Burger King invades Maramures

Burger King has made a disrespectful and shocking ad campaign that tracked down groups of people worldwide who had never eaten a Whopper and had them do a taste test between the Burger King version of a super-sized hamburger and a McDonald’s Big Mac. One of the three places they chose to bring fast food to was a village in Maramures where I have photographed extensively. Industrial food from a globalized consumer culture was forced upon unsuspecting peasants whose lives are all about organic farming and traditions. Little did the villagers know that they were being used in an ad for a company whose mission it would seem is to annihilate cultural differences and make the world sick. This was an extreme example of globalization being played out in the far corners of the world. It will be interesting, if scary, to see how Maramures villages are used and abused in the coming years by major corporate entities. The days of Europe’s last folk culture are certainly numbered.