28th April 2013
As the Summer holidays approached Melbourne’s picturesque Dandenong Ranges. Many Tecoma residents wondered how could they turn holiday travels into a meaningful message against a proposed McDonald’s development to be built in their backyard.
The result was the ‘No McDonald’s In Tecoma Photo Project’. Participants were asked to take a picture of themselves holding a sign saying “No McDonald’s In Tecoma” and the group’s website www.burgeroff.org.
Some of the photo entries from around Australia and the Globe
The results came flooding in over January with friends and family showing their displeasure from all four corners of the globe. Be it Paris, London, New York, Cambodia, Germany, USA, New Zealand, Hong Kong, China, Japan, India, Africa and the Tasman Sea, with “No McDonald’s in Tecoma” signs popping up at famous landmarks such as Stonehenge, Times Square, Niagara Falls, The Louvre and the The Eiffel Tower. The images became part of a highly visited Tumblr site and then linked to the group’s web site. Click here to see all photo project entries
We even had support from RocKwiz host Julia Zemiro who also contributed a photo to the project.
RocKwiz host Julia Zemiro’s photo project entry
At a rally in March that attracted over 3000 locals, the group even released a CD of local musician’s work composed specifically for the Tecoma protest movement. One such track on the CD has been used to set the photo project images to music.
Since then the group’s protest has gone viral with a CNN story being retweeted over 10 million times over the recent Easter break:
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/03/28/world/asia/irpt-australia-mcdonalds-protest
The clever PR campaign created by a well resourced and talented campaign team has seen McDonalds finally agreeing to meet with the group. It is believed that this is the first time in Australia that McDonalds have met with a protest group.
