Networks Not Lovin’ McDonald’s
Efforts
New commercial with a healthy focus draws
fire from morning shows.
By Amy Menefee
June 9, 2005
    McDonald’s
took another hit from network mornings shows on June 9, 2005. All
three networks – NBC, CBS and ABC – attacked a new commercial and
one even blamed the restaurant for childhood obesity.
    On CBS’s “The Early Show,” Hannah Storm interviewed
advertising critic Barbara Lippert, who declared that McDonald’s is
“the new tobacco” and blamed the burger chain for obesity. “They see
that they’ve engendered this problem, they’ve really created this
way of eating, and now they’re trying to do something good,” she
said of the commercial, which depicts active children exercising and
getting vegetables.
    Storm argued, “Some people would argue that the smart
choice is to not eat at McDonald’s.” She later added, “But some
people, experts, claim that these ads are disingenuous because you
can’t find that food that you see in the commercial in abundance
when you go to a McDonald’s.”
    Storm did not have any actual people giving the
opinions that she attributed to “some people.” The reporter was the
only source of these comments in the show’s segment on the issue,
and the voice of personal responsibility was conspicuously absent.
    In fact, McDonald’s does offer the foods shown in the
ad, including garden-style salads, fruit salad and a fruit and
yogurt parfait. Lippert chimed in that their menu is “still 90-10,
10 percent salads.” She left out the fact that McDonald’s responds
to customer choices to make its menu selections.
    Lippert said this is “a very schizophrenic time for
fast food,” as chains have added salads and other less-fattening
options to their menus. “On one hand, that’s where they make their
money, that’s what they sell,” she said. “But on the other hand,
they know they have to change the menu.” Storm didn’t bother to
correct Lippert. She could have pointed out that restaurants don’t
have to change their menus. They have been doing so in response to
consumer demand.
    On ABC, David Muir used his “Good Morning America”
report to remind viewers that “more than 9 million children in the
U.S. are overweight, and a third of them eat fast food every day.”
    His anti-McDonald’s expert, who said the restaurant
“lures” customers with healthier menu options only for them to
“succumb to the smell of the deep fryer,” was Dr. David Katz. Katz
is a regular contributor to ABC News, but he also directs the Yale
Prevention Research Center, which is funded by the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC recently revised its
statistics on obesity-related deaths, which were found to be highly
overstated. However, CDC became uncomfortable with its new
statistics and kept up its crusade against obesity.
    Peter Alexander continued the morning’s trend on NBC’s
“Today,” bemoaning the childhood obesity “epidemic” before including
footage of Morgan Spurlock’s “Super Size Me” in his report. As
Alexander noted, Spurlock’s anti-McDonald’s film claimed that the
chain helped “get kids hooked on fast food.”
    After including a token comment from McDonald’s
marketing vice president, Alexander emphasized how long a person
would have to run to work off a McDonald’s meal with a burger and
fries. He then turned to the Center for Science in the Public
Interest (CSPI), a radical anti-food industry organization, for
criticism of the commercial. CSPI’s Michael Jacobson said that
“McDonald’s should be serving healthier foods.”
    Fast food restaurants, like any other companies, adjust
their product offerings to meet consumer demand. They also use
advertising in an attempt to sell products. However, Lippert and
Storm criticized several restaurants for these common business
practices.
    “McDonald’s is marketing to children; Carl’s Jr. and
Burger King are marketing to men,” Storm said. “This all sort of
smacks of desperation.”
    Unfortunately, the networks’ reaction to McDonald’s new
advertising emphasis on health smacked of anything but balance.
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