McDonalds Singapore is now selling Doraemon lucky charm at $2 with every set meal. There are 12 of them in the series and the Doraemon are wearing costume representing the 12 Chinese zodiac animals (生肖). But the pig is missing from the series. Instead, a Doraemon holding a heart representing the Cupid is used to replace the pig. McDonalds spokesperson said that the chain excluded the pig toy because they are a Halal restaurant. Out of sensitivity for its Muslim customers, the pig is being replaced by the Cupid, as Chinese New Year falls on Valentines day this year.
Firstly, I don’t know why they want to do this Doraemon wearing Chinese zodiac costume soft toy. They look ugly. I prefer either Doraemon by itself or the Chinese zodiac by itself. Not combined. But maybe that is just me.
What I cannot understand is the logic behind McDonald’s exclusion of the pig from the Chinese zodiac series. The Chinese zodiac animals is a part of the Chinese culture. There are 12 animals. You cannot remove 1 of the animals and still call it the Chinese zodiac. Does McDonalds know how many customers are born in the year of the pig? How would they feel if their zodiac is being excluded?
And honestly, I don’t know who will be offended if McDonalds sell a pig soft toy. I’ve been asking most of my Muslim friends, all of them don’t mind the sight of a pig soft toy hanging at the counter. Why? Because it is just a soft toy. The Muslim religion says that the pig is unclean. Muslim are not allowed to consume pork or have any contact with pigs. The pigs we are talking about here are real pigs. Not soft toy pig. And confirm not Doraemon soft toy wearing a pig costume.
The soft toy is not made with any material from the pig. And nobody is going to eat that soft toy.
Even the Muslim teachers and scholars said there is nothing wrong with a Halal restaurant giving out a pig soft toy. Did McDonalds Singapore consulted Muis before removing the pig from the series? And is the local Muslim community really so sensitive over a pig soft toy? Everyone knows that the pig is 1 of the 12 Chinese zodiac animals which is part of Chinese culture. I’m sure the Muslim community is sensible and understanding enough to allow the Chinese to have pig in their Chinese zodiac.
Besides, this is not the first time McDonalds Singapore is selling a pig soft toy. They sold Miss Piggy when they had the Muppets series soft toy. And Piglet during the Winnie the Pooh series. Did anyone complain back then?
If McDonalds Singapore feel that selling the pig soft toy will offend their Muslim customers, then they shouldn’t sell the Chinese zodiac series at all. If McDonalds Singapore want to make a Chinese zodiac series, they should respect the Chinese culture and offer the series as a whole. Not an incomplete series. How are we going to explain the Chinese zodiac to the younger generation when they saw the pig being replaced by Cupid? McDonalds has no rights to rewrite Chinese culture and amend the Chinese zodiac. Whoever came up with the idea of removing the pig from the Chinese zodiac series made a terrible decision. I wonder what is he/she thinking.
I feel sorry for those who are born in the year of the Pig. They can’t collect the Chinese zodiac animal that they belongs to. I’m so glad that I’m born in the year of the Monkey which isn’t a taboo to any religion. (Not that I know of)
Update: They are going to hold a protest at Hong Lim Park this Saturday (16 Jan 2010) at 2pm.
Update 2: McDonalds Singapore has apologised for the exclusion of the pig in the Chinese Zodiac. They will be launching the Doraemon pig in Mid April. All proceeding goes to charity.
on Jan 12th, 2010 at 11:04 AM
Dude, its Halal not Halah right?
Incidentally, McDonalds breakfast – no pork? I vaguely remember some fast food chain serving that. Or was it turkey. Turkey to some extent isn’t halal apparently…
Sad day for the pigs
non-halal ftw!
Colin Charles´s last blog ..StarOffice no longer on the SIA’s Airbus A380?
on Jan 12th, 2010 at 11:11 AM
btw Doraemon is suppose to be a dog.
@colin only a few places u can get non halal fast food. Ie thailand.
on Jan 12th, 2010 at 11:15 AM
Colin: Oops. Spell check gave me the wrong spelling.
McDonalds Singapore don’t have any pork in their menu. They can’t cause they are halal restaurant. I’m not sure what meat is the Sausage made of. I think either chicken or turkey.
