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McDonald’s, Murals, and the Revival of Black Art On January 22nd a symbolic mural, located on the side of Mischief’s Café Bar in Butetown, was painted over in favour of a McDonald’s burger ad. However, in the wake of a social media backlash, the fast-food chain has requested the original mural to be repainted. Preceding these events, the wall featured a painting of a Welsh-African woman- Maimuna Indjai, donning a Cardiff City shirt as part of the My City, My Shirt Campaign. Fronted by Yusuf Ismail, this was a campaign created to celebrate the Black community through a universally loved sport. The removal of this cultural icon for a burger promotion advertisement not only highlights the pervasive promotional culture of our times, but more obviously the begrudging attitude that the UK is consistently showing towards BAME communities. What started as a photography exhibition was transformed into a beautiful large-scale portrait of Maimuna Indjai, who had moved from Guinea-Bissau to Cardiff four years prior. The bright blue football shirt complimented by a vibrant African headwrap emphasised her dual identity – a cultural moment that I wish I could have seen before it was erased. Butetown, a historically multi-ethnic community in the UK, has suffered enough at the hands of the people empowered to protect them. After the death of British-Somali man Mohamud Hassan in 2021, Ismail wanted “to give the community something to celebrate…after [a] deeply challenging time.” Residents were overjoyed to receive such an unabashed display of cultural and ethnic pride that would hopefully inspire more artworks with powerful messages in their hometown. Maimuna expressed in a BBC interview that the painting was important and meant a lot to her community. In an era of ‘GO HOME’ vans and discriminatory government bills, one can never underestimate the power of representation to solidify the identity of those who are constantly being threatened and undermined. Unfortunately, McDonald’s did just that in failing to accrue the important details that would have prevented such a crime from happening in the first place. The corporation claims that the removal of Cardiff’s own ‘Mona Lisa’ was not intentional. In response to the social media frenzy, they explained that “the site was hired by a third party working with the artist who painted the original mural. We were unaware of what was on the site prior to our installation and have instructed the artist to repaint his original mural immediately.”
The third party, who was allegedly in talks with Ismail, ‘dismissed’ the cultural significance of the site and went ahead with its removal imminently. Although there was a clear lapse in communication, it is hard not to blame McDonald’s, who certainly have the means to assess the areas that they choose to colonize with their capitalist agenda. Their ill-informed actions sparked outrage on Twitter with one user writing, “This is absolutely disgusting!” Furthermore, Black Lives Matter Cardiff tweeted “This is exactly how the capitalist system works, it dehumanises Black lives, Black art and Black culture.” Indeed, this ordeal symbolises the inherent incompatibility between capitalist profiteering and social equality. Unless it serves their money-making ends, mass corporations are more than happy to trammel the creative expression of marginalised communities that inspire much more feeling than a blown-up burger bap. Promotional culture has been weaved into our everyday existence to the point where we just accept it as it is, but thanks to social media, there’s nowhere left for large corporations to hide. As a result, society is waking up to just how cunning capitalism can be, rallying for change which prompted the McDonald’s U-turn. Along with offering to pay for the artists’ resources for reinstallation, McDonalds UK are also keen to support the Cardiff creative community in any way that they can. However, the revival of this mural would have not been possible without pushback from the public. Their willingness to come together and loudly denounce these injustices demonstrates the take-no-prisoners attitude that has become so pronounced over the previous years. It is promising to see the co-operation of McDonalds attempting to remedy the situation, along with their desire to support Unify, the creative agency behind the mural. Hopefully this will encourage other mega companies to pour into the young, creative talent of Cardiff because clearly there’s plenty. A special mention must go to Cathy Owens – director of Deryn Public Affairs Consultancy, and Black Lives Matter Cardiff and Vale, for directly pressuring McDonald’s to renege on their plans. Discussions of how to secure long-term funding for the wall is ongoing so that Butetown’s cultural art and heritage is protected against future commercial whims. Words by: Rume Otuguor Design by: Isabel Brewster