Wednesday, June 8, 2022

The Golden Arches: The gateway to democracy

    


    McDonald’s is an American icon, with those unmistakable golden arches raised to the sky to lure passerbys to stop and enjoy something to eat. While it’s literal meaning is to symbolize McDonalds, its larger meaning is that those two golden arches are the symbol of democracy and the American ideology. Here in the United States, we don’t think much about the significance of McDonalds and how the big mac can have such an influence and be a symbol of our way of life, but it does. One of the first things to be introduced into a communist nation when the American government and that nation's government are at peace and have agreed on trade is the implementation of a McDonald's franchise. Existing in China, Russia, and yes even in Cuba, the golden arches of McDonalds are the symbol of the American ideology and the infiltration of our democratic ways into these communist nations. 

Like, it is hard to believe that a fast food restaurant and their logo can have that deep a meaning and symbol for the rest of the globe. I found it really interesting diving into symbolism and meaning behind logos of corporations and how in our culture we use some of those for different meanings than how they were originally intended. The McDonalds one stood out to me the most because of the global scale that the McDonald's Corporation is on and how often it is the first sign of American influence overseas in other nations. Like the golden arches are so iconic that they are tied to almost a type of American imperialism, but of ideology and values. I think it is very rare to see a corporation like McDonalds be so closely related and identified to a country and its ideology like they are with the United States, forever being a staple in our culture and a beacon of democracy and American ideology all over the world. 


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