Since 12th February 2025, McDonald’s has offered the Stormzy Meal, the first ever ‘Famous Order’ in the UK and Ireland.
While cycling the other day, I spotted a giant poster for the new limited-time Stormzy Meal. My mouth instantly watered — I mean, I genuinely love the taste of oily, ultra-processed food. And Sprite with Oreo ice cream? Say less.
But wait… weren’t we boycotting McDonald’s?
Stormzy’s estimated net worth is £26 million (2024, according to Celebrity Net Worth), and on online platforms, people speculate he got £4 million for this collaboration, however there are no trustworthy sources proving that.
The English-Ghanaian rapper who has just won the Best Hip-Hop/Grime/Rap Act at the BRITs 2025 on 1st March stood on stage saying, “Thank you, Jesus, and I wanna be very clear about the God I serve.” But a number of comments under the official video of the speech tell a different story:
“He forgot to thank McDonald’s for his award.”
“Stormzy shares this award with his McDonald’s paymasters.”
To some, Stormzy might be seen as an advocate for his community. He’s funded over 40 Black students at Cambridge through the Stormzy Scholarship, launched in 2018 to break down barriers in higher education (source: University of Cambridge). He also co-founded Merky FC providing career opportunities for young people of Black heritage (Source: MerkyFC).
Does advocacy for one cause give you a free pass to ignore others — or worse, indirectly support what many see as injustice?
The timing has not helped. Just before the McDonald’s campaign launched, his fans noticed that his pro-Palestine post disappeared from his Instagram profile, and quickly started to link this with the brand deal.
Stormzy responded through an Instagram story, saying: “I didn’t archive the post where I came out in support of Palestine for any reason outside of me archiving loads of old posts last year. In that post, I spoke about Free Palestine, oppression and injustice, and my stance on this has not changed.”
Regarding his Famous Order collaboration, he said: “I do my own research on all brands I work with, gather my own information, form my opinion and come to my own conclusion before doing business.”
Still, Reddit threads didn’t hold back: “Stormzy, the house slave who deleted all his Palestinian tweets in exchange for a Happy Meal deal.”
So what’s really going on?
Since Israel’s assault on Gaza following Hamas’s October 2023 attack, McDonald’s has faced a global boycott. The BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement names McDonald’s among companies that have allegedly provided in-kind donations to the Israeli military or supported the apartheid regime.
And yet, McDonald’s fourth-quarter sales increased by 0.4% year-on-year, as reported by The Irish Times on 10th February 2025. The boycott, it seems, is losing momentum.
That leaves us with an uncomfortable reality about how our collective efforts – boycotts, climate strikes and divestment – are constantly undermined by the people with the most power and influence. We make sacrifices; they sign brand deals.
So what do we think we should expect from celebrities? Are they obligated to stand for social justice beyond their own communities?
