Networks Not Lovin McDonalds
Efforts
New commercial with a healthy focus draws
fire from morning shows.
By Amy Menefee [1]
June 9, 2005
McDonalds
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 CBSs The Early Show, Hannah Storm interviewed
advertising critic Barbara Lippert, who declared that McDonalds is
the new tobacco and blamed the burger chain for obesity. They see
that theyve engendered this problem, theyve really created this
way of eating, and now theyre 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 McDonalds. She later added, But some
people, experts, claim that these ads are disingenuous because you
cant find that food that you see in the commercial in abundance
when you go to a McDonalds.
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 shows segment on the issue,
and the voice of personal responsibility was conspicuously absent.
In fact, McDonalds 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 McDonalds 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, thats where they make their
money, thats what they sell, she said. But on the other hand,
they know they have to change the menu. Storm didnt bother to
correct Lippert. She could have pointed out that restaurants dont
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-McDonalds 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 mornings trend on NBCs
Today, bemoaning the childhood obesity epidemic before including
footage of Morgan Spurlocks Super Size Me in his report. As
Alexander noted, Spurlocks anti-McDonalds film claimed that the
chain helped get kids hooked on fast food.
After including a token comment from McDonalds
marketing vice president, Alexander emphasized how long a person
would have to run to work off a McDonalds 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. CSPIs Michael Jacobson said that
McDonalds 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.
McDonalds is marketing to children; Carls Jr. and
Burger King are marketing to men, Storm said. This all sort of
smacks of desperation.
Unfortunately, the networks reaction to McDonalds new
advertising emphasis on health smacked of anything but balance.