Bizzaro Clown Experience

[Guest guest]

Hi,

 

I have a noontime health tips show on a local radio station, Z95.7FM,

and last Friday they held a 4-hour concert called Jingle Ball. The

event drew about 7,000 people, mostly girls (from what I could see)

around 12 – 18 years old.

 

I wasn't involved with any of the planning, so I wasn't familiar with

the sponsors of the show. Turns out, it was sponsored by Verizon

Wireless and McDonald's. As a vegan, I took note of the McDonald's

logo and felt sorry that the crowd was being shown advertising for

the chain.

 

What I didn't expect was that Ronald McDonald himself showed up and

was on stage for at least 3 appearances throughout the night. I was

appalled when he came on stage and the audience shrieked and clapped.

I got inquisitive looks when I booed him.

 

The clown introduced the upcoming musical acts and announced the fact

that the show (which cost attendees $65 a ticket!!!) was benefiting

the Ronald McDonald House. I don't know much about that cause, but my

understanding is that it helps house kids who are dealing with

medical circumstances.

 

I haven't read Fast Food Nation, and I don't know the full impact of

McDonald's advertising. Suffice to say that the evening was creepy.

Even my husband thought it was perfectly normal that the clown was

entertaining the kids. (We had a debate after the show that convinced

him otherwise.)

 

Everyone was so thankful that they had raised so much money for

Ronald McDonald's House – it was like one big happy family. I'm so

glad I didn't have to pay for our tickets. It felt like some kind of

bad dream.

 

Am I overreacting?

 

~Angry Ronald McDonald The Clown Hater Concerned About Evil Messages

Kids Get (aka Caity)

[Guest guest]

I think it's perfectly normal for vegetarians -- especially activists -- to

feel revulsion when seeing something like this. But I'm not sure that I'd

characterize the folks who work at McDonald's as evil, at least not

willfully evil. After all, they eat their own food (not just at the fast

food chains, but at the corporate offices in IL, too). I think they really

do suffer from ignorance and, in some cases, delusion. Once people are

exposed to more ideas, particularly in a comfortable setting (e.g. not

confrontational), I think their minds open (sometimes slowly).

 

The original Ronald McDonald became a vegetarian, I heard, so it is possible

to convert just about anyone!

 

Jen

 

P.S. I once worked for a company that had McDonald's as a customer. I

visited their offices (I refused to stay at the Hamburger Hotel or whatever

it was their corp. hotel is called) once when they requested a consultant

on-site. I was amazed that there are vegetarians that work there, and that

they weren't treated badly. Hopefully, this means there are inside agitators

.... if the corp. culture slowly changes, they may start embracing healthier

and less cruel products (in some places, there's actually a McD veggie

burger).

 

-

" Carla Brauer " <KarrotQueen

 

Tuesday, December 18, 2001 4:04 PM

Re: Bizzaro Clown Experience

 

 

> No, I don't think you're overreacting at all! I don't know what I

would've done if I were there. It's sad that you can't even go out and have

a good time without corporate logos following you around, begging you to buy

their products and donate to their causes. I've heard of the Ronald

McDonald House charity before, but never knew what it was 'till I looked

into it today -- they basically raise money to build housing facilities for

families whose children are in hospitals away from home, so that they can be

close to their children without having to sleep at the hospital or spend

money on hotels.

> Ironically, the first Ronald McDonald House was built to house the

family of a girl who was being treated for leukemia, which has been

positively correlated with meat & dairy consumption. I guess McDonalds

feels the need to help out a few sick kids, since they're largely

responsible for putting so many in the hospitals to begin with. If they

genuinely cared at all about the public's health, they'd replace their

deadly products with healthy alternatives. However, it seems like they'd

rather wait until people are so sick that they have to be shipped off to

specialized hospitals far away from their homes to be cared for before they

help, rather than do their part to prevent these cases from coming up in the

first place.

>

> - Carla Brauer

> karrotqueen

>

> " You must be the change you want to see in the world. " (Gandhi)

> ... so, what are you waiting for?

>

> caft.org | vegan.org | tree-sit.org | idausa.org | envirolink.org |

sfvs.org | animalliberation.net | indymedia.org | earthfirst.org | kpfa.org

| projectcensored.org | ran.org | infoshop.org | primatefreedom.com |

bankofamericaKills.com | furkills.org

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

No, I don't think you're overreacting at all! I don't know what I would've

done if I were there. It's sad that you can't even go out and have a good time

without corporate logos following you around, begging you to buy their products

and donate to their causes. I've heard of the Ronald McDonald House charity

before, but never knew what it was 'till I looked into it today -- they

basically raise money to build housing facilities for families whose children

are in hospitals away from home, so that they can be close to their children

without having to sleep at the hospital or spend money on hotels.

Ironically, the first Ronald McDonald House was built to house the family of

a girl who was being treated for leukemia, which has been positively correlated

with meat & dairy consumption. I guess McDonalds feels the need to help out a

few sick kids, since they're largely responsible for putting so many in the

hospitals to begin with. If they genuinely cared at all about the public's

health, they'd replace their deadly products with healthy alternatives.

However, it seems like they'd rather wait until people are so sick that they

have to be shipped off to specialized hospitals far away from their homes to be

cared for before they help, rather than do their part to prevent these cases

from coming up in the first place.

 

- Carla Brauer

karrotqueen

 

" You must be the change you want to see in the world. " (Gandhi)

.... so, what are you waiting for?

 

caft.org | vegan.org | tree-sit.org | idausa.org | envirolink.org | sfvs.org |

animalliberation.net | indymedia.org | earthfirst.org | kpfa.org |

projectcensored.org | ran.org | infoshop.org | primatefreedom.com |

bankofamericaKills.com | furkills.org