Press

Hello, my name is Dr. Steven K. Rothschild. I’m a medical doctor and associate professor in the Departments of Preventive and Family Medicine at Rush Medical College. I’m one of more than 3

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Good morning. I am Deborah Lapidus from Corporate Accountability International. Tens of thousands of people have joined our Value [the] Meal campaign challenging McDonald’s and its competitors t

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We as parents, health educators and children’s advocates can’t match McDonald’s marketing might. We encourage parents to shut the door to your advertising which is directed at our children, find healthier food choices that are within their means, and account for daily physical exercise. But your corporation does these hard-working, well-meaning parents and educators no favors. Your marketing strategies take advantage of every location that working parents can’t constantly monitor, to undermine the food and nutrition values parents and health educators work so hard to instill.

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Good morning. My name is Alfred David Klinger. I am a retired physician who practiced adult, internal, sports, occupational injury and preventive medicine for 45 years in the Hyde Park and Chicag

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Your corporation spends hundreds of millions each year advertising to kids, a practice you pioneered in the late 50’s and early 60’s with the iconic Ronald McDonald, who today remains the centerpiece of your predatory kids’ marketing campaigns.

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NEW YORK, NY – After close to fifty years of hawking fatty food directly to kids, Ronald McDonald is being urged to retire. A new report and national poll released today by Corporate Accountability International finds that close to half of the public favors the clown’s retirement. Download the press conference audio here.

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We’ve heard that McDonald’s isn’t just a clown but a pioneer in the marketing of food to children. But he’s also an architect. Without him, the food system we have today would look very different. Here and around the world, the way food is grown, subsidized, processed and eaten has been fashioned by the needs of this gargantuan corporation.

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McDonald’s knows that vulnerable children are the perfect advertising audience, since they don’t even know they’re being marketed to. Children under the age of eight do not have the cognitive capacity to understand that Ronald is trying to sell them something; they just know they love the friendly clown.

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Thank you for coming today. I am Stacey Folsom, national spokesperson for Corporate Accountability International and its Value [the] Meal campaign.

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Today, we are releasing a recent national poll from Lake Research Partners, with some surprising and very encouraging findings. But first, something that won’t surprise anyone: Ronald McDonald continues to be effective – and even continues to be liked.

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Today we are facing a crisis. Recently researchers estimated that if present trends in diabetes and other food-related diseases continue, our children and grandchildren will have shorter life spans than the current generation, a reversal of more than a century of public health progress.

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Why is this a problem? Because it’s not about reaching adults, whom we trust to make decisions — good or bad — for their bodies. Ronald is about targeting kids.

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You know, it’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt. Well, we’re here today because someone is getting hurt: our children. Today, fewer than 1% of children in this country consume a diet that is consistent with our national dietary advice, the Dietary Guidelines.

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