Corporate Accountability International Launches “Search Party” for Ronald McDonald in Downtown Chicago

5/19/2010

Leading up to the McDonald’s shareholder’s meeting on May 20th, a team of Corporate Accountability International staff and volunteers held several actions to generate pressure on McDonald’s to retire Ronald McDonald, an icon created to hook kids on unhealthy food spurring an epidemic of diet-related disease.

We called public attention to the Retire Ronald campaign the day before the corporate meeting, by launching a “search party” for Ronald McDonald through the heart of downtown Chicago, with the goal of finding Ronald and taking him back to the Corporate Marketing Icons Retirement Home. Retired children’s marketing icons Joe Camel and the Marlboro Man, along with a gaggle of “Clowns for Retiring Ronald”, marched down Chicago’s magnificent mile en route to media hubs, the Leo Barnett Marketing Firm, and the popular “Rock and Roll” McDonald’s. Along the way, the group engaged with media – including the Chicago Tribune and NBC – and gathered hundreds of petitions and photo petitions.

After the search party, we drove to McDonald’s corporate headquarters and delivered over 10,000 messages calling on McDonald’s to retire Ronald McDonald and to stop targeting kids directly with fast food marketing. McDonald’s Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility, Bob Langert, accepted the messages, packaged as “retirement gifts” for Ronald, and listened as we stated our campaign demands and as volunteers spoke about their reasons for joining the campaign.  The next day we confirmed with CEO Jim Skinner that he did receive the messages as well.