A couple months ago, when I first heard about the news that some people (not sure if they are nutritionists) advocated for a retirement of Ronald McDonald, the clown and symbol of McDonald’s, I did not take it seriously because it seems like a joke to me. Today, MSNBC brought up this issue again. I finally notice I need some help to clarify some questions.
Am I too naïve? Or is it because I have not lived in this country long enough to understand the “real” American culture? Honestly, I have difficulty of figuring out the logic behind this movement. May I ask: if the government (not McDonald’s) fires or gets rid of Ronald McDonald, will there be no more American kids with diabetes? If that is the case, would it be easier to demand every restaurant that sells hamburgers and French fries to close the doors? How about just prohibiting all restaurants from selling unhealthy food? Even better, how about prohibiting all supermarkets from selling any ingredient that can be used for unhealthy food? No more ground beef, no more cooking oils, no more potatoes, and no more … no more …
Relevant discussions:
Healthy Food Trends
Salt Intake: Shall We Leave This Decision to Individuals or the Government?
A New Challenge for Chefs: Cooking without Salt
References:
Picture was downloaded from bNET.com.
Am I too naïve? Or is it because I have not lived in this country long enough to understand the “real” American culture? Honestly, I have difficulty of figuring out the logic behind this movement. May I ask: if the government (not McDonald’s) fires or gets rid of Ronald McDonald, will there be no more American kids with diabetes? If that is the case, would it be easier to demand every restaurant that sells hamburgers and French fries to close the doors? How about just prohibiting all restaurants from selling unhealthy food? Even better, how about prohibiting all supermarkets from selling any ingredient that can be used for unhealthy food? No more ground beef, no more cooking oils, no more potatoes, and no more … no more …Healthy Food Trends
Salt Intake: Shall We Leave This Decision to Individuals or the Government?
A New Challenge for Chefs: Cooking without Salt
References:
Picture was downloaded from bNET.com.
I am glad that you find this blog helpful to you, Darwin. Guest contributors are welcome in my blog. As long as you write something that may interest the audience, I will be happy to post your discussion (post) for you --- when I put your bio underneath your post, you may briefly talk about your blog and provide a link to your blog.
ReplyDeleteLinchi Kwok
lkwok@syr.edu
I believe the issue with Ronald McDonald is that he is an icon that promotes the sales of unhealthy foods marketed towards children. Advertising with such characters during children’s programing has been shown to influence what a child will eat. Obviously it works or big business would not be using such tactics. It’s not just about unhealthy eating it’s about marketing products that could be made healthier. You can have a conventional farmed, frozen beef burger patty on a nutritionless white bun (probably made with high fructose corn syrup) and rehydrated dried onions. OH, and lets not forget the ammonia added to the beef pattie to protect us from e coli. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/31/us/31meat.html?pagewanted=all
ReplyDeleteOR you can eat someplace else, or at home, and have a fresh ground beef patty, conventionally farmed, organic, or grass fed on a whole wheat bun with real onions, lettuce and tomatoes. You can have a McSalad made with precut bagged iceberg lettuce or you can go somewhere else and have a salad made with fresh ingredients. Don’t even get me going on the chicken nuggets they market to kids. Are they a food? A food substance? Besides chicken, chicken parts, corn they throw in a little TBHQ, an antioxidant derived from petroleum http://www.rense.com/general76/chk.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T67DvoH2H3E
It’s not about prohibiting the sale of unhealthy food. All foods fit. It’s about stopping the marketing of such food, with it’s FREE toy, to the segment of our population that are too young to know better.
Just wanted to add this link that I found interesting, “McDonalds Happy Meal Lasts Forever”. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy4imvN67H8&feature=relmfu
Debra M.