Taiwan McDonald's coming out video irks religious alliance

Mar 10, 2016

TAIPEI, TAIWAN: A religious alliance in Taiwan wants people to boycott McDonald's because it found its local commercial about a gay youth coming out to his father offensive.

The commercial titled "Acceptance" is the latest video in a "More Warmth in Conversations" campaign that McDonald's started in January. The fast-food company is branded as McCafe in Taiwan.

The video shows a father and son sitting at a table at a McCafe outlet. The son gets his father a coffee cup with a sentence he wrote on it saying "I like boys."

The father visibly upset leaves the table but later returns and writes three characters on the coffee cup to make the sentence read "I accept that you like boys."

The pair then exchange smiles before the tagline "let there be more warmth in conversations" appears on screen.

Following its release on March 4, the video has been viewed more than 1 million times on McDonald's Taiwan official Youtube account.

The Alliance of Taiwan Religious Groups for the Protection of Family has urged parents to boycott McDonald's saying it "does not approve of the ideological stand behind the advertisement" and accused the company of "openly promoting gay issues." The statement said that even using a McDonald's toilet could make people "polluted."

The Catholic Church in Taiwan is a member of the alliance but many Catholics feel that the alliance's statement is inappropriate and question if the church should be part of it.

Paul Chiu from Taipei said the alliance's statement might make people misunderstand that Christianity hates gay people.

Moreover, the alliance does not involve itself with other family issues such as domestic violence, he told ucanews.com. "If they don't respond to other family issues such as single parents, family and divorce, "the Catholic Church may consider to leave it and do it on its own," he said.

Peter Liao said he was touched by the commercial. He doesn't support same-sex marriage but thinks the church should care for gay people.

"Caring for gay people and supporting same-sex marriage are two different things," he said, adding that the alliance should think carefully issuing such statements.

Marriage between same-sex couples is not legally recognized in Taiwan.--ucannews.com