9-Year-Old Girl scolds McDonald's CEO

By Hum
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Grand Master

Hum

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Don Thompson, CEO of McDonald's Corp., found himself on the grill after a 9-year-old girl accused the fast food giant of trying to "trick kids into eating food that isn't good for them."

Hannah Robertson, 9, flew in with her mom from Kelowna, British Columbia, to attend McDonald's annual shareholder meeting Thursday in Oak Brook, Ill., the company's headquarters.

"Something that I don't think is fair is when big companies try to trick kids into eating food that isn't good for them by using toys and cartoon characters," Robertson read during the question and answer part of the meeting. "If parents haven't taught their kids about healthy eating then the kids probably believe that junk food is good for them because it might taste good."

Her mother, Kia, attended the meeting as a member of advocacy group Corporate Accountability International, headquartered in Boston and with offices around the world. Kia Robertson, 36, started "Today I Ate a Rainbow" in 2009, described as an "interactive nutritional game," and is a nutrition blogger.

"It would be nice if you stopped trying to trick kids into wanting to eat your food all the time," Robertson, who is in the fourth grade, went on to say. "I make cooking videos with my mom that show kids that eating healthy can be fun and yummy. We teach them that eating a rainbow of fruits and veggies makes kids healthier, smarter and happier because that is the truth."

Thompson thanked her for her question but also refuted Hannah's accusations after her closing question, "Mr. Thompson, don't you want kids to be healthy so they can live a long and happy life?" :huh:

"First off, we don't sell junk food, Hannah," Thompson said. "My kids also eat McDonald's. When they were about your size, to my son who is with us today, who was a little bit bigger, he was a football player, and also they cook with me at home. I love to cook. We cook a lot of fruits and veggies at home."

Thompson pointed out that McDonald's serves fruits and vegetables, including apples in its Happy Meals and salads for $1, and is hoping to "sell even more".

Juliana Shulman, senior organizer at Corporate Accountability International, which started about 35 years ago, said Kia Robertson started working with the organization earlier this month for its campaign, "Moms Are Not Lovin' It" just before Mothers' Day. The campaign aimed to stop what it called McDonald's "predatory marketing to kids."

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Grand Master

Yusuf M. Veteran

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People eat junk food because they want to. If they wanted to eat healthy, they would. I'm healthy and I like to eat a burger once or twice a month (from BK, because whoppers are nice). Using your child in an attempt to make the CEO of McDonald's feel guilty is sad. And it's a waste of time too. There's money to be made in the fast food industry and the words of a single 9-year-old girl won't change a thing.

  • coth and ClassicTrekker
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Grand Master

n_K

Posted
Posted

You either get something that's healthy, or you get something that's very nice.

Mcdonalds isn't healthy - congratulations it's take away fast food, it's meant as a treat, not for everyday eating.

I like having a mcdonalds now and again, it's very nice but you realise at the cost of it being nice, it's unhealthy. This kids mother sounds like an idiot, about as idiotic as the mothers she's trying to call stupid for always getting their kids food from mcdonalds.

Grand Master

techbeck

Posted
Posted

Parents job to educate the kids. If the kids are having a fit for not getting a toy or wanting a toy, then that is the parents fault. Problem is, parents rather say yes than deal with the kids attitude when they say no. I was told no all the time as a kid. McDonalds is out to sell a product but its up to the parents to educate their own kids. And does the 9yr old buy McDonalds or does her parents. The kid should be scolding her mom.

  • Harrison H., DConnell and ClassicTrekker
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srbeen

Posted
Posted

Nothing McDonalds sells is "unhealthy"

Eating too much of it is the unhealthy bit. Just like eating too much of anything.

Everything McDonalds sells is "unhealthy"

Eating any of it is the unhealthy bit.

How can you claim McDonalds is selling you health conscious food when the labels on their Super Value Meals EXCEED the 100% recommended daily intake value printed right on the side of the bag/box in one or more categories, and ride around the 75% mark in the other ones.

Lets not even get into the fact the food will never rot..

Its like saying meth or crank is good for you, just consuming too much of it is the unhealthy bit.

Collaborator

jpcahn

Posted
Posted

This is poor timing on her part as well. McDonalds just introduced new grilled chicken McWraps that are very reasonable in calories. Blueberry Pomegranate smoothie just started and they are delicious with minimal added sugar. BK smoothies have almost 100 more calories than McDonald's so at least give McDonald's credit for trying not to load them with sugar. I am not PR for McDonald's but I do work there so I try to tell our side of the story when I can.

