Ronald McDonald under fire for marketing to kids
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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.
Readers' comments (7)
DRH | Thu, 19 May 2011 10:56 am
Hey - remember when "health advocates" pursued *real* issues? When was the last time Ronald McDonald even appeared in a commercial, anyway. Yeesh.
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Anonymous | Thu, 19 May 2011 12:29 pm
Ronald McDonald is a part of our western heritage, we can't just kill him off!
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Stephen Plaster | Thu, 19 May 2011 12:55 pm
"Oh of course we'll just bin our mascot of 35 years".
Information about eating healthy is everywhere, if people really gave a darn about their health they'd seek this information out. No one is forcing people to eat unhealthy food, people choose to, (or more importantly) parents allow their children to.
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Anonymous | Thu, 19 May 2011 1:35 pm
want to stop the overweight problem in the us then we need to send the kids outdoor and to play and get them out of in front of the tv and games. when i was growing up we did not have the video games and the tv for a baby sitter we had to make our own games and they were out side ---sit on your butt and get fat or get moving around and stay thinner that simple the choose is yours
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Anonymous | Thu, 19 May 2011 3:53 pm
They should start "lobbying" bad parenting ... you guys know who you are !!!
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Anonymous 2 | Thu, 19 May 2011 5:47 pm
I agree with health professionals on this one. The argument is that kids are more easily influenced in that they are more likely to accept what they see in advertising as fact or truth. The sheer volume of these kinds of adverts and the power of branding (which, as mentioned, McDonald's pay millions for because.....it works!!)
And parents can only do so much - they can't be around every second of the day...
Are you all going to downplay the power of subliminal marketing on kids....really?
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Phillinda | Mon, 23 May 2011 2:50 pm
Ronald McDonald is not the problem here. Parents need to learn to say NO!! Ronald was more prevalent in the late 70s and early 80s. My mom explained to me we only get to eat there at special reward. And eating fast food is should not be the norm.
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