1 week Ago By [email protected] (Bobby Lewis)
There have been a few failures among McDonald's menu items worldwide, but few flopped harder than the limited-time-only McAfrika. A simple cheeseburger with lettuce and tomato between two pieces of pita bread instead of a bun, the McAfrika was a failure not because of its taste, but because of remarkably poor timing which led to a public relations disaster. The McAfrika debuted in 2002 in Norway as a limited edition item for the Winter Olympics, concurrent with a major famine in sub-Saharan Africa in which starvation threatened the lives of more than 12 million people.
McDonald's public relations issues were compounded by the fact that the McAfrika was exclusive to the Norwegian market, a wealthy region of Europe. Facing protests, McDonald's acknowledged that the famine was "an unfortunate time to launch" the McAfrika and offered to allow protest groups to set up donation boxes for famine relief wherever the McAfrika was sold, according to The Guardian . However, McDonald's did not pull the sandwich and would only allow the donation boxes for the duration of the promotion, not the famine.
The End And Return of the McAfrika Despite McDonald's claim that the burger, which came with American cheese , was based on an authentic African recipe, controversy continued to rage. The imagery of selling wealthy Europeans a McAfrika while poor Africans starved made the sandwich and its completed sales campaign one of the most notorious moments in fast-food history . Despite its conceptual confusion and sustained controversy, the McAfrika unbelievably made an encore appearance several years later.
In 2008, the chain began selling a new McAfrica — with a C this time — as a limited-time item for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. McDonald's 2008 McAfrica ditched the pita for a normal bun and instead relied on an "exotic African sauce" of curry, mayonnaise, and chili powder to make it unique. Returning to the controversial name just six years after the initial furor, and adding the eyebrow-raiser of "exotic African sauce," quickly reaffirmed that the African-inspired cheeseburger — whatever that means — was one of the greatest McDonald's failures ever.
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