McDonald's dodge the truth

McDonalds in Australia is running an aggressive advertising campaign designed to damage control the impact of Morgan Spurlock's film "Supersize Me" or, as McDonalds advertising refers to it, "That Movie". The MD of McDonalds Australia is appearing in a number of TV commercials which make light of the film's content and practically say "hey - we know this stuff is unhealthy. You really shouldn't eat it often." I don't know who their ad agency is, but I'm not sure the current ads are actually working in McD's favour.

At the restaurants themselves they are handing out millions of flyers and have posters up on the walls with the same content.

Reading these flyers tonight bugged me. They talk about separating fact from fiction and then list a series of claims that the movie makes, which they then attempt to rebut with their "facts". What frustrated me (a dumb customer) was that McDonald's responses in some cases didn't seem to even address the movie's claims.

Take Claim #3: "(The Film) Suggests Yoghurt Parfaits have nearly as many calories as a Hot Fudge Sundae."

McDonald's response is: "Our Berrynice Yoghurt Crunch has low-fat yoghurt, contains real fruit, has less calories and is 97% fat free."

Well, thanks McD, that's all very nice and all, but answer the question - does a Berrynice Yoghurt Crunch has "nearly as many calories" as a Hot Fudge Sundae?

Actually, yes it does! According to information gathered from the McDonald's Australia website, a Berrynice Yoghurt Crunch has 1328 kJ (317 calories) and a Hot Fudge Sundae Choc has 1440 kJ (344 calories). Guess which one tastes better?

Claim #2 states: "Says salads contain more calories from fat than a Big Mac."

McDonald's response is: "Our salads are all under 7g of fat per serve and significantly less calories, including the dressing."

Where does this response address how many calories from fat are in a Big Mac versus a salad?

According to information gathered from the McDonald's Australia website, a Roast Chicken Salad derives 27.58% of its kJ from fat, versus 45.84% for a Big Mac. Why didn't they just say that? Is it because getting 28% of your calories from fat IN A SALAD seems a bit ridiculous?

I used to enjoy McDonald's, but since I started to pay attention to my diet (a couple of years ago), I never touch it. I do take my kids there once a month as a treat but will only let them eat one burger (no fried or shakes) and then make them eat a salad at home with it. When they ask me why I don't eat McDonald's, I tell them "because it isn't a healthy meal". Hopefully, as they get older, they'll get the message.

What bothers me about all this is, why hasn't someone found a way to manufacture and sell genuinely healthy fast food? I'm talking less than 1000 kJ a meal with less than 10% of your calories coming from fat? I'd easily frequent a place like that.

And why doesn't McDonald's 'fess up and change their menu? Why not say "this stuff isn't very healthy, but daaamn it tastes good, doesn't it!"

Comments

[Daniel McKinley]

"Is it because getting 28% of your calories from fat IN A SALAD seems a bit ridiculous?"

Not that I am at all a fan of fast food, but, this does make sense. Where are the calories in a salad going to come from? Not from the lettuce, certainly. What calories are there are going to be from dressing, eggs, cheese, or whatever the heck they put in those things. All of those are fatty. If you were to think about it, you'd expect a salad like that to have a high percentage of calories from fat.

[Cameron]

Daniel - you're right of course. I hadn't thought of it like that. Perhaps those ingredients shouldn't be included in a salad that you are trying to portray we "healthy" and "low fat" then. It's a common marketing ploy to say a food is "low fat" when, in fact, a high percentage of the calories in the food are coming from fat.

[Sam Hayes]

We had better start taking a harder look at ALL restaurants...not just fast foods. I'm what people would call a "health nut" or a "label reader". It usually isn't hard to shock me, but I made a new friend at the gym recently who used to work at this very upscale restaurant in my area. They had so many healthy choices on the menu, I was sure they were progressive. This friend told me that everything..without exception, was still fried in lard -- that's pig fat to the masses. Worry about McDonald's?? Worry about everything but your own kitchen!