As Fitness “Ambassador”
“I take what I put into my body very seriously – we should not be promoting this type of food as having any connection to athletic pursuits. It breaks my heart to see the Olympics using Ronald McDonald to promote this food to kids; it’s the exact wrong message to be sending.”
-Ruth Heidrich, track and field gold medalist and six-time Ironman Triathlon finisher
Another way Ronald has inserted himself into schools is as an “ambassador for health." Mind you that the diplomat is from a restaurant at the heart of the global epidemic of diet-related disease.
Though physical activity is a key element in health and wellness, the lack of it does not appear to be the primary reason behind the epidemic. While only one third of U.S. adolescents meet the recommended levels of physical activity, there is no clear evidence young people have become less active over the past decade as the prevalence of obesity has continued to rise. There are, however, plenty of studies confirming the increase in consumption of McDonald’s-style fast food and its impact on children’s health.
That’s why McDonald’s approach is such a cunning one and has provoked the fast food industry, at large, to follow suit. Though no amount of exercise can compensate for a diet high in fast food, Ronald’s calisthenics are distracting enough to make people believe otherwise.
In 2005, McDonald’s transitioned Ronald McDonald from “chief happiness officer” into an “ambassador for a balanced, active lifestyle. One can only imagine the move was in response to growing concerns about the healthfulness of its product and the 2004 release of “Supersize Me,” a film critical of the corporation’s practices.
In his new incarnation Ronald traded in his baggy yellow jumpsuit for a formfitting track suit and appeared on television commercials riding bikes, snowboarding, and juggling vegetables.
With Ronald taking on his new persona, the corporation initiated new programs designed to gain access to kids through educators and government officials like the “McDonald’s Active Achievers” and “Passport to Play.”
Through “Active Achievers” Ronald delivers “educational messages to students about nutrition,\ and balance between eating right and staying active,” and offers “Get Moving with Ronald McDonald” school assemblies. Partners on the program also include sugary-beverage manufacturer Coca-Cola, as well as education departments, nutritionists, and associations who don’t seem to see the trouble with having a salesperson for cheap burgers sell kids on health.
And when McDonald’s launches a new program, it goes all out. “Passport to Play,” the corporation’s curriculum on “how kids around the world play, snack and grow,” has been used in 40,000 schools in the U.S. alone. The guides and materials will reach approximately eleven million children in 15 countries. Ronald had the opportunity to kick-off the use of the new curriculum with a bang, appearing at more than 90 schools across the country in his newly adopted athletic wear.
Not only has McDonald’s used schools and health professionals to validate its not-so-healthy food among students and parents, it has also paid generously for the endorsements of a range of professional athletes from Kobe Bryant, Lebron James and Dwight Howard to Julie Foudy, Serena Williams, and Michael Phelps; none of whom actually rely on a McDonald’s diet to remain atop their respective sports.
McDonald’s has long-sponsored the Olympic Games and recently committed upwards of $100-$150 million to the Vancouver games and the upcoming Summer Olympics in London. For one, McDonald’s has launched the “McDonald’s Champion Kids Contest,” which selected ten children between 11 and 14 to attend the games, and sent Ronald to deliver the good news to each of the winners. Their charge? Promote McDonald’s by posting journals, photos, and videos on McDonald’s.com. For McDonald’s executives, the only thing better than a clown promoting cheap, unhealthy food is having unsuspecting teens do Ronald’s job for him.