Feature Article

Boycotting the “French” out of Fries…

By Michelle Walls

In 2003 arguments broke out in the international community on whether to invade Iraq. The French, in particular, held a very strong opposing view from that of the United States. Because of this clash there were movements to boycott French items within the United States as well as remove the word “French” from product names. To local fanfare, merchants poured expensive French wine down the streets in protest of France’s Iraq stance. But it was the move to alter the name of America’s most prominent fast food – French fries – that catapulted this event into the national, and international, media spotlight. It was reported that the House of Representatives had removed French Fries from their cafeteria menu and replaced them with Freedom Fries…a way of mocking the French and criticizing France’s unwillingness to cooperate with the U.S. From that point on, nearly every media outlet starting covering the story. In fact other media sources were covering this event as a way to stay in the game and not be left behind should this turn into a larger event. In a Google.com search for “Freedom Fries” there was a returned result of 391,000 hits, much larger than “Freedom Toast” (30,200 hits) which also was part of this renaming saga.

In a New York Times article, William Grimes reflected on the political tension between the United States and France by stating, “The United States and France just can't keep their hands off each other. And no wonder. France is a high-maintenance double diva, demanding and capricious, but she's just too beautiful to resist, probably, as we now know, because she eats such tiny portions.” Perhaps, but there is little question that the media increased public tensions by starting a ‘snowball effect’ in their coverage of this story. A snowball effect happens when an ordinary news story takes on a life of its own. You turn on the television and it’s being covered on the five o’clock local news; you turn on the radio and the DJ’s are discussing it; you open your laptop and logon to the internet and your favorite homepage is flashing it as the top story.

Responding to the obsessive media attention to “Freedom Fries” and American grocers putting French Brie in the wastebasket, a French government spokeswoman said, “we are at a very serious moment dealing with very serious issues, and we are not focusing on the name you give to potatoes.” Her annoyance at the U.S. media frenzy did resonate with some Americans. An editorial in the New York Times reprimanded Congress’ attention to its cafeteria menu by stating, “…in the real world, [these events have] allowed people to register their strong displeasure at how juvenile Congress was being.” Eventually, and quietly the government let this issue drop and changed the name back.