Is everywhere becoming the same?

When I go on my travels, it is difficult not to go to a place that doesn’t seem to have connections to home. Whether it is going to Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin and the first thing you see is a McDonald’s and a KFC, or going to Tromsø — one of the best places to see the Northern Lights — which is surrounded by icy fjords and snow-capped peaks, but possesses a shopping centre with outlets such as H&M and Flying Tiger. Are we destroying the culture of countries by allowing multinational corporations to open wherever they want? On the surface, this seems to be the case, with over 100 countries having a McDonald’s and over 50 countries having an IKEA.

In fact, even when I went on a group tour to see the sights of Berlin, such as the Berlin Wall and Brandenburg Gate, we could see that globalisation had taken place. When we visited the Führerbunker, it had become a parking lot for a bubble tea place, and all there was to signify that this was the actual location was a single sign. As a history buff, I was so disappointed that I could not witness the place where those infamous events occurred. As well as this, the tour guide took us to a shopping mall for lunch, where the food was what I would expect to find in the UK. I ended up getting a kebab, which is what most Warwick students eat after a drunk night out in Leamington. Again, nothing special or uniquely German about it.

Are we destroying the culture of countries by allowing multinational corporations to open wherever they want?

Even when travelling to niche places like Visby on the island of Gotland, arguably the best-preserved medieval city in Scandinavia and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, we still went to a McDonald’s.

To be totally truthful, when I go to most places on holiday, I tend to try their McDonald’s to see how different it is compared to back home. When I went to Croatia, their McDonald’s even served beer, which you could get as a drink in your meal. This seems like quite a unique thing, as no other country I have visited has served beer at McDonald’s. So, just because most countries have a McDonald’s, it does not mean they are becoming the same, as each store is unique to the country with their differing menu items. For instance, in Cyprus, their McDonald’s serves bacon and halloumi muffins for breakfast, and during fasting seasons (Cyprus is Greek Orthodox so fasts strictly in the lead-up to Easter) they serve shrimp! This isn’t just a European thing. In India, McDonald’s has changed its menu to include more vegan options like the McAloo Tikki burger due to a significant number of the population being vegetarian. So, the big food companies do try to tailor their food to suit different countries. This means that, for me, my travels are still unique, as each country has a different fast food experience.

So, the big food companies do try to tailor their food to suit different countries

Furthermore, just because you can see the same brands everywhere, it doesn’t mean that everywhere is becoming the same. Multinational corporations can never take away a country’s history. McDonald’s cannot build a restaurant in the Colosseum in Rome or on the Great Wall of China. These locations will forever be preserved. Even when they have tried to invade historical sites, the authorities have put a stop to it. In 1993, McDonald’s tried to open a store under the Eiffel Tower, but the Parisian authorities refused to give them permission. There are limits to how much invading the multinational corporations can do, and for the time being it seems that they can’t penetrate historical sites. This allows for tourists like us to explore these places without being flashed by the fast food chains. This was certainly beneficial for me in New York when I visited the 9/11 Memorial site. I was able to experience the site without being hassled by the multinational corporations, and was able to just be in the moment, in the midst of a surreal silence at the location of a tragic event with other observers. Something about that moment was so unique that if feels bizarre to say that everywhere is becoming the same. That type of solemn respect can only be felt in one place, and that is the 9/11 Memorial.

It is easy to say that everywhere is becoming the same. When we go abroad, we see the same shops and restaurants. But if we think about it, these businesses have tailored their products to match the local populations’ preferences, and so are unique despite us being able to find the same stores at home. There are also beautiful historical sights and places of significance that are left untouched by multinational corporations, even in megacities like New York. Maybe we don’t have too long left before everywhere becomes the same, but for now, go and explore while countries still have their uniqueness.