A Smart Business Decision

This story is from the WRAL: Raleigh-Durham-Fayetteville, North Carolina website. More businesses would be wise to follow the lead of this McDonald's restaurant. The key of the article is the final highlighted paragraph.


"Everyone celebrates religion and holidays in their own individual ways, but currently there are questions about whether the two should be more connected. One of the latest places involved in the controversy is a McDonald's restaurant in Raleigh.

[The sign] reads: "Merry Christmas, Jesus is the Reason for the Season." It is a holiday message that Amanda Alpert thinks comes on a little too strongly. "It offends me because it specifically talks about Jesus. It doesn't give credit to anyone else," Alpert said.

Alpert called the McDonald's corporate office in Atlanta and requested that the sign be changed to the politically correct Happy Holidays. The response was the owner has the right to do what she wants with the sign.

None of the drivers WRAL spoke to were offended by the sign. "I've always known it to be Merry Christmas, and it is Jesus' birthday," said Tom David of Smithfield.

McDonald's managers say the sign has been good for business. They say church groups have stopped by to eat, and some people who usually don't eat food from McDonald's have stopped by because of the sign."