Saying I was raised on McDonald’s is an exaggeration. But when my mom was pregnant, she handled bookkeeping for a Mickey D’s franchisee and, needless to say, she chowed down on many Big Macs while I was in utero. I also have fond memories of childhood birthday parties underneath the Golden Arches and posing for photos with Ronald McDonald. So I was shocked when I read that Corporate Accountability International (CAI) was calling for clown’s resignation.
The Retire Ronald campaign argues that “for nearly 50 years no one has been better at hooking kids on unhealthy food, spurring an epidemic of diet-related disease.” The timing of this campaign, which includes a Web site, a Twitter feed, a Facebook page and grassroots outreach, couldn’t be better. The group’s press conferences in New York and San Francisco and a protest outside a Times Square McDonald’s coincide perfectly with the momentum of Michele Obama’s Let’s Move campaign. Smart.
But unless Ronald has been covertly offering cramped rides to McDonald’s in his clown car – he isn’t to blame for the obesity problem and his “retirement” isn’t likely to help matters. The problem lies with parents opting to feed fast food to their children and not teaching proper nutrition at home. While obviously not a healthy meal, eating a McDonald’s value meal once a month or even once a week won’t make you fat and this campaign probably won’t force Ronald’s retirement from position of chief happiness officer. Like it or not, McDonald’s, an iconic brand, will weather this storm – just like it did when Super Size Me was released and the “experiments” currently circulating online showing its food doesn’t rot.
The Let’s Move and Retire Ronald campaigns are very different, but both ultimately want children to make better decisions when it comes to what they eat. And they’re both garnering the attention they were intended to. As with any campaign designed to change behaviors, knowing your target audience is key. Let’s Move is addressing parents and children (and not victimizing any one source of our obesity problem) and, as such, will likely have a longer shelf life than a Happy Meal or the CAI’s efforts.
Hi Jennifer,
I was unaware that Ronald had become the focal point for addressing our countries obesity problem. Focusing on the mascot of a single fast food company as the cause of this problem is just plain silly. I agree that the Let’s Move approach to the problem makes a lot more sense. Instilling healthy eating habits is primarily a parent’s responsibility, but having good choices reinforced outside of the home can be beneficial as well. Bringing down the clown will have no impact on behaviors at all. Ray