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srbeen

Posted
Posted

This is poor timing on her part as well. McDonalds just introduced new grilled chicken McWraps that are very reasonable in calories. Blueberry Pomegranate smoothie just started and they are delicious with minimal added sugar. BK smoothies have almost 100 more calories than McDonald's so at least give McDonald's credit for trying not to load them with sugar. I am not PR for McDonald's but I do work there so I try to tell our side of the story when I can.

Large Blueberry Pomegranate smoothie - 70g sugar in 541g serving size. That seems quite high for a smoothie.. so I checked out http://recipes.mensh...e-smoothie.aspx which shows around 40g in a serving which has NO added sugars. 70g isn't great, hell people should stay under 100g total for the day - but compared to one with absolutely no added sugar it definitely could be worse. They also have only 50mg of sodium. The diy recipe has 2.5x that!

Grilled Chicken McWrap. Very well, all considered. Tasty too :) Got like 480 calories and 8g of sugar. Impressive to be coming from McDonalds. It however has over a gram of salt, every one of them. This is due to the super brined chicken to keep its juicy grilled flavour when they microwave it up. All in all I doubt you'll find a take out place that don't brine their chicken (grilled or fried) so sodium will always be high.

I just learned that vinegar packets are literally the "healthiest" thing you can get from mcdonalds, aside from water. They also base these nutritional facts off a 2000 calorie 295g sugar diet, as their large nestea ice tea has 59g of sugar which accounts for only a 20%DV. Remember carbs are a few things, fibre good - sugar bad. http://www1.mcdonald...tionFactsEN.pdf

As good as low fat & low cal diet is for you, trading that good tasting stuff for a lot of processed sugars is going to be worse for you. Theres plenty of research to confirm this yet restaurants are still lowering fats and cals and bumping up sugars.

Grand Master

Sandor

Posted
Posted

Everything McDonalds sells is "unhealthy"

Eating any of it is the unhealthy bit.

How can you claim McDonalds is selling you health conscious food when the labels on most of their Super Value Meals EXCEED the 100% recommended daily intake value printed right on the side of the bag/box in one or more categories??

Lets not even get into the fact the food will never rot..

Its like saying meth or crank is good for you, just consuming too much of it is the unhealthy bit.

Pic of this label on the box/wrapper please.

Large Blueberry Pomegranate smoothie - 70g sugar in 541g serving size. That seems quite high for a smoothie.. so I checked out http://recipes.mensh...e-smoothie.aspx which shows around 40g in a serving which has NO added sugars. 70g isn't great, hell people should stay under 100g total for the day - but compared to one with absolutely no added sugar it definitely could be worse. They also have only 50mg of sodium. The diy recipe has 2.5x that!

Grilled Chicken McWrap. Very well, all considered. Tasty too :) Got like 480 calories and 8g of sugar. Impressive to be coming from McDonalds. It however has over a gram of salt, every one of them. This is due to the super brined chicken to keep its juicy grilled flavour when they microwave it up. All in all I doubt you'll find a take out place that don't brine their chicken (grilled or fried) so sodium will always be high.

I just learned that vinegar packets are literally the "healthiest" thing you can get from mcdonalds, aside from water. They also base these nutritional facts off a 2000 calorie 295g sugar diet, as their large nestea ice tea has 59g of sugar which accounts for only a 20%DV

The grilled chicken in McD's is just frozen chicken like you'd buy at the store. Nothing special about it.

Grand Master

Anibal P

Posted
Posted

Americans need to realise just because you want poision doesn't mean the free market should sell it to you. People have NO RIGHT to be stupid in my view.

People need to learn to mind their own freaking business, if someone chooses to eat fast food, that's their choice and no one has the right to tell them otherwise

  • Phouchg, ZakO and 123456789A
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Mentor

Sylar0

Posted
Posted

People need to learn to mind their own freaking business, if someone chooses to eat fast food, that's their choice and no one has the right to tell them otherwise

Says what authority people need to be kept alive to have other rights.....

Did on the video he just equate hating McDonalds to burning the American flag? I think I actually feel sorry for McDonalds...

http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/05/24/preteen-girl-tells-mcdonalds-ceo-stop-advertising-to-me/

Worse country on earth, "free media" allows the guy on the news show to be so personal in this country we report fact and make it illegal to report opinion! The USA is screwed if it worships its flag to the point where it can compare it to nationalism and also compare it to a fast food outlet. USA USA USA

Come on freest people on Earth defend your beloved freedom!

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