08 December 2008

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.

5 comments:

  1. awfull. now they know what a burger king is? i guess no. anyway.. they talked about these people as if they were in the middle of nowhere. come on. they do have TV :)what was the village?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Andreea,

    The village is Budesti in the Maramures region which is usually seen to be the most traditional in Maramures since it still has many wooden houses. But, yes, the villages all got satellite tv in 2006 and mobile phones the year before. Many of the youth have all left to work in Italy and Spain, but the older villages really are not too aware of the global consumer culture or the corporate entity that is Burger King. These peasants had no idea they were staring the enemy of tradition and organic farming in the face.

    ReplyDelete
  3. well... i didnt know about burger king until 3 years and a half ago, when i got to the states. i only ate there once, and can say its the worse food i've ever ate. i remember budesti. been there :). its a nice place. well.. i think the era of consumerism and junk food is dieing. and hope these people will never get to eat at burger king.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm glad to have found your work. Keep it up.

    ReplyDelete
  5. absolutely disgusting

    ReplyDelete