Clearly, there is a conflict of visions here. This is especially the case in France, where McDonald's is the only thing short of pedophilia or boxed wine that is safe for everyone to hate. Indeed, if this weren't France, the extent of anti-Americanism there would be very disturbing. An anti-U.S. activist and author named Jos Bov is a French folk hero because he led a goon squad of angry farmers in dismantling a local McDonald's with crowbars. An angry judge gave Bov a whopping 20 days in jail.
Politicians bravely denounce the company.
But anti-Americanism only partly accounts for the phenomenon. For example, protesters will often attack a Mickey D's even if the U.S. embassy is more convenient. McDonald's is perceived by its enemies as a plague-carrier, imposing the pestilence of Western consumer culture and low standards on every hamlet. As historian David Halberstam points out in The Fifties, McDonald's was a natural product of postwar American prosperity. That model hasn't changed.