In July 2025, Telegram channels reported an unusual promotion in Canadian restaurants of a popular fast food chain: visitors were allegedly offered dishes from the Axis countries during World War II. We have checked the correctness of such posts.
Publications about the new McDonald's menu in Canada circulated on July 16. It is alleged that the chain’s restaurants have introduced what the authors of the posts call it “Hitler’s combo” - dishes inspired by the cuisines of Germany, Italy and Japan and sold under the slogan “Better Together.” The publications emphasize that the halls of the establishments were decorated with the flags of these three countries, but visitors reacted ambiguously to the action.
This action was reported on Telegram channels “Dvach"(276,000 views at the time of writing the analysis), "KB"(244,000), "What's trending?"(132,000), "Heavenly"(94,000), "Rhymes and news"(68,000), etc. Also videos on this topic can be found in TikTok, where they get hundreds of thousands of views.
Published on the official website of the fast food restaurant chain news, confirming that McDonald's locations across Canada are running a new promotion starting June 24th. Within its framework, visitors can try special dishes inspired by the cuisines of different countries, including Germany, Italy and Japan. However, in addition to them, the menu on the site includes McFlurry ice cream with cookies from Belgium, garlic mayonnaise sauce from the UK and sweet chili sauce from Australia.
Promotional video for the promotion, published on the verified page of the Canadian McDonald's on Instagram, says that the most delicious dishes from different countries were “stolen” for customers in Canada, hence the name - The International Menu Heist. The video shows such dishes not only from Germany, Italy and Japan, but also from Belgium, which during the Second World War first maintained neutrality, and in 1940 was captured by Nazi troops.
The video ends with the campaign slogan: “Try them all while you can.” The phrase “Better Together,” which the authors of the viral posts drew attention to, was taken from the photo they provided of the electronic menu. Most likely, this is not an advertising slogan, but a marketing ploy: the company offers visitors can buy a combo of two products, in this case McPizza Bites with sauce. At the same time, the name of the sauce and the indication that it “represents” the UK in the international menu are cropped off in the viral photo. Like Australia, the United Kingdom fought against Nazi Germany during World War II.
On social networks and Google Maps you can find many photos from Canadian McDonald's restaurants from a different angle. They show that in addition to the flags of Germany, Italy and Japan, the establishments also display the flags of Australia, Great Britain and Belgium stated in the menu on the website. All photos, like those used in viral publications, were taken in July of this year.
Moreover, such a promotion takes place not only in Canadian fast food chain restaurants, but also, for example, in German. There, visitors are offered dishes inspired by the cuisines of Great Britain, Japan, Portugal, Australia, China, South Africa, Indonesia, Thailand and South Korea.
Photos of Canadian flags hanging in Canadian restaurants initially began to spread in the English-language segment of the Internet. Users accompanied them with humorous captions, such as “I love the new Axis menu at McDonald’s.” Two pictures that went viral published July 16 on social network X users @anglotradboy And @Xsidi_ . Two other photos were posted at the beginning of the month users Reddit, but they separated only now.
In Russian, photos with a misleading caption are the first published Telegram channel “Elup” July 16 at 18:16 Moscow time. “Canadian McDonald's has launched a collaboration with the Axis countries. Dishes from the cuisines of the Hitlerite coalition appeared there,” the post says. However, the pictures became viral after the publication about the “Hitler combo” in the channel “Dvach", which appeared two hours later. The same publication reported for the first time that the phrase “Better Together” became the slogan of the action.
Thus, the Canadian McDonald's really launched a special menu as part of The International Menu Heist campaign, but in addition to dishes from Italy, Germany and Japan, it also included dishes from other countries.
Cover photo: Wikimedia Commons
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