Question

1.How should McDonald’s respond when ads promoting healthy lifestyles featuring Ronald McDonald are equated with Joe Camel and cigarette ads? Should McDonald’s eliminate Ronald McDonald in its ads?

2. Discuss the merits of the law proposed by France that would require fast-food companies either to add a health message to commercials or pay a 1.5 percent tax on their ad budgets. Propose a strategy for McDonald’s to pay the tax or add health messages, and defend your recommendation.

3. If there is no evidence that obesity rates fall in those coun- tries that ban food advertising to children, why bother?

4. The broad issue facing McDonald’s U.K. is the current attitude toward rising obesity. The company seems to have tried many different approaches to deal with the problem, but the problem persists. List all the problems facing McDonald’s and critique its various approaches to solve the problems

Answer 1

Answer 1:- In my opinion, it is not a wise decision to change the character Ronald or removing it, in fact, the company should mainly focus on the issue that cigarettes are always harmful to the health. opposite to this, there are a number of healthy options which are being offered in the menu of McDonald's and thus this sort of comparison is not suitable as both the cases are completely different. In fact, the company can use its character Ronald to promote more healthy and nutritious food among the customers. The company can also provide information on the fat content, sugar level. The company can promote kids to eat healthy by offering free toys to healthy food products for free.

Answer 2:- This type of strategy will facilitate the freedom to the food producer to either focus on the healthy food promotion or to the advertisement of other food products. I think the food producers will be more benefitted if they add some kind of healthy food line in their ads as it is a well-known fact that French are quite concerned about their health and eating habits. This will remove any kind of anxiety and the best strategy will be concentrate on product differentiation, for example, cornbread, whole wheat bread, grilled chicken and so on

Answer 3:- If there is no evidence that fatness rates fall in those countries which banned the advertisement for the unhealthy food targeted to the children. In fact, the companies should focus on the advertisements. There is no solid evidence that with banning these ads, the rate of obesity will fall. There are a number of developing countries where there is no change in the rate of obese children. This rate is not going to be decreased sooner as most of the children are habitual of having these products. If the government has the solid reasons and evidence that obesity among children is increased due to the ads for unhealthy products, then there is no doubt that these ads should be banned. As the rate of obesity is not only dependent on children, it is also dependent on family thus this will take a while to change provided that families also take some initiatives.

Answer 4:- The different problems are as below:-

There are some people who think that the main reason is the portion of fast food served.

On the other hand, there are some who blame it on the ads which are aimed at children.

The probable solutions:-

The company should focus on a new ad campaign featuring Ronald which is focused on vegetables, fruits, and juices.

The company later came up with a statement that most of the nutritionist believe that the products of the company can fit into the balanced diet chart.

The company can include the positive lifestyle theme on its ads.

The company can have some sort of tie between Disney’s or Marvel

The company can think of changing the menu and adding more nutritious food.