Release: McDonald’s Meeting Draws Retired Mascots, Clowns, and Scrutiny of Marketing to Kids

For Immediate Release:
May 19, 2010

Contact:
Christina Rossi, 617-306-0920
Nick Guroff, 617-784-4753

CHICAGO, IL– On the heels of White House recommendations that the food industry limit the marketing of unhealthy products to children, McDonald’s is on the defensive about its predatory marketing in the lead-up to its annual shareholders’ meeting this Wednesday in Oak Brook.

Local public health and educational institutions, including the Chicago Waldorf School and the Juan Diego Community Center, have committed this week to keeping their doors closed to Ronald and other forms of junk food marketing. Governor-appointed Illinois Public Health Advocate Dr. Quentin Young and other medical professionals, including Dr. Don Zeigler of Rush University Medical Center, are also calling on McDonald’s executives to retire Ronald and other predatory marketing tactics at the meeting.
 
“Listen, our kids are getting sick at alarming rates from the food they eat. And like it or not, marketing, especially to those unable to understand the manipulations of marketing, is driving demand for unhealthy products,” said Dr. Zeigler. “From a health standpoint there is no need for the children’s marketing barrage to continue. Parents shouldn’t have to guard against junk food branding and messaging everywhere their kids turn.”
 
Following on a report released on March 31 finding that about half of the American public would like to see Ronald McDonald retired, like him or not, Corporate Accountability International has collected more than 10,000 retirement and comment cards to deliver at this week’s meeting. The organization also collected hundreds of photo cards from across the country that it assembled into a large banner.
 
The delivery procession began at the Millennium Park Bean in downtown Chicago with stop-offs at Leo Burnett (ad agency behind McDonald’s and other junk food purveyor’s marketing to children) and Rock’n’Roll McDonald’s. During the procession, retired corporate mascots Joe Camel and the Marlboro Man, as well as the upstart Clowns for Retiring Ronald, searched out the children’s marketing icon in hopes of coaxing him into a nearby retirement home van.
 
“Today we’re clowning around to call attention to the need for McDonald’s to stop clowning with kids’ health,” said Deborah Lapidus, senior organizer with Corporate Accountability International. “Whether it’s the White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity or individual middle-America moms, there is a growing conviction that retiring Ronald – and the wide range of predatory marketing his success has spawned – is an essential part of the public health solution to today’s crisis.”
 
The search party, failing at finding Ronald in Chicago, plans to pick-up Ronald in their retirement van at Wednesday’s meeting.
 
For full poll results, an analysis of Ronald McDonald’s pervasive presence on the American landscape, a background on the psychology behind children’s marketing and more visit www.RetireRonald.org. Statements delivered by health experts and advocates at the annual meeting will be available Wednesday morning.

 
Frequently asked questions:

• If children aren’t eating well, isn’t it the parents fault?

We believe in parental responsibility as a means of improving our kids’ health, while many lament a perceived decline in parental responsibility and a growing inclination to point fingers. Retire Ronald is an effort to empower and work with parents to make sure our kids eat better and get the exercise they need, while challenging the corporate practices that threaten to undermine such parental action and responsibility.

• Wouldn’t you acknowledge the Ronald McDonald House has done a lot of good things?

The work of the Charity is to be commended. McDonald’s use of such a worthy cause to market junk food and shield itself from criticism is not. McDonald’s claims Ronald is the “heart and soul” of the Charities. We beg to differ. Each year, thousands of people volunteer their time to help families at the House each year. They’re the true “heart and soul” of the Charity. McDonald’s could honor their commitment and the ongoing health of the children served by the House by removing the cross-promotional clown. A further step would be to reallocate the hundreds of millions McDonald’s spends each year on predatory marketing to the Charities, that it currently spends a few million on (approximately $8 million in 2009).

• What has the initiative accomplished since its launch?

In the last month, hundreds of stories have appeared in leading media outlets from Australia to Russia, Canada to Colombia. Santa Clara County in California has seized on the momentum to ban toys in happy meals. And health and education institutions have begun closing their doors to Ronald. And just this month, the Chicago Waldorf School and the Juan Diego Community Center in South Chicago have pledged to keep Ronald out.

• Do you really think retiring Ronald will have an impact on kid’s health?

There’s no reason not to. When Corporate Accountability International successfully campaigned for the retirement of children’s marketing icons Joe Camel and the Marlboro Man, youth smoking rates declined precipitously. As our recent poll demonstrates, the public is growing increasingly aware of the power of marketing to inform behavior, especially among populations too young to understand its manipulations.

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