McDonald’s is facing some serious heat from customers, and it’s not coming from their fryers. A growing number of people are putting down their Big Macs and walking away from the golden arches entirely. The reason? A combination of corporate decisions that have left many feeling like the company cares more about profits than people. From rolling back diversity programs to accusations of tax avoidance, McDonald’s is discovering that customers have more power than they might have realized.
The People’s Union is organizing nationwide boycotts
John Schwarz leads a group called The People’s Union USA, and they’re not messing around when it comes to corporate accountability. With over 500,000 Instagram followers and 360,000 on TikTok, Schwarz has built a movement that’s getting companies’ attention. The group has already organized boycotts against Amazon, Walmart, and Target with what they call “economic blackouts” – coordinated efforts to stop spending money at these businesses for specific periods.
The August boycott against McDonald’s represents their biggest target yet. The fast-food giant serves an estimated 68 million customers daily, making it the world’s largest restaurant chain. Schwarz and his followers believe that hitting McDonald’s where it hurts most – their daily sales – will force the company to reconsider some of their recent decisions. The group’s mission statement makes it clear they’re not just protesting for the sake of it; they want to “take back control of our economy.”
McDonald’s rolled back diversity and inclusion programs
Earlier this year, McDonald’s made changes to their diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives that didn’t sit well with many customers. The company stopped setting goals to increase diversity in senior leadership positions and ended a program that encouraged diversity among their suppliers. McDonald’s said they made these changes due to the “evolving landscape around DEI,” but critics saw it as caving to political pressure rather than standing by their principles.
McDonald’s chief people officer Jordann Nunn tried to clarify the situation by saying the company only changed some of its DEI language but that “none of our programming has changed.” However, this explanation hasn’t satisfied boycott organizers who see the changes as more than just updated wording. The rollback came at a time when many corporations were scaling back their diversity commitments following political pressure, making McDonald’s decision feel like part of a larger trend rather than an isolated business decision.
Tax avoidance accusations are fueling customer anger
Beyond diversity issues, The People’s Union USA has raised concerns about McDonald’s tax practices and their lobbying efforts against wage increases. These accusations strike a nerve with customers who are already dealing with higher prices at McDonald’s and other fast-food restaurants. When people are paying more for their meals while the company allegedly avoids paying its fair share of taxes, it creates a sense of unfairness that goes beyond just business decisions.
Schwarz has been vocal about these concerns, stating that they’re fighting for corporations to “finally pay their fair share of federal income taxes to alleviate that from the American worker.” The group also wants companies to maintain reasonable profit margins rather than maximizing profits at the expense of workers and customers. These economic grievances resonate with people who feel like they’re being squeezed financially while large corporations continue to report strong profits and avoid tax obligations.
Multiple boycott campaigns are targeting different companies
The McDonald’s boycott isn’t happening in isolation. The People’s Union USA has planned a series of coordinated actions throughout the summer targeting multiple major retailers and restaurants. July includes a nationwide economic blackout on the 4th of July, followed by boycotts of Starbucks, Amazon, and Home Depot for the entire month. August brings boycotts against Walmart, McDonald’s, and Lowe’s, creating a sustained pressure campaign across multiple industries.
This coordinated approach shows how organized the movement has become. Rather than random, scattered protests, these are planned campaigns designed to maximize impact by spreading the boycotts across different sectors and time periods. The strategic timing ensures that companies can’t simply wait out a brief period of negative publicity – they have to deal with sustained pressure from organized consumer groups who are committed to long-term action.
Pro-Palestinian groups are also boycotting McDonald’s
The People’s Union USA isn’t the only group calling for McDonald’s boycotts. The pro-Palestinian Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement has been boycotting McDonald’s since late 2023. This means the restaurant chain is dealing with pressure from multiple activist groups with different concerns, creating a more complex challenge for their public relations and business teams to navigate.
Having multiple boycott campaigns running simultaneously puts additional pressure on McDonald’s because it’s not just one issue they need to address. The company has to consider how their responses to one group’s concerns might affect their relationship with other activist organizations and their broader customer base. This multi-front challenge makes it harder for McDonald’s to develop a simple strategy to address the boycotts and move past the controversy.
McDonald’s sales were already declining before the boycotts
The boycotts come at a particularly challenging time for McDonald’s. The company was already dealing with declining U.S. sales in the first quarter, marking the sharpest drop in their home market since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Despite efforts to attract customers with new menu items and promotional deals, many people have been eating at McDonald’s less frequently due to higher prices and economic uncertainty.
CEO Chris Kempczinski acknowledged that consumers were “grappling with uncertainty” but expressed confidence that the company could navigate difficult market conditions. However, adding organized boycotts to existing sales challenges creates additional pressure on a business that was already struggling to maintain its customer base. The timing means that any impact from the boycotts will compound existing problems rather than being isolated incidents the company can easily overcome.
Other companies are feeling the impact of similar boycotts
Target provides a clear example of how these consumer-led boycotts can affect major retailers. The company specifically cited boycotts as a contributor to reduced consumer spending in their first quarter, with foot traffic declining for four straight months. While Target couldn’t estimate exactly how much the boycotts cost them, they acknowledged that the campaigns had a measurable impact on their business performance.
The Target example shows that these aren’t just social media campaigns that companies can ignore – they’re translating into real financial consequences. When organized groups successfully reduce foot traffic and sales over extended periods, it forces companies to take the concerns seriously. This track record of success likely encourages groups like The People’s Union USA to continue their campaigns against other companies, including McDonald’s.
Social media is amplifying the boycott message
Schwarz and The People’s Union USA have built their movement primarily through social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok. With hundreds of thousands of followers across these platforms, they can quickly spread information about boycotts and coordinate actions among supporters. Social media allows them to share specific dates, target companies, and explain their reasoning to a large audience without relying on traditional media coverage.
The viral nature of social media content means that boycott messages can spread far beyond the original followers of these accounts. When people share posts about boycotts with their own networks, the message reaches potential participants who might not have heard about the campaigns otherwise. This amplification effect makes social media-organized boycotts potentially more powerful than traditional protest methods that rely on physical gatherings or mainstream media attention to reach large audiences.
The movement reflects broader frustration with corporate behavior
The McDonald’s boycott represents something larger than complaints about one company’s policies. Schwarz and his supporters are tapping into widespread frustration with corporate behavior that many people see as prioritizing profits over social responsibility. When companies roll back diversity programs, avoid taxes, or lobby against wage increases while raising prices, it creates a sense that corporations are taking advantage of regular people.
This broader context helps explain why the boycott movement has gained traction beyond just McDonald’s. People are looking for ways to express their dissatisfaction with corporate decisions that affect their daily lives, and organized boycotts provide a concrete action they can take. Rather than just complaining about corporate behavior, participants can actively choose to spend their money elsewhere and encourage others to do the same, creating a sense of empowerment in situations where individuals might otherwise feel powerless.
McDonald’s finds itself caught between competing pressures from different groups with strong opinions about corporate responsibility. Whether these boycotts will force meaningful changes or simply represent temporary challenges remains to be seen, but one thing is clear: customers are no longer willing to separate their purchasing decisions from their values. The golden arches may still be recognizable worldwide, but the relationship between McDonald’s and its customers is definitely changing in ways the company never anticipated.
