A photo recently posted on Thailand’s biggest web portal Sanook.com of a Ronald McDonald statue posing in the Buddha Dhyana Mudra (meditation) pose has caused an outcry.
Khaosod reported that McDonald’s Thailand was asked who was responsible for the photo, which was originally posted on Facebook. The original Facebook user who posted the photo apparently said that it was sent from a Korean friend.
Many Thai people have complained that the image is disrespectful to Buddha. They said they felt sad to see the photo and asked McDonald’s Thailand to find the source of the photo and warn other McDonald’s not to do something similar.
The McDonald’s Thailand’s director said that they had nothing to do with the poster, but suggested that the image may have come from an unkown artist trying to become famous. The McDonald’s Thailand director said that as Buddhists they would try to find the photo’s source, because it hurt their feelings very much too.
On April 11 Channel 3 brought up the issue on their Morning News Program “Reung Lao Cho Nee”, reporting that the director of general information at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mr. Tanee Thongpakdee said he would send a letter to people related to the photo to explain how sensitive the issue is for Thais. Mr. Tanee asked anyone who might know where the photo was from to tell the MFA so they could contact that country’s embassy for immediate further action.
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