After all the blood, sweat, and tears shed for the special edition BTS Meal at McDonald’s restaurants throughout Indonesia, fans of K-pop superstars BTS — who are known as ARMY — in the country are now giving back to the very people at the forefront of this week’s frenzy.
A number of ARMY communities in Indonesia are currently raising money online to provide free rapid antigen tests and lunchboxes for motorcycle taxi/delivery drivers (locally known as ojol), as the former had to rely on them to make the purchases due to McDonald’s Indonesia only selling the BTS Meal through delivery apps and services.
ARMY Team ID was one community that initiated a fundraiser to pay for the drivers’ antigen swab tests, considering that social distancing was non-existent at many McDonald’s outlets where they queued for the BTS Meal. The fan community launched the campaign on crowdfunding platform Kitabisa yesterday, and has so far gathered over IDR27.5 million out of the targeted IDR50 million.
There are a couple more pages on Kitabisa related to spreading luv for ojol drivers in the form of lunch boxes, including those initiated by ARMY communities Wings of Bangtan and Purple Hearts. Under the cheekily-titled campaign Bantuan Tuk Superhero (aids for superheroes), both communities wrote on their crowdfunding pages that the initiative is to celebrate the arrival of BTS Meal, as well as the septet’s upcoming eighth anniversary on June 13.
Wings of Bangtan are planning to use the funds to buy lunch boxes and staple foods for the ojol drivers. They have so far collected over IDR25.3 million out of their target of IDR31.6 million.
ARMY yorobun, aku cuma mau bilang nuhun 🥺💜
Makasih temen-temen #BTSARMY udah bikin inisiatif baik ini. Tadi siang, makanan gratis buat driver ojol yang ngantri #BTSMeal udah mulai dibagi-bagi.
Kalo kata ARMY: #ThankYouOJOL yang udah rela antre dan anter makanan buat ARMY~ pic.twitter.com/OraAbORjnV
— Kitabisa (@kitabisacom) June 9, 2021
Meanwhile, Purple Hearts have gathered IDR37.7 million out of their IDR47 million target to distribute sets of lunch boxes, face masks, and hand sanitizers to the drivers queuing at various McD outlets. As of today, they’ve distributed the sets to drivers in Jakarta as well as Bekasi and Bogor in West Java.
#BTSARMY kasih apresiasi ke driver ojol.
Driver ojolnya kasih apresiasi balik ke ARMY yg gigih meski dicancel berkali-kali 🥺Nyalain volumenya guys buat mood booster siang ini. Makasih ya @purpleheartsid udah berbagi lunch box gratis ke driver ojol tadi 💜#ThankYouOJOL pic.twitter.com/bF81R9GlhN
— Kitabisa (@kitabisacom) June 10, 2021
The Jakarta Metro Police yesterday urged McDonald’s Indonesia to discontinue the special edition BTS Meal after it was launched on Wednesday, as a number of stores were shut for attracting droves of drivers ordering the set for customers.
Also Read — Jakarta police ask McDonald’s to discontinue BTS Meal following launch day frenzy
McDonald’s Indonesia’s spokesperson Sutji Lantyka said the chain is now implementing open-close orders on the order platforms to prevent long queues. As of today, we only found the BTS Meal available on the McDelivery app, as well as from the fast food chain’s drive-thru service.
The BTS Meal consists of nine pieces of Chicken McNuggets, Sweet Chili and Cajun sauces, medium fries, and a drink. The limited edition sauces are said to have been picked by the members of the K-pop megastars themselves, as well as inspired by McDonald’s in South Korea. The set, which is sold for IDR51,000 (US$3.59) each, will be available in Indonesia until July 7.
US$1: IDR14,191
Also Read:
#ThankYouOJOL: Indonesians pay tribute to delivery drivers for bringing them the McDonald’s BTS Meal
Mac of the Soul: McDonald’s BTS Meal to go on sale in Indonesia starting Wednesday
Reader Interactions