Marketing Fast Food
A recent Columbia University and UC Berkeley study found a sizable increase in the rates of obesity in teens who attend school within 1/10 of a mile of fast food chains like McDonald’s. Earlier studies conclude the zoning of fast food is anything but accidental or arbitrary. Fully one-third of schools nationwide have at least one fast food restaurant or convenience store within walking distance.
To further paint the picture, Corporate Accountability International has developed an online mapping tool that allows parents and policymakers to get a sense of how McDonald’s and others cluster around our children’s schools. McDonald’s certainly isn’t doing parents any favors when it takes advantage of every space parents cannot control to make lifelong customers of young people.
It’s not just the promotion and marketing in and around schools, the siting of restaurants or cleverly disguised product promotion like the McDonald’s All-American Reading Challenge – it’s the actual sale of branded fast food in schools (which occurs in one out of every five schools).
As the largest fast food corporation, McDonald’s can do better than this. It can stop zoning restaurants next to schools and selling branded fast food in schools. It can also provide an example of industry best practices by halting all sports sponsorships and marketing that appeals to children.
Read the Full Alternet Article
Other Countries Fighting Back
At least one Brazilian prosecutor thinks it's a bad idea to allow fast food outlets to use cheap toys to promote their crap-tastic frankin-food. Here is the message, don't use cheap plastic gadgets to sell poop-burgers to my child.
Read the Full Reuters Article
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