McDonald’s made me eat it. That’s what one woman is claiming in a first-of-its-kind lawsuit claiming that McDonald’s advertisements were so good, she had no choice but to eat the dang burger and fries. The lawsuit, which was filed in Russia, has a religious undertone to it as well.
The fast-food corporation finds itself facing time in court because Ksenia Ovchinnikova, an Orthodox Christian, claims that McDonald’s advertisements made her break her fast for lent back in 2019.
Because of the season, Ksenia was trying to avoid meat, dairy, poultry, and meat by-products for the entire length of Lent. As an Orthodox Christian, Ksenia follows the Julian calendar, which defines lent as a strict period of fasting from animal products. According to the Russian, she had maintained her fast for an entire month before a McDonald’s commercial made her break her fast in April 2019.
The lawsuit claims that McDonald’s violated Russia’s consumer protection law and also insulted her religious practice by advertising such delicious food during lent when she was most vulnerable to the temptation of tasty burgers, fries, and chicken nuggets.
The pro-Christian lawsuit claims that McDonald’s should not have advertised their meat and dairy products when Christians were trying to stay away from them. Her lawsuit has requested a sum totaling about $14 or 1,000 rubles because McDonald’s owes her for the moral damage she sustained.
For nearly two decades, Ksenia was able to maintain her fast during lent. She successfully did it for nineteen years. But during this year, McDonald’s tempted her with their commercials, and she was compelled to go to the nearest McDonald’s location in Omsk, Russia, and order herself a burger.
“By this point, I had already been fasting for a month, but when I saw an advertising banner, I could not help myself. I visited McDonald’s and bought a cheeseburger,” Ksenia Ovchinnikova wrote in her statement. “In the actions of McDonald’s, I see a violation of the consumer protection law. I ask the court to investigate and, if a violation has taken place, to oblige McDonald’s LLC to compensate me for moral damage in the amount of one thousand rubles.”
So far, the court has not yet set a date to hear her claim. However, it is possible that McDonald’s could be taken to court in Russia for advertising their enticing meat products during lent.
Readers of Daily Mail believe this woman is taking things too far.
“That’s like suing a lingerie ad because it made a man cheat on his wife.”
“Always someone else’s fault, whatever happened to taking responsibility for one’s own actions?”
“Did she take into account that not everyone is fasting for lent due to religious reasons, and they do want to see an advertisement for hamburgers?”
A staunch critic even said that Russia should “charge her for wasting court’s time.”
One person joked: “I saw an advert for an electric car and immediately felt an urge to become a lefty greeno loser- can I sue the manufacturer concerned?”
What do you think?