As far as I know, turkey can be halal if they are slaughtered in the right manner.
on Jan 12th, 2010 at 11:16 AM
Daniel: Doraemon is a robotic cat lah.
on Jan 12th, 2010 at 11:16 AM
I’m sure there are Muslims born in the year of the pig too right?
on Jan 12th, 2010 at 11:22 AM
DC: It doesn’t matter because they don’t follow the Chinese Zodiac.
on Jan 12th, 2010 at 11:41 AM
Why are they doing this?—PUBLICITY?—People have been using Islam for publicity purposes—cause a controversy and get attention!—Writers do it too—write a book about Islam or with Muslim characters—cause a controversy ad get free publicity—-Its all about making money.
on Jan 12th, 2010 at 11:52 AM
MCD is smart, they put Lucky Charms instead of Chinese Zodiac and hence they are “right” if they did not include the pig.
on Jan 12th, 2010 at 11:56 AM
because most marketing “talent” are not very talented in reality. as simple as that.
on Jan 12th, 2010 at 12:12 PM
Maybe feedback sent to McD get replied by diff preson. I got a slightly different response from McD. She did not mention anything about religion.
==================================
Dear Hean Hong,
Thank you for your interest in McDonald’s Doraemon Lucky Charms collection.
As part of our ongoing efforts to provide customers with exclusive collectibles only available at McDonald’s, we brought in a Doraemon collection that consists of 12 designs. With Valentine’s Day coinciding with the 1st day of the Lunar New Year, we decided to include a Cupid Doraemon in the series. We seek your understanding that the Doraemon Lucky Charms promotion was never intended as a zodiac collection.
We thank you for your feedback and wish you a prosperous new year.
on Jan 12th, 2010 at 12:16 PM
@Hean Hong: That is a generic reply, saw that exact same reply many times in Hardware Zone forums on this saga.
Lester Chan´s last blog ..Sanyo Eneloop Mobile Booster KBC-L2S
on Jan 12th, 2010 at 12:23 PM
Trying to be sensitive to one race but end up offending the other race, this is called Rojak lah. Want to do, might as well do it all the way, be complete. Otherwise don’t do it at all. Perhaps the genius behind this marketing ploy is being too smart for his/her own good.
STUMPBO´s last blog ..Girly’s birthday
on Jan 12th, 2010 at 12:34 PM
Hean Hong & Lester: They are just trying to talk themselves out of trouble by trying to say that the series has nothing to do with the Chinese Zodiac animals.
If it has nothing to do with the Chinese Zodiac, then how come 11 out of 12 animals are inside the series? And they are arranged in the correct order. Isn’t that too coincident?
on Jan 12th, 2010 at 12:51 PM
anon@11:41 AM: I do not think they are using this as a publicity. They don’t need such publicity.
on Jan 12th, 2010 at 2:24 PM
From McD:
“…consists of 12 designs. With Valentine’s Day coinciding with the 1st day of the Lunar New Year, we decided to include a Cupid Doraemon in the series. We seek your understanding that the Doraemon Lucky Charms promotion was never intended as a zodiac collection.”
So how come 11 animals so zun coincide with Chinese zodiac?!! It’s a case of Mee-Siam mai hum. LOL
Kaffein
Kaffein´s last blog ..Food for Thought: Amusing piggy issues
on Jan 12th, 2010 at 3:00 PM
Kaffein: Yeap, its hard to convince anyone that the series has nothing to do with the Chinese Zodiac animals.
What McDonalds could have done is to apologise for their bad decision instead of trying to talk themselves out of trouble.
on Jan 12th, 2010 at 3:14 PM
Why of all zodiac they have to choose the pig then? This is the year of the tiger, if the 1st day of the LNY is Valentine’s Day, shouldn’t they replace the tiger instead?
Jacelyn´s last blog ..Wedding of a Sweet Little Godsis
on Jan 13th, 2010 at 1:04 AM
hi,
is there anyone selling dragon and rabbit doraemon..
im interested so pls email me and the price..
thanks
tanserene789@gmail.com
on Jan 13th, 2010 at 10:20 AM
They think they can rewrite chinese culture. Balls to them
on Jan 13th, 2010 at 11:28 AM
[...] unilateral decide to drop the “Pig” from its zodiac collectibles – Dee Kay Dot As Gee: McDonalds Singapore remove pig from the Chinese zodiac – Kaffein-nated: Food for Thought: Amusing piggy issues – Let’s Go To Speakers’ Corner: [...]
on Jan 13th, 2010 at 12:38 PM
MCD thought we are living in Taleban’s Afghanistan
where they bombed historic giant Bhudda statues or
PAS controlled Kelantan, where there is segregation lines for M & F.
that brilliant person who came out with this marketing idea at MCD ought to be sacked!
on Jan 13th, 2010 at 1:20 PM
[...] “McDonalds has no rights to rewrite Chinese culture and amend the Chinese zodiac.” — Dee Kay Dot As Gee [...]
on Jan 13th, 2010 at 1:26 PM
[...] “McDonalds has no rights to rewrite Chinese culture and amend the Chinese zodiac.” — Dee Kay Dot As Gee [...]
on Jan 13th, 2010 at 2:14 PM
Its a pity that the blogosphere does not have as many prominent Muslim bloggers, I’m interested in hearing their opinions.
