
One man’s meat is another man’s poison. This is so true in a multi-racial country. Case in point: McDonald’s in Singapore recently introduced their Chinese New Year (CNY) toy promotion: a set of Doraemon collectibles depicting the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac calendar. With a food purchase, customers could collect a zodiac toy of their choice for only S$2.
Some customers were miffed when they discovered that the pig toy was omitted from the set. As a certified halal restaurant chain, the fast-food giant reasoned that offering a pig toy on the premises would offend their Muslim customers. As the first day of CNY this year coincides with Valentine’s Day, McDonald’s replaced the pig toy with a cupid toy.

Sometimes being sensitive to the customs of one ethnic group may mean being insensitive to those of another. That’s one of the challenges of doing business in a multi-racial, multi-cultural country. You just have to tread with extreme caution. A mis-step, no matter how small, can lead to a conflagration that neither side really wants.
Note: In Malaysia, the Year of the Pig is referred to as the Year of the Boar. And the Year of the Cock(erel) goes by the more polite Year of the Rooster.
1 comment:
hahaha, reward of 72 virgins NOW reduced to 60 for those dead through jihad .....hahaha !
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