Of all the illegal and unethical things McDonald’s have done to get this store across the line this ranks highly. Now that the hoardings are down we can see into the store and it appears they have decorated the store with the iconic Puffing Billy trestle bridge image.(Forgive the poor images, officious security has that effect on photography) We say this is one of the worst things as it goes to the heart of what people in the Dandenongs hold dear, it’s simply “cultural appropriation” and they have done so in a ham-fisted attempt to inject themselves into the local culture. The decor also includes so called tourist information proving what we always knew; that McDonald’s cares nothing about our community, this store was always going to be about tourists. It’s pure corporate greed at the expensive of our community and culture.
Don’t jump to conclusions and say “they’ve done a deal with Puffing Billy” as they have not. They have simply appropriated the imagery as their own. This behaviour is is certainly in their DNA. It’s not something “special” they have done for Tecoma out of respect for the community, it’s something they do all the time as an underhanded way to attempt to be accepted as a “local”
Back in the 80’s they built a store in Doncaster. It too had some opposition, so with no reference to the community they “appropriated” an old tram and decorated the interior with images of the old tram depot that was once in Doncaster. Several years later when the store was moved (and the business established) all the tram stuff was simply dumped.
When our delegation was in Chicago one of the press events was held at “Rock and Roll McDonald’s” The reason it’s called Rock and Roll McDonald’s is because it was purposely located opposite the iconic Hard Rock Cafe. McDonald’s decorate this store with rock and roll memorabilia in an attempt to look as if it’s sanctioned by their famous neighbour….again it’s not.
At last year’s mediation McDonald’s told us they planned to offer a commission to a local artist to decorate the store. We pointed out that it was unlikely that a local artist would work with them given their behaviour towards our community. It was obvious at that point “cultural appropriation” was just something they needed to tick off when building a “cookie cutter” style store that has no place in The Dandenong Ranges.
If this corporation could get approval to build near ANZAC cove they would, and we are sure they would make the staff wear slouch-hats.
Again, outrageous.
