Russian Woman Reportedly Suing McDonald's Over Ad So Enticing It Made Her Break Her Lent Fast

We're in the middle of Lent, which means people are giving things up, and for a lot of folks, one of those things is fast food.

Delicious, convenient, horrendous-for-you fast food.

A Russian woman by the name of Ksenia Ovchinnikova, who hails from the city of Omsk, has a bone to pick with the Golden Arches. She says that McDonald's ruined her Lent fasting with an advertisement so enticing she couldn't say "nyet" to a burger.

According to the New York Post, Ovchinnikova did an interview with Russian state media in which she said that as an orthodox Christian, she was fasting during Lent, something she has done for the last 16 years. That means no meat or meat byproducts, poultry, eggs, or fish.

Surely, she has done this plenty of times in her life, so knocking her off the fast wagon should be pretty tough, right?

Well, Ronald McDonald would like you to hold his beer…

Ovchinnikova says she had one month of fasting under her belt when she saw an advertisement for McDonald's. That was all it took for her to go down to the nearest Russian McD's (which has to be one of the most interesting places on the planet) and have a nice juicy burger.

"When I saw an advertising banner — I could not help myself," she explained.

A woman in Russia is suing after a McDonald's ad brought her 16-year hot streak of successful Lent fasting to an end.  (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

This Woman Wants McDonald's To Pay Up For Their Stellar Advertising Doing Its Job

It's easy to rip on her complete lack of self-control, but I understand how this happens. I like to think I'm not a slave to advertising, maaaaaan, but that's not true. I can't tell you how many times I've seen ads for things and it immediately put me on a trajectory toward getting it.

There have been times when my girlfriend asks if we want to pick something up for dinner and my response has been something to the effect of, "I saw an ad for that Chick-fil-A sandwich with the pimento cheese, so… that."

It happens. That of course is the objective of Madison Avenue, and it's my fault as a weak-willed zilch for falling for it.

But Ms. Ovchinnikova doesn't see it that way, and that's why she's suing McDonald's.

"In the actions of McDonald’s, I see a violation of the consumer protection law," she said. "I ask the court to investigate and, if a violation has taken place, to oblige McDonald’s LLC to compensate me for moral damage in the amount of one thousand rubles."

One thousand rubles is about $14. Even Russian McD's have gotten pricey, apparently.

We'll see if McDonald's winds up having to pay up. I suspect they'll just send her a coupon book and call it even.

The one thing that I can't figure out is why Ovchinnikova didn't go Filet-O-Fish. Maybe they don't have those in Russia, but — fun fact — those exist because of Lent. I guess McD's advertising game is just so strong it caused her to leave her religious convictions at the door for that burger.