Cultural friction
In the winter of 2002-2003, the derogatory phrase "cheese-eating surrender monkeys", once used on The Simpsons television program in 1995 to refer to the French, became popular in certain Washington, DC circles. National Review contributor Jonah Goldberg claimed credit for making the term known. Many US commentators and politicians, including Andy Rooney on the television program 60 Minutes, characterized the French as being ungrateful for opposing U.S. foreign policy after U.S. soldiers fought to liberate France from Nazi Germany during World War II. Bumper stickers were produced in the United States which jokingly called for the United States to invade: "Iraq first, France next!", and "First Iraq, then Chirac!".
On March 11, 2003, the cafeteria menus in the three United States House of Representatives office buildings changed the name of french fries to freedom fries in a culinary rebuke of France stemming from anger over the country's opposition to the U.S. position on Iraq. French toast was also changed to freedom toast. (During World War I, in a similar move, attempts were made to replace the word sauerkraut with the term liberty cabbage, French toast replaced German toast as the popular term for that dish, hamburger replaced with Liberty Sandwich, and frankfurter with hot dog, in menus and in popular speech; only the latter was successful.) Most Europeans, and a sizable number of Americans, dismissed these name changes as "gimmickry". Besides, the rebuke went amiss, since the term "French Fries" is not used in French -- in France, "French" fries are credited to Belgium.
Congressman Billy Tauzin from Louisiana, the only Cajun in the House of Representatives, removed the French language section of his official website because of anti-French sentiment. Congressman Roy Blunt began using jokes which alleged that the French were cowards.
It was also reported that many Americans purchased great quantities of French wine and poured it out on the streets instead of drinking it. Many, even other protesters, have noted that no matter what one does with the wine, buying it still provides money for those who produced it. In that regard it could be called an anti-protest, despite being an unintentional one.
Boycott
Many voices on the right in America called for a boycott of French products, but its effect was negligible. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in February 2004, the United States imported $2.26 billion in French goods and services, up from $2.18 billion in February 2002.[4] (
http://www.amon-hen.com/archives/000171.html) However, the president of IC&A Inc, a business that imports only French products, reported demand fell in the vicinity of 40% to 50% from February 2003 levels.
Calls for boycott largely focused on products deemed typically French – wines, bottled water (Evian and others), lingerie and luxury items. These constitute a small minority of French trade, whereas lesser-profile products such as aircraft (Airbus...), machinery and chemicals account for a larger share. This may explain the above discrepancy.
On April 27, 2004, Bill O'Reilly claimed that the American boycott of French products was successful; "They've lost billions of dollars in France according to The Paris Business Review". However, it was revealed that The Paris Business Review is a non-existent publication, and O'Reilly has been widely derided for the false claim ([5] (
http://mediamatters.org/items/200407080001), [6] (
http://www.parisbusinessreview.com/), [7] (
http://www.parisbusinessreview.net/))
One interesting point about these anti-French boycotts is that their proponents actually pretended to do significant harm to the French economy, the fourth or fifth largest in the world, just by boycotting exports of specialty French products to the United States and American tourism to France. This may be related to old American stereotypes of France, dating from the end of the Second World War, as an undeveloped country whose only significant products are wines and luxury items.
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Anti-French sentiment reactions
Reaction to anti-French sentiment in the US was a tenor of the anti-war protest in Montreal, Quebec on March 15, 2003, and may have been partially responsible for that city's 200,000-strong turn-out, being one of the largest of that day's worldwide protests (see Anti-Iraq war protests). Recurring protests in Montreal continue to be the largest in North America
