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This Inner City McDonald’s Is Decorated with Fake Graffiti and People Aren’t Happy

McDonald’s’ new graffiti-inspired decor scheme has been branded as “offensive” and “poorly thought through” after being introduced in one of its London restaurants.
Phoebe Hurst
London, GB
Photo via Flickr user Mike Mozart

The McDonald's logo is one of the most recognisable in history. Almost everyone on the planet has some familiarity with the Golden Arches, whether beaming out from the side of a Californian highway or flanking a packed street in Bangkok. Yay, capitalism!

But the fast food giant may want its latest visual foray to be a little less well known. A new graffiti-inspired decor scheme from McDonald's has been branded as "offensive" and "poorly thought through" after being introduced in one of its London restaurants.

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The recently refurbished Macca's is in Brixton, South London, an area that has become increasingly gentrified in recent years but remains home to some of the city's poorest residents. The local McDonald's is now decorated with graffiti-adorned walls and lampshades.

So the refurbed Brixton @McDonaldsUK has fake graffiti tagging. The real thing blights Brixton. Truly offensive idea pic.twitter.com/tuwSFkkTpA

— Jay Rayner (@jayrayner1) March 2, 2016

While the McGraffiti decor scheme already features at McDonald's branches in Northampton and Surrey (customers at the latter apparently thought it was "too ghetto"), Brixton residents have taken against this redesign—in part due to the amount of real graffiti on their streets.

Speaking to The Independent, one local branded the fake graffiti as "a poorly thought through, corporate attempt at being down with the kids" and another saw it as a misguided attempt at "urban cool." Resident Matthew Jupp said: "Hopefully this is another step towards graffiti being really dated and corporate and thus not worth doing."

Restaurant critic and South Londoner Jay Rayner also criticised the food chain's choice of decoration, tweeting: "So the refurbed Brixton @McDonaldsUK has fake graffiti tagging. The real thing blights Brixton. Truly offensive idea."

While some would argue for street art's potential as a uniting force in Brixton (the recently erected David Bowie shrine centred on a mural of the late singer opposite Brixton Underground station), a corporate mega chain adopting a traditionally urban art form does feel slightly clumsy in an area that has seen street protests over "yuppies" and Champagne bars.

Also speaking to the newspaper, Lee Dema, who runs Brixton youth support network the St. Matthew's Project said: "This is just another misguided attempt by suits to identify with 'edgy' Brixton. They should have opened up another outlet in Brixton Village and used Laura Ashley lampshades for all the middle class poseurs around them."

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Despite such criticism, McDonald's is standing by its graffiti lampshades. A spokesperson for the fast food chain said: "The exciting and fresh designs used in Brixton are in use across the UK and in other markets and have received a great reception. With self-order kiosks and free-to-use tablets, the refreshed restaurant has digital innovation at its heart and provides customers with more choice in how they order and pay. We look forward to hearing what local residents think of their new McDonald's."

Time will tell whether digital innovation can win out over misguided wallpaper.