One Muslim friend of mine mentioned that it really doesn’t matter to him because its just a soft toy. He added that some Muslims may choose not to get the pig zodiac model, but that doesn’t mean that they’ll make a fuss that it’s there.
on Jan 13th, 2010 at 2:29 PM
@Hean Hong & Lester
by giving you that answer, they must be thinking that you were idiots or else they themselves must be idiots!!
on Jan 13th, 2010 at 2:40 PM
do you remember the incident of a primary school banning non-halal food 2 years ago:
http://www.spug.sg/forums/showthread.php?t=91337
on Jan 13th, 2010 at 5:06 PM
This kind of hilarious marketing from McD is why I’m a strong fan of Burger King!!
a_x´s last blog ..Madhuri Jaya Chandra Reddy: a prostitute slayer
on Jan 14th, 2010 at 2:17 AM
Seelan Palay: Actually, I asked quite a number of my Muslim friends before deciding to blog about this. The main reason why I blog about this is that all my muslim friends don’t mind if McDonalds sell a pig soft toy. They also said that most Muslim won’t mind either.
If majority of the Muslim felt that McDonalds shouldn’t be selling a pig soft toy, then I would say that McDonalds made a good decision.
on Jan 14th, 2010 at 9:16 PM
to play the devil’s advocate: does this mean if the same thing happened, BUT your muslim friends mind macs selling a pig soft toy, you will not raise this issue with macs?
on Jan 14th, 2010 at 11:36 PM
j: One of the main reason why I blog about this is because most muslim don’t mind them selling a pig soft toy. Which makes me wonder why did McDonalds Singapore make such a weird/dumb decision.
If most muslim mind, then maybe I will not talk about it to avoid racial/religion conflict.
on Jan 14th, 2010 at 11:44 PM
even at the risk of marginalizing your own culture? (ie no pigs allowed)
on Jan 15th, 2010 at 12:25 AM
j: On 2nd thoughts, I think I will most likely blog about it even if most muslim mind. But I would phrase my blog in another manner. Focusing on the fact that McDonalds should just don’t sell the series entirely to please both side.
I think you and I agree that religion and race are very sensitive topic. But I’m glad that most Singaporeans are understanding, forgiving and sensible when it comes to these topic.
on Jan 15th, 2010 at 12:37 AM
Focusing on the fact that McDonalds should just don’t sell the series entirely to please both side.
-> that seems to be pandering to the muslim side and not the chinese, seriously. (assuming they sold the full set, and then removed it…)
on Jan 15th, 2010 at 4:36 PM
Dude u did say “Does McDonalds know how many customers are born in the year of the pig?”
And Do you know How many customers are Muslim?
C’mon think bout others i bet there are more muslim in MacDonald especially during weekdays where malay students prefer eating there den their crappy school food
Necro319´s last blog ..My School
on Jan 15th, 2010 at 4:46 PM
I totally agreed with your entry! I was telling the same thing to my mum when we discuss about the soft toys! It’s not like the muslims is eating the soft toys!
on Jan 15th, 2010 at 10:18 PM
Necro319: True that there are more Muslims than those born in the year of pigs.
But how many Muslims actually mind McDonalds selling a pig soft toy?
on Jan 16th, 2010 at 10:59 AM
[...] unilateral decide to drop the “Pig” from its zodiac collectibles – Dee Kay Dot As Gee: McDonalds Singapore remove pig from the Chinese zodiac – Kaffein-nated: Food for Thought: Amusing piggy issues – Let’s Go To Speakers’ Corner: [...]
on Jan 16th, 2010 at 2:26 PM
I just want to clarify that we Muslims have TOTALLY NO issue or offence with this whole pig thing.
It is PERFECTLY ALL RIGHT for any place to sell pig toys and we do NOT feel at all offended, insulted or think that others are being insensitive to our beliefs, and neither would we petition do for shops to remove pig toys from their shelves.
