Why McDonald's Defeated The Soviet Union

It wasn't the US or NATO that defeated the Soviet Union. It was McDonald's. Here's why.
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[jeremywheeler]

Everyone thought it was Ronald Reagan but it was really Ronald McDonald 😂.

[thanksfernuthin]

This actually makes me cry. Those people were so deprived of human flourishing for so long. Something so simple, that we take for granted, was like magic for them. I cry watching Metallica play there for the first time too. Those kids were wound up like springs and you could see the sheer joy on their faces as they danced and sang along, even the soldiers that were there. It was truly an evil empire. And still there are people that think communism is the virtuous option.

[nancyannirvin]

So now we see the opposite happening slowly to our country. Every regulation, or law that causes prices to increase or production to decrease sends us toward that lowly goal.

[StudSupreme]

No - the soviet economy wasn't in shambles by the late 80's. It had been in shambles since the 30's.

[alexcamacho]

One red flag with yellow adornments (USSR flag) taken down by another red flag with yellow adornments (McDonalds golden arches)

[IJO]

A little exaggerated, but definitely true. The way you explained it, it sounds more like a step towards the collapse rather than the reason.

[MichaelDoornbos]

I ate at the Moscow McDonald's and toured the McDonald's prep factory in 1991. It was wildly popular at the time.

[TH-]

I've actually eaten there back in 1996 when my wife and I went to Russia to adopt 22 month old twin boys.

[Dabhach]

Gosh, I feel ancient. I remember this🥴

[iamdunats]

I went to Russia many times on business between 2001 and 2019. I have eaten many times at the McDonalds on Arbat street directly across from the Foreign Ministry. Many Americans would be surprised to know that for a long time, McDonalds in Russia was in reality exactly how McDonald’s looked in the US commercials: clean, with well-groomed, polite employees, serving hot food that actually looked like the advertisements. McDonald’s was a place where adults went on dates! It bore little resemblance to the filthy, run-down restaurants we have here at home. They were worthy ambassadors of America. During my last visit, in December 2019, I walked passed the McDonald’s in Pushkin Square, but I did not eat there. Of course, after that, COVID, then the war, ended my business in Russia. It is so disheartening to see Russia descending back into isolationism and paranoid militarism.

[mrsushihut]

I had the pleasure of eating at that McDonald's near Pushkin Square twice. It's a hysterically vast fast food location on the inside. It's so sad they changed the name to "Tasty and Period." The place is a piece of history.

[PJ-pjlr]

If President Trump opens a Donalds Coffee shop franchise it will be the end of Starbucks & Soy beans industrial complex, Make Coffee Great Again.

[jayfloramusic]

I've lived in US for 18years now and after trying all the McDonald's meals, there's only 2 things that I would repeat taste wise. So if McDonald's was able to have so much influence over Russia, I can only imagine how bad Russian food tastes.

[dandreer]

The popularity of McDonald's was also because there were severe food shortages in stores in the USSR. McDonald's was the only place the average Soviet citizen knew the chances of getting food after standing in a long line all day were 1000%

[noahwail]

One could argue, that it started with the Beatles koncert at the Red Square...

[Anoldphotographer]

Please tell this man he needs to run for President.

[Spingleberry]

Stalin would have [REDACTED] Yeltsin and the other leaders of the Russian Federation and saved the Soviet Union. Gorbachev simply did not have that iron in him. In fact, Gorbachev could've done a Tiananmen 1989.

[Anti-CornLawLeague]

First time since the Russian Revolution? What about the New Economic Policy from 1921 to 1928?

[TrevorVogel]

The economy was held together with Crazy glue sticks and toothpicks

[alexandergadomski]

In 1972 Pepsi was traded for Stolichnaya