Demonstrators gather to protest Russias invasion of Ukraine outside the Russian Embassy in Washington, DC, on February 27
(Picture: AFP via Getty Images)Nothing signified the fall of the iron curtain quite like McDonald’s opening up in Moscow but Ronald McDonald’s days in Russia now look numbered.
The fast food chain’s board is keeping schtum on the matter for now but the New York State’s pension fund this week said businesses like Maccy D’s “need to consider whether doing business in Russia is worth the risk”.
The corporate iron curtain is rapidly being redrawn following the invasion of Ukraine. Nike, Apple, Accenture, Ikea — the list of major businesses pulling out grows by the day.
The latest is Airbnb, which has stopped renting out places in Russia and Belarus as well as blocking their citizens from making bookings.
In strict terms, the corporate boycott goes above and beyond international sanctions but it is linked to them. You can’t easily rent a room to a Russian if her bank is banned from the international payment system.
Still, the significance of these withdrawals shouldn’t be downplayed. CEOs are taking a stand and it is arguably the exit of brands that ordinary Russians will notice the most.
Years’ worth of photos hosted on Apple’s iCloud could be lost. Robert Pattinson’s The Batman won’t be released as Disney and Warner Brothers stop releasing new films. No longer can Russians buy cars from Ford or clothes from H&M.
All this might sound small but these are the things people notice.
As Lara Mohtadi at SEB puts it: “These things are impossible for the authorities to hide from the Russian people and this certainly contributes to more and more Russians questioning the whole meaning of the Ukraine war.”
Rising discontent will increase pressure on Putin to end the war — at least it would if he cared a jot about public opinion. There lies the rub.
A corporate boycott is the right thing to do, but it won’t change the course of history.
