiac
signs -- part of Chinese culture and customs -- and it is just a
soft toy, not food," she wrote. Around 75 percent of the nearly 5
million population in Singapore is ethnically Chinese and 15
percent is Malay or Indian Muslim. McDonald's and many other
fastfood chains sell food that is halal, or acceptable to
Muslims.
Pork and other pig products are not halal food.
--Reuters
