Singapore:
McDonald's apologizes for leaving pig out of Chinese zodiac collection to avoid offending Muslims
Their first impulse was dhimmitude -- even at the expense of making a travesty of a Chinese tradition. After all, as offended as they may have been by this, the Chinese in Singapore were much less likely than the Muslims to start blowing things up and killing innocent people. "McDonald's says sorry," from Reuters, January 22 (thanks to Twostellas):
MCDONALD'S apologised to Singapore on Friday and brought a pig back to its toy menu, after a decision to leave the animal out of its Chinese zodiac collection upset many in the predominantly ethnic Chinese nation.McDonald's this month started selling cartoon character miniatures depicting the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac calendar, but the pig was replaced by love god Cupid as McDonald's said it did not want to offend Muslims.
But the move, just ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday and Valentine's Day in February, backfired as many Chinese customers complained in chatrooms and blogs that they would not have a chance to buy the animal sign of their birth year....
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