Oasis Advanced Wellness Health Forum

[jaci]

McDonald's Says It's Time to Exercise
By NAT IVES

MCDONALD'S has a suggestion for Americans, who are becoming obese in alarming numbers: get some exercise.

The company, under fire from those who say its food plays a role in the nation's obesity problem, introduced a marketing campaign yesterday promoting physical activity as part of a balanced life. The theme: "It's what I eat and what I do ... I'm lovin' it."

The campaign includes commercials that largely dispense with traditions like showing the product, the restaurants or people eating food. One spot even tells viewers, "Maybe you should spend less time with your TV."

"McDonald's has a longstanding tradition of taking action where we can make a difference," James A. Skinner, vice chairman and chief executive, said in introducing the effort.

The campaign comes as McDonald's faces a reinstated lawsuit seeking to hold the company liable for obesity and heart problems in two teenagers who ate its food. McDonald's and many large food companies face accusations that their marketing, particularly advertising aimed at children, hurts consumers' health.

While critics called the campaign a diversion from the accusations over obesity, others gave it measured support. One analyst suggested it mattered less than the sales figures McDonald's also released yesterday.
The company presentation, held at a cavernous McDonald's in Times Square, included some former skeptics.

Paul Gately, a Carnegie professor of exercise and obesity at Leeds Metropolitan University in Britain, said he had initially wondered about McDonald's sincerity when the company approached him to join its Global Advisory Council on Balanced Lifestyles two years ago. "I told them, 'You're not going to use and abuse me,' " he said. "They were a bit defensive in the early days, but they also recognized that they needed to change.

"Yes, they are part of the problem," Dr. Gately added. "But if we just hammer them down into the ground they will walk away. McDonald's is not the cause of the problem."

McDonald's said the new campaign was not a response to criticism, but an attempt to keep up with customers' concerns about health.

"Our job is to be responsible and relevant to the changing needs of consumers today," said Jackie S. Woodward, corporate vice president for global marketing. "Consumers the world over are looking for better education on how to lead balanced lives."

The campaign work completed thus far includes six new commercials, many featuring athletes like Venus and Serena Williams. Others use animation to show McDonald's drink cups, lettuce, straws and burgers performing exercises. The spots, which are to start appearing in the United States by May, were created by Leo Burnett USA in Chicago, part of the Leo Burnett Worldwide division of the Publicis Groupe.

Commercials supporting the global active-life campaign will also appear abroad; McDonald's plans presentations on the subject this month in Britain and China. The effort will also emphasize McDonald's association with the Olympics; it has been an Olympic sponsor since 1976.

Executives declined to disclose how much McDonald's will spend promoting the new theme, or how much it has invested in introducing healthier menu items.

Wayne Gretzky and other celebrities brought in by McDonald's enthusiastically endorsed its program yesterday, but analysts and consultants offered more diverse reactions.

"It's probably the right thing for the company to do from a marketing, public relations and even ethical standpoint, but it doesn't have a direct bearing on the company's financial performance," said John S. Glass, a restaurant analyst at CIBC World Markets.

Mr. Glass said he was paying more attention to the sales results issued yesterday. The company reported that global sales at restaurants open at least 13 months, called same-store sales, rose 1.6 percent in February, the smallest gain in nearly two years. Same-store sales rose by 4.6 percent in the United States, its largest market, but fell 3.4 percent in Europe, its second-largest market.

A consultant to many McDonald's franchisees, Richard Adams, said individual franchise operators view the emphasis on physical fitness as a company attempt to please investors. "Ninety percent of what they do is keyed to impress Wall Street," he said. "There may or may not be any connection to consumers."

One frequent critic of food companies and other marketers, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, which is based in Washington, said McDonald's was intentionally focusing on the wrong area.

"Food companies promoting physical activity is more about deflecting blame away from their products and the role of calories in contributing to obesity than it is about protecting the public's health," said Margo G. Wootan, director for nutrition policy at the center, which receives its financing from subscribers to its newsletter and donors like the Rockefeller Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

McDonald's excels at developing and selling food products, Ms. Wootan said, adding that it should improve the nutrition of its menu items further before moving on to physical fitness campaigns. "Promoting physical activity is absolutely critical but the food industry should do what they do best," she said. "Leave the fitness to Nike and gyms and sporting goods manufacturers and the Centers for Disease Control."

Other marketers have taken varying approaches to complaints over obesity. Kraft Foods, for example, said in January that it would shift advertising for some of its less-nutritious products, like Kool-Aid and Oreos, out of shows and publications primarily aimed at children age 6 to 11. Instead, Kraft will advertise products that it selects to have a new Sensible Solution label on the package, including Post Shredded Wheat cereal, Crystal Light drinks and sugar-free Kool-Aid.

COMMENT: Oh, really??? Since when did McDonald?s become the authority on health? While I agree that most people do not get enough exercise and should change, I find it amusing that McDonald?s isn?t too willing to change their ?heart attack waiting to happen food?, but wants their customers to change. You can exercise all you want, but eating their junk will still contribute to health problems. People are beginning to educate themselves and are realizing that frequent trips to McDonald?s may cost them dearly in the future. McDonald?s realizes this and is trying very hard to make us believe that they really ?care?. Don?t be sucked in, they don?t care, except about their investors and their profits.