Assignment
Deborah Lapidus has found the "person" responsible for the childhood obesity epidemic that is sweeping the United States. While the culprit can often be found visiting children's hospitals and performing at other charity events, Lapidus is unmoved. She wants him gone for good, or, in her words, "retired." Anyone interested in joining Ms. Lapidus's quest should be on the lookout for an easily recognized, flamboyantly dressed individual with flaming red hair and a bright round nose. Because Deborah Lapidus wants to retire Ronald McDonald. To make her point, in 2010 she traveled all the way to Oak Brook, Illinois, the location of McDonald's annual meeting, to protest Ronald's prominence in the company's advertising. Her trip was funded by her 30,000-member advocacy group, named "Corporate Accountability."
Corporate Accountability wants Ronald gone. Does McDonald's market to children? The evidence is pretty compelling. Like any smart family-oriented eatery, McDonald's knows that kids exercise enormous influence in family dining decisions. In response, it has created Happy Meals and playgrounds that make its restaurants fun places for kids to eat and play (and for Mom and Dad to relax). And, of course, kids love Ronald, one of the world's most recognized brand symbols. And it is undeniable that America has a health problem, and food is a big part of it. Obama Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius suggests that one in three kids in the U.S. is overweight, a number that has grown 400 percent in just 20 years. Sebelius recently urged the U.S. Conference of Mayors to join a program initiated by First Lady Michelle Obama called "Let's Move," aimed at encouraging healthier lifestyles among children. So the problem that Lapidus is calling attention to is real. What is in question is her proposed solution. Will retiring Ronald make America's children skinnier?
Interestingly, McDonald's may be way ahead of Lapidus. The company has developed a broader line of healthy menus for its Happy Meals, ones that include fresh fruits and veggies. Playgrounds are slowly being phased out at McDonald's in favor of coffee bars. Ads that feature Ronald are difficult to find anymore, part of a recent trend towards reducing McDonald's ads that target children. In fact, while the company's overall ad spending in the first quarter of 2010 was up 30 percent from 2009, ads directed at kids were down 23 percent.
So McDonald's seems to be doing its part. Lapidus should be thrilled. But one commentator, Courier News writer Julia Doyle, thinks Lapidus has missed the real source of childhood obesity: moms and dads. If our kids are fat, it automatically has to be because there's a goofy, smiley-faced clown telling them to eat cheeseburgers and French fries, right? It can't possibly have anything to do with Mom or Dad stopping for fried chicken, tacos or burgers every night rather than cooking a healthy dinner when they get home. And if our kids are fat, it has everything to do with the pizza, chicken ?ngers and hot dogs served in their school cafeterias and nothing to do with the fact that their parents can't be bothered to pack them a healthy lunch to take to school each day. I think it's high time these so-called watchdog groups get off their high horses and stop blaming corporate America for everything they think is wrong with us. The ethical issues here are complex.
Task
A. McDonald's has been using Ronald in its ads since the 1960s, a time when children were generally fitter and slimmer than they are today. So how can he be the root cause, or even a significant factor, of the problem?
B. What about Doyle's points regarding the role of parents, both as role models for good eating and as gatekeepers for the types of foods their children eat? Does she have a fair point or not?
C. America's children have a health problem. How significant is advertising as a cause?