No geopolitics in fast food brands

It was the great Deng Xiaoping who said with feline wisdom: it doesn’t matter whether a cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice. Deng’s saying could well have been a counter to the great Henry Ford‘s more canine perception: any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants, as long as it is black. While both men highlighted the virtues of colour blindness, Deng’s result-oriented strategy has proved more fruitful than Ford’s supply-side dogma – and not just for China. We bring up all this talk of black and white because much is being made ado of the fact that a food delivery agent was seen delivering 18 bags of KFC outside the hotel where the Chinese delegation with President Xi Jinping is staying in Moscow. KFC = American brand + Chinese delegation ordering KFC = Geopolitical travesty!

But such symbolism matters only to those who prefer getting stuck in symbols. After Western sanctions were imposed on Russia because of its invasion of Ukraine, companies like KFC upped and left the country. So, how can China (and sidekick-pal Russia), not the US’ BFF, have KFC khana? While delivering food merely in leftover ‘KFC’ bags is the likely explanation, it is a fact that for China, it doesn’t matter even if it was Yankie food. What matters are end results. And that doesn’t, like the colour of cats, reside in fast food brands.