Morrissey Berates Buzzcocks Over Song Usage in McDonald’s Ad
Morrissey, a longtime champion of animal rights and an opponent of anyone serving meat as a food product, slammed fellow British rockers Buzzcocks after the group allowed their 1978 track “What Do I Get?” to soundtrack a U.K. McDonald’s commercial.
“Please, somebody, tell me it’s just a bad dream …,” Morrissey wrote on his semi-official fansite True to You. “[Buzzcocks singer] Pete Shelley has allowed McDonald’s to use Buzzcocks’ ‘What Do I Get?’ to TV advertise McDonald’s new Big Flavour (the flavour being sawdust) Chicken Wraps?!”
In the ad, a drive-through patron orders the product while peeping an attractive employee, done up in stereotypical punk fashion, crafting the chicken wrap. “In the words of another Buzzcocks song: oh shit…,” Morrissey added, referencing the 1978 b-side of the “What Do I Get?” single. Watch the 30-second commercial, which is only airing in the U.K., over at Campaign Live (via Pitchfork).
Morrissey, who once used the title of a Smiths LP to hammer home his belief that “Meat Is Murder,” has long been critical of meat consumption. In a letter to Rolling Stone, Morrissey lambasted the meat industry as well as the 2015 live incarnation of Live Earth. “Serving meat and dairy products at an event to combat climate change is like selling pistols at a gun-control rally,” he wrote.
“We already know that raising animals for food is a leading cause of climate change and that moving toward a vegan diet is necessary to combat climate change’s worst effects,” Morrissey added. “Animal agriculture severely affects the world’s freshwater supply and is a major contributor to global greenhouse-gas emissions, deforestation, loss of biodiversity and air and water pollution, among many other harmful effects.”
In the past, Morrissey has also threatened to nix concerts at venues where meat products are on the menu.