I would myself buy a pig toy if it’s cute enough (Winnie’s Piglet’s not cute to me though). We hope that this incident and ignorance by McDonald’s does not cast a misconception on us Muslims and unnecessary tension among the various races/religions.
on Jan 16th, 2010 at 7:12 PM
hey … miss piggy is also not for jews http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosher_foods
… lets be fair and dont keep pointing to muslims or we will hurt our brothers feelings … hmm maybe its a conspiracy thingy … wonder who the shareholders of mac or franchise holder … errr…
http://www.inminds.com/boycott-mcdonalds.html
And to be fair to macdonalds … read this too:-
http://www.charitywire.com/charity11/00707.html
Hello selling hamburgers is getting tougher these days but no one is eating the soft toys so please … pigs are beautiful animals … all god creatures are beautiful ok!
Mac Donalds – you should be ashamed of yourself for hurting miss piggy’s feelings
NOT to mention the whole chinese civilisation for modifying the zodiac and Mr zhu ba jie –
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhu_Bajie
All you marketing guys are overeacting and creating problems and unnecessary sensitivity where there are none (see above posr by muslim) and to prejudice children! of all the people! shameful !
And think of all the children who watch the Muppets.
on Jan 17th, 2010 at 1:48 AM
Muslim: Which is why I keep telling people that this has nothing to do with the Muslim community in Singapore. Basically, most of them don’t mind at all. This stupid decision by McDonalds Singapore is creating unnecessary tension among the various races/religions.
It is disappointing that McDonalds Singapore still refuses to admit their mistake.
on Jan 18th, 2010 at 8:48 AM
But the McDonald HK is selling the complete set of the zodiac toy with Piggy included. What lair is McDonald to tell you in Singapore that the toys are never meant to be zodiac collection.
At first they said due to Muslims, now said it is not meant to be chinese zodiac….treat us like idiot ? wah so coincidental,got 11 out of 12 of the chinese zodiacand just the pig ? McDonald is just a pack of liars now with the HK McDonald selling the pig toy to make it a complete set
on Jan 19th, 2010 at 9:45 AM
Don’t you get it by now. Why must anyone going about their own business need to refer and defer to a religion ISLAM.
Are Singaporeans slowly being inducted into this belief system where they cannot function unless they defer to a religious authority, even if you are not a muslim.
Have Singaporeans ever witness muslims checking themselves if their halal food is offensive to others.
on Jan 21st, 2010 at 10:26 PM
I pretty pissed off by the act from McDonald….
I think most of you already know what was the reason Macdonald does not include the pig doraemon, as they want to be ’sensitive’ to our Muslim fellow.
So are they not ’sensitive’ to the Chinese fellow and who are Buddist and Indian that don’t eat beef, so why are they selling beef then??? Are they not SENSITIVE toward those race??? The reason they provided was ridiculous, as far as I (as a non-Muslim) know, so long as the Certified Restaurant don’t sell pork or related meal, it is perfectly alright and didn’t breach the Certification of the Restaurant to have the toy/s which have pig designed.
Such act from Mcdonald not only INSENSITIVE, INCONSIDERATE toward other’s race, but also TOTALLY OUTRAGEOUS. While it is not wrong for them to show their sensitivities toward our Muslim Fellow as we are a Multi Racial Society , but neither they have the right to alter the Chinese 12 horoscope which is an important part of Chinese Culture.
This is not just an issue of toy, but the invasion of Culture and Tradition which have pass down from the Chinese ancestor from thousand years ago….
Mcdonald, if you still think you have the RIGHT TO INVADE other’s Culture and Tradition just because you want to be ’sensitive’ (but in fact YOU ARE SENSELESS), YOU WOULD LOST A LOT OF CUSTOMER.
I for one would not visit McDonal as often as I use to be. And you know what, Mcdonald, I’m a CHINESE who BORN IN THE YEAR OF PIG.
on Jan 22nd, 2010 at 2:22 AM
doraemon1970: Chill. They will be releasing the Doraemon in pig costume in mid April.
on Jan 22nd, 2010 at 3:32 PM
[...] seems like all the complaints about McDonalds Singapore not releasing the Doraemon in pig costume didn’t go unheard. McDonalds has apologized for excluding the pig in the Zodiac [...]
on Jan 22nd, 2010 at 3:46 PM
should all nursery and pri schools then forsake teaching what a pig is for sake of offence? we might as well then ban the book animal farm for sake of offence
on Jan 23rd, 2010 at 9:31 AM
Yes Yes Yes ofcos I love Doraemon in pig costume it will made d whole set fully completed.I hope 2 c d pig in pinky color but have to wait till april opp………..why cant b ASAP?
on Jan 23rd, 2010 at 11:06 AM
Singaporeans are slowly being inducted into this appeasement mode. – and before you know it all you will ever think about is what am i doing wrong to Muslim and Islam.
