McDonald's Is Poisoning Consumers -- And Blaming Everyone Else for the Catastrophic Societal Costs

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McDonald's Is Poisoning Consumers -- And Blaming Everyone Else for the

Catastrophic Societal Costs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By

Stacey Folsom, AlterNet. Posted June 24, 2009.

Source >

http://www.alternet.org/workplace/140867/mcdonald%27s_is_poisoning_consumers_--_\

and_blaming_everyone_else_for_the_catastrophic_societal_costs/?page=1

McDonald's refuses to take responsibility for the skyrocketing rates of obesity,

diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

 

 

For most of us it’s not that difficult to understand how McDonald’s

share profits rose over 2008 when the rest of the Dow Jones (save for

Wal-Mart) was taking a nose dive. After all, they offer a value at the

register that’s easy on our thinning pocketbooks.

That

said, the value at the register is a misnomer when you look at the true

costs McDonald’s is passing on to its patrons. Each year, the direct

and indirect costs of diet-related disease

cost Americans well over 120 billion dollars. Value meals cost a great

deal more when you subdivide that tab by the number of us eating

regularly at the Golden Arches and other chains that serve food high in

fat, calories, salt and sugar.

McDonald’s has yet

to take its share of the blame for this alarming number, let alone the

skyrocketing rates of diet-related conditions like obesity, diabetes

and cardiovascular disease. It has instead pumped hundreds of millions

into a high-stakes, public relations blame game.

Line

1 – “It’s not our food that’s to blame, it’s a lack of exercise.â€

Too

bad recent studies find that are kids and adults are not much less

active than they were just 30 years ago when the amount of fast food

being consumed was much lower.

Line 2 – “It’s not

our marketing to kids that’s to blame, it’s all the video games and

internet media that distract our kids from physical activity.†Have you

ever seen McWorld, McDonald’s interactive online playland where, “it’s

a kid’s world where kids rule?†Well, it provides a window into the

duplicity of the corporation’s marketing to say the least.Line

3 – “We’re a leader in offering healthier menu choices.†If that means

offering salads that have more calories than a Big Mac and apple slices

with a caramel dipping sauce…McDonald’s nutritionists seem to have

fallen asleep behind the wheel.

And there are as many lines as you’ll find in your neighborhood McDonald’s

and more.But the American public is increasingly seeing through the antics. In

a recent Corporate Accountability International poll

conducted by Lake Research partners 57 percent of Americans said they

believe the fast food industry was, “responsible…for the increase in

diet-related diseases and health conditions.†This is a three-fold

increase over a similar Gallup poll conducted in 2003.

This alone should give shareholders pause, despite

CEO Skinner’s effusive earnings report this May. But there’s more

reason to believe all this corporation touches doesn’t turn the golden

color of its French fries.

A recent Columbia University and UC Berkeley study

found a sizable increase in the rates of obesity in teens who attend

school within 1/10 of a mile of fast food chains like McDonald’s.

Earlier studies conclude the zoning of fast food is anything but

accidental or arbitrary. Fully one-third of schools nationwide have at

least one fast food restaurant or convenience store within walking

distance.

To further paint the picture, Corporate Accountability International has

developed an online mapping tool that allows parents and policymakers to get a

sense of how McDonald’s and others cluster around our children’s schools.

This

brings up Line 4 – “It’s not our responsibility that kids are getting

sick from eating too much of our food, that’s on parents.†Well,

McDonald’s certainly isn’t doing parents any favors when it takes

advantage of every space parents cannot control to make lifelong

customers of young people.

It’s not just the

promotion and marketing in and around schools, the siting of

restaurants or cleverly disguised product promotion like the McDonald’s

All-American Reading Challenge – it’s the actual sale of branded fast food

in schools (which occurs in one out of every five schools).As the largest fast

food corporation, McDonald’s can do better than this.

It can stop zoning restaurants next to schools and selling branded fast

food in schools. It can also provide an example of industry best

practices by halting all sports sponsorships and marketing that appeals

to children.

These types of actions will signal to shareholders

that the corporation cherishes its family-friendly ethos over the lip

service of its current public relations. It will also help ensure

McDonald’s “value†doesn’t come at the expense of our children’s

health.