Are the Chinese falling out of love with McDonald’s?

It is always tricky for multinationals to pick a name that sounds right to Chinese ears, but few went as wrong as McDonald’s latest business tweak.

When the news broke last week that the American fast-food giant had changed its business name in China, ditching the previous Maidanglao – a transliteration of the company’s English name – in favour of Jingongmen, which roughly translates as “Golden Arches,” Chinese social media gorged itself with amusement.

“[The new name] sounds like a furniture store. Are you sure the food is edible?” one wrote, while another observed “even Ronald McDonald cannot stand the new name”, referring to a widely circulated image of the clown mascot on the phone, saying: “Boss, I have to quit. The new name is unbearable.”

McDonald’s responded online, reassuring its customers that no one would dine at restaurants carrying the Jingongmen label and the change was for official paperwork only. It is unclear whether McDonald’s will manage to shake off this PR disaster, but even if it does, there are worries the American food giant cannot escape the fate of being downgraded.

“McDonald’s and KFC do not command the brand power they used to in the 1990s,” Jeffrey Towson, a business professor at Peking University in Beijing, said. “They are not viewed as upscale as they were in the 2000s.”

Once a tourism destination in China and a symbol of rapid modernisation, McDonald’s is now known as a low-end, cheap eat for many Chinese. Experts say this colossal change in attitude mirrors the rise of China, where local businesses have become increasingly competitive and Chinese customers no longer have to rely on Ronald McDonald to get a taste of America.