But why are non-Muslims being put on this defensive mode when Muslims rarely ever question themselves whether their halal certification or halal food is offensive to people. –
People who believe that all kind of food is good and divine and eating food that is blessed by Allah is offensive which is what halal food is. – Food blessed by Allah for Muslims.
on Jan 24th, 2010 at 11:29 AM
I wanted to get $$ refund back!!!!!
McDonald’s is a Cheated.
I unable to collect fully set of 12 chinese zodiacand.
We are CHINESE!!!!
SO SAD!!!!!!
on Jan 24th, 2010 at 11:47 AM
Conan Seah: Need time for the factory to make mah. Endure a bit lor.
Chinese Singaporean: They will be selling the pig in Mid April. Check the updates.
on Jan 24th, 2010 at 2:11 PM
Guess McDonald’s should sell only to muslim customers and bar all non muslim from it’s restaurant
on Jan 24th, 2010 at 2:18 PM
Let bycott McDonald’s restaurant.
on Jan 24th, 2010 at 3:27 PM
Looks more like Singaporeans believe and support the concept of apartheid.
What is the purpose of Halal Certification for a restaurant, really?
Is McDonald now an Islamic Zone only for Muslims because of this Halal Certification – since non – Malay – Muslim food will most likely be barred.
on Jan 26th, 2010 at 5:40 AM
maybe I will support Mcdonald less in the future, for the lame reason they give and their food is not as good as before, now there are many other fast food choices.
on Jan 26th, 2010 at 9:35 AM
only stupid people comes out with stupid idea.
on Jan 29th, 2010 at 10:10 AM
Hi,
Being a Muslim myself, i am not offended by Macdonald’s, decision to include the Pig in the collection series. I was frighten however that an argument between the Muslims and non-Muslims might arise from Macdonald’s mistake.(which is to late) it might be a marketing gimmick as now everybody is rushing to buy the Doremon. However as Macdonald’s promote promote the soft toy as lucky charms and not the Chinese Zodiac gives Macdonald’s the right to exclude the pig. However Macdonald’s did not give a good response when questions by its Chinese customers.Also Islam is not the only religion to forbid the eating of swine meat and drinking alcoholic drinks. Let me remind all Singaporeans , that the Police can arrest and imprison anyone without trial for suspecting to spread racial and religious hatred.
Ps. I think the police install a ‘bug’ in our computers , phone , car, house and almost every place. How do you think the police can arrest criminals very fast.
on Jan 29th, 2010 at 10:34 AM
Hi,
Being a Muslim myself, i am not offended by Macdonald’s, decision to include the Pig in the collection series. I was frighten however that an argument between the Muslims and non-Muslims might arise from Macdonald’s mistake.(which is to late) it might be a marketing gimmick as now everybody is rushing to buy the Doremon. However as Macdonald’s promote promote the soft toy as lucky charms and not the Chinese Zodiac gives Macdonald’s the right to exclude the pig. However Macdonald’s did not give a good response when questions by its Chinese customers.Also Islam is not the only religion to forbid the eating of swine meat and drinking alcoholic drinks. Let me remind all Singaporeans , that the Police can arrest and imprison anyone without trial for suspecting to spread racial and religious hatred.
Ps. I think the police install a ‘bug’ in our computers , phone , car, house and almost every place. How do you think the police can arrest criminals very fast.
I will also like to point out several points.
1) Muslims must respect all religion and cultures
2) There is a dog in the collection
3) Some muslims are born in the year of the pig. My uncle is one of them and he does not mind
4) Muslims are also allowed to keep dog ( for security, eg, you live in the states)
5) never mix religion with politics or business with politics( muslims are prohibited from doing that)
6) This is similar to the Allah issue in Malaysia
7) lets not follow our neighbor, singapore have its own way
8)The Chinese zodiac is only cultural and we have Chinese
muslims
9) most muslims are malays and most of them are unable to accept point 1
10) Most important singaporeans must preserve our way of life or risk being joining back with Malaysia ( i being a malay do not want it to happen)
on Mar 2nd, 2010 at 2:42 PM
I’m a muslim,and i’m not at all offended,but i’m sure some over protective muslim mother out there will complain that her son/daughter is getting a pig with her happy meal.