Press Release

San Francisco, California

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

We’re here today to talk about the face of a public health crisis facing our kids. That face is covered in pancake makeup, a bright red nose and a shock of red hair.

For nearly 50 years, Ronald McDonald has hooked kids on unhealthy food, spurring an epidemic of diet-related disease. Today one in three kids in the U.S. is overweight or obese. One in three kids born in the year 2000 will get diabetes as a result of diet in their lifetime.

McDonald’s, and its iconic clown, is not only the face of the epidemic: it is the engine behind it. No corporation has done more to hook kids on unhealthy food, influencing brand loyalties and eating habits that can last a lifetime.

Corporate Accountability International conducted a comprehensive audit of how the McDonald’s Corporation uses its icon. It will come as no surprise that Ronald is everywhere:

• He’s in restaurants intentionally sited next door to schools.
• He’s actually in schools themselves, rewarding kids with free burgers and Chicken McNuggets for meeting educational goals. And he’s on sponsored educational material.
• He’s in hospital lobbies.
• And he’s at the Olympics and other sporting events popular with children.
  
  Many of these locations give the clown an unearned association with healthful living. But what all these locations have in common is that they’re utilized to get around the “gatekeepers” – the McDonald’s marketing term for parents trying to look out for their kids – or undermine their efforts altogether.

Today, we are here to say: that’s not right. McDonald’s needs to stop its marketing strategies focused on circumventing parental authority. Ronald McDonald is a deep-fried Joe Camel for the 21st Century. He deserves a break today – and so do we.

There is good news: Americans are getting wise to Ronald McDonald. He is a walking billboard, not a friend to children. And in a new poll we are releasing today, Americans make clear: they know it’s time to Retire Ronald.

Polling Findings
Today, we are releasing a new national poll from Lake Research, with some surprising findings.

But first, something that won’t surprise anyone: Ronald McDonald continues to be effective – and even continues to be liked. Two out of three Americans have a favorable impression of Ronald McDonald – the result of fifty years of positive branding.

So why are we here today? Because here’s the surprising part: about half the public would like to see Ronald retired, including almost half of those who have a favorable opinion of him. I’ll say that again: lots of people want to retire Ronald whether they like him or not.

Here’s how it breaks down: Over half (52%) say that, generally, they “favor stopping corporations from using cartoons and other children’s characters to sell harmful products to children.” 47 percent specifically support retiring Ronald as a corporate mascot.

And lots of people want to retire Ronald whether they like him or not. Among those with a favorable impression of Ronald McDonald, 46% support retiring him. That’s even higher for parents of kids under 18.

What does this all mean? It’s a startling indication that Ronald McDonald’s hold on the American public is slipping. Even people with a positive impression of the clown know that something is wrong with his use.

Today we’re joined by an esteemed panel to further make the case for Retiring Ronald.

• Michele Simon will talk about how it’s unethical and probably illegal to market to young children . She is a public health attorney and author of "Appetite for Profit: How the Food Industry Undermines Our Health and How to Fight Back"; and

• Wendi Gosliner will talk about what it all comes down to in the end – the serious threat to kid’s health. She is a specialist at the University of California, Berkeley’s Center for Weight and Health.

• Raj Patel will speak to how McDonald’s marketing to children negatively impacts the food chain and compromises efforts to feed our children more healthfully. Patel is a visiting scholar at UC Berkeley’s Center for African Studies, former fellow at The Institute for Food and Development Policy, as well as the author of Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System.

• Lastly, Stefan Harvey will speak to state and local progress in holding corporations accountable for their role in the epidemic. She is the assistant director of the California Center for Public Health Advocacy and a former national advocate for the WIC program.