big red mac

The media seem fascinated by the new mall in China that's made up entirely of knockoffs of American chains - "Pizza Huh" for "Pizza Hut," "Buckstar" for "Starbucks," and so on.  My guess is that there are a couple of reasons for the fascination.  One is that we're sometimes transfixed by familiar things.  There's some relationship between this phenomenon and the Uncanny Valley concept.  Then there's the old imitation-as-flattery idea:  See how great our way of life is?  They'll go to any lengths just to replicate what you pass by on your way to work.

I remember working in Eastern Europe when the same thing was going on there.  In 1991/92 the "McRonald's" in Warsaw was right down the street from what was then the most successful Mercedes-Benz dealership in the world.  (A lot of people were turning stolen Communist assets  into unregulated cash back then.  And all those Benzes were being sold on a cash-only basis.  After all, there was no banking or credit system yet.) 

Hungary was still Communist when they opened the first McDonald's there in 1989 or so.  I was there, too.  I remember going to a reception for the Secretary of Commerce (Mosbacher) at the US Embassy.  It was a "Texas-style barbecue," which meant undercooked chicken with "bar-b-q sauce" the color and texture of blood plasma.  As for the Hungarian country/western band ... well, Buck Owens was rolling over in his grave and he wasn't even dead yet.

The manager of that Budapest McDonald's said that their biggest problem was that they had eight separate cash registers to ease congestion, but the people all made one gigantic line.  They were used to old-fashioned Communist queuing ...

It, too, was the most successful franchise in the world at the time.  Heart disease:  The final capitalist weapon against the Socialist world.