This is a plea to Connecticut school principals and superintendents:
Someday soon, if it hasn’t happened already, the Connecticut and Western Massachusetts McDonald’s Owner/Operator Association is going to contact you and make an offer that sounds like fun. Ronald McDonald is available to visit your school and put on a performance about physical fitness and a healthful lifestyle. It’s free and you don’t have to lift a finger. The Association will handle everything and a public relations firm will notify the local media and there might be some favorable coverage of the event. So if you’ve run out of ideas for a school assembly, here’s a great one.
Please, principals, don’t give in to this manipulation. Too much is at stake. McDonald’s serves the worst food you could possibly give your kid. More and more American kids are becoming obese because they eat crap like Big Macs and fries and don’t get enough exercise. Many parents are finally realizing this. They are steering their kids to healthier food choices and limiting fast food. That’s why places like McDonald’s have introduced things like apple slices. The company is desperate to keep customers coming through the door and buying $1 fries.
One key way McDonald’s keeps their brand thriving is to put it in front of kid’s faces. Billboards. Commercials. Merchandizing. But the most insidious and disgusting way is to have schools unwittingly play into this marketing scheme. Here’s what Yale nutrition expert Kelly Brownell told USA today two years ago: “It is a travesty to have a PE program branded by McDonald’s. It further commercializes schools and gets the company even more publicity with children.”
Ronald McDonald appeared at St. Mary’s School in Milford on Friday. Two weeks earlier, he appeared at a private school in Derby. In the past year, he has appearerd at schools and libraries throughout Greater New Haven and talked about reading, personals safety and physical fitness. There’s a topic to fit whatever need you have. Please, principals, if you want your kids to learn physical fitness, invite a local karate or gymnast school to give a presentation.
But the McDonald’s Owners Association will argue that their “Active Achievers” program is endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics. That’s true, but here’s what an AAP study said about McDonald’s in December: “The presence of a McDonald’s restaurant in a hospital influences parental perception of fast food as healthy and is associated with the belief that McDonald’s Corporation is a financial supporter of the hospital. Because the presence of McDonald’s on site was associated with perception of greater nutritional value of the food, parents in that setting may be more willing to purchase McDonald’s food. The results suggest that fast food restaurants in children’s hospitals should be re-evaluated.”
Not exactly a ringing endorsement.
Principals, I know you don’t mean to, but by inviting Ronald McDonald into your school, you are undermining parents’ efforts to get their kids to eat better. A parent would have every right to be very angry with you. The state legislature has removed snack food vending machines from schools. It’s time to tell Ronald McDonald to take a hike, too.