Goodbye Ronald McDonald
 

SOURCE: BBC NEWS

McDonald’s is facing protests from health professionals in the US urging the chain to stop using its Ronald McDonald character as a tool to market junk food to children.



The fast food chain is accused of “refusing to address the dangerous toll that fast food and predatory marketing is taking on kids” and contributing to the rise of obesity and health conditions such as diabetes and heart disease.

Campaign group Corporate Accountability International wrote an open letter signed by 550 health professionals urging the fast food restaurant to retire the character in the interest of health on the eve of the company’s annual shareholder meeting.

It states: “Our community is devoted to caring for sick children and preventing illness through public education. But our efforts cannot compete with the hundreds of millions of dollars you spend each year directly marketing to kids.”

“The rise of health conditions like diabetes and heart disease mirrors the growth of your business - growth driven in large part by children’s marketing. Although the American Academy of Pediatrics deems such marketing ’inherently deceptive to children under 8,’ you continue to use it as a vehicle to grow your enterprise.”

The lobby group also points out that McDonald’s actions inform the rest of industry and that its leadership on reducing marketing to children could affect change across the industry.

The letter was published in US newspapers yesterday and the lobby group is also using Facebook to promote the protest.
McDonald’s has previously come under fire for using toys to promote its children’s Happy Meals.

McDonald’s UK says that Ronald McDonald, who has been the brand’s mascot for 35 years “remains very popular with families” but did not address the accusations.


Read the full letter here

Mc Donalds are... mean people. I worked for them until this weekend. If we as staff sold under 70% large meals, we were punished, which meant we had to consistently push them on people (which I refused to do). We also had to push as much food onto the customers as possible. If we didn't sell enough then we were subject to disciplinary action. My friend believes the reason he was sacked was because he refused to push large meals onto people who reaaalllly didn't need them. And they are also **** employers aaha. They deserve all the court cases against them as possible.
I know it's a business and you have to keep going etc. Targets blah blah blah but when I saw the people who came in every day with their kids and slowly watched them get fatter and fatter I felt physically sick.
They also provide no facilities for your own food, and take 13p out of every hour you work to pay for a mcdonalds meal you have on your break. I didn't do this, I took salad and it went warm but didn't care. But the 13p was still taken out every hour...

Anyway, I have beef with them. Not saying you shouldn't eat there, just they are **** to their employees :P
Bit off tangent, just wanted to add more reasons why they should completely go, not just mr ronald :P xx

I know someone that that happened to as well. Not long after he started they started treating him really badly and everything and he hated working there. Which is one of the reasons why I refuse to ever work at McDonalds.

Anyway, I'm glad that they're trying to get rid of Ronald McDonald. He scares me haha

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q16KpquGsIc"]YouTube - ‪Ronald McDonald insanity‬‏[/ame]

He will be remembered well.

Didnt one country ban giving toys with happy meals? Due to being not right to reward kids a toy for eating junk food

But what about places like Ronald Macdonald house which is funded by the McD's charity to give families a place to stay while their kids are in hospital?

They're not all bad. I just think this is ridiculous. Parents have the chocie not to take their kids there if they don't want them eating rubbish.

Honestly, it's the parents choice. Children are still going to eat there whether there's toys or not, or if there's the clown (which is scary anyway).

McDonald's isn't to blame for people being overweight. It's all about the personal choices people make. I ate McDonald's growing up..but in moderation. And I'm at a "fine" weight now, and so are all my brothers and sisters. Yes, I'm sure there's things McDonald's could be doing to make it healthier, but face it, they're not going to. So it comes down to everybody making a personal choice on whether to eat there or not.

But at the end of the day, McDonald's is a junk food outlet. You know it's goign to be unhealthy and fattening and full of crap. But in moderation, (like, once every month) is fine.

It's the people who are being stupid. Go eat some salad if you want healthy!

What the hell did I just watch? :laugh:

A lot of people don't like clowns these days anyway

Ahaha! Isn't it amazing!? It makes me laugh so hard every time. But now when I get to the Flanders stage in Touhou Project (a japanese bullet hell game) I can't help but think of that bloody video.

Speaking of bloody videos. In the US/ UK McDonalds is represented by a clown, right? In Japan it's a hot girl (no surprise there). But in France...

Now I'm wondering how much free time Alt has.

Me :( I have too much, yes, but all this stuff has been old news. Just digging it up for its relevance. :3

That 'thing' scared the **** out of me as a child. I don't even have a thing about clowns or anything remotely similar either.

Ronald McDonald isn't the point of interest for kids any more anyway!

Ahem. Clowns are evil. Ronald McDonald is evil. The 'zombie' Ronald McDonald, however, is in a different league altogether. My worst nightmare - a clown & zombie together!

You're mean for posting it! But then again, I guess I didn't have to watch it! :P

I am obese, and the town I went to secondary school with didnt have (and still doesnt have) either a KFC, McDonalds or Burger King. When I did go with my parent's to another town (which was different to one I went to the secondary school in) either as a teenager or a child, going to McDonalds was certainly not the norm. I hardly remember going to McDonalds (or Burger King) as a child, with the exception of birthday parties. So I wasnt brought up to go to those places, and as an adult the amount of times I have been there, I could count on one hand. I find McDonalds products disgusting, though I can see their appeal. To parents with not exactly high expectations food wise, it's cheap fast convenient product.

I dont know about other countries, but in the UK MacDonalds have made some effort to make their products more healthier over the past few years. When I did go to McDonalds (as a kid): the choice was burger, chicken nuggets and fries with meal and drink as part of the Happy Meal. These days the parents can choose carrots sticks or a fruit bag instead. Instead of fizzy drinks or milkshakes (which were just the choice when I was a kid) there is now water, organic milk or Tropicana orange juice. It just takes parents to teach the child that if you have to have an Happy Meal then it must include an healthy option. So the toy can be the reward for eating the healthy stuff, instead of it being blamed for junk. But for many parents, it's far easier to go for the junk or give in to "pester power" rather than choosing the healthy option.

Also dont forget that many of the parents will be feeding desert, either bought at McDonalds or elsewhere, which invariably will include chocolate or crisps. Parents buying chocolate and crisps after a Happy Meal is hardly McDonalds fault. But invariably, the Happy Meal and McDonalds will get the blame.