I'm Not Lovin' It. Are You?
Wednesday, May 8, 2013 This post was supposed to go up last week, but due to technical difficulties with my blog while I was vacationing in Cuba, it is going up this week. Many other people participated in this campaign last week and I've added links to some of their great posts as the bottom too.
A few days ago, I wrote about how Similac is using moms as part of its marketing efforts. Just one more example in a long list of Mompaganda initiatives. This is a tactic that has been used by McDonald's for years, most recently in a variety of different mom blogger engagement campaigns, such as its All Access Moms campaign, which I wrote about previously.
This year, for Mother's Day, Corporate Accountability International is joining forces with bloggers who are not 'Lovin' It' to ask them to stop marketing to children. According to Corporate Accountability International:
For decades, McDonald’s has profited richly at a staggering cost to our children’s health. Its strategy has been to undermine the efforts of whom the corporate executives call “gatekeepers” to feed kids healthfully. Well, these so-called “gatekeepers” are moms, and we are uniting this Mother’s Day to say that we are not “lovin’ it.”
All around the world today, moms are calling on CEO Don Thompson to stop McDonald’s predatory marketing to our kids We need a level playing field for parents who are working to make healthy choices for their kids. The efforts of parents simply cannot compete with the enormous marketing budget of McDonald’s…marketing that is designed to undermine parents and get around us at every turn. Ending marketing of junk food to kids is common sense, and this Mother’s Day, the time has come for McDonald’s CEO Don Thompson to give a gift to moms everywhere and to stop marketing junk food to our kids.
Parents have a responsibility to say no. To seek balance. To teach and provide proper nutrition for their children. To help their kids unpack deceptive advertising and become media literate. But at the same time, we shouldn't have every obstacle possible shoved in our way as we do that. Each of us has a limited amount of energy and time and patience. None of us wants to be the parent who is saying no all the time. Some of us (I would bet all of us) would like to be able to sit down, relax, and lower our guard every once in a while.
McDonald's advertises to my children relentlessly. "So don't let them watch TV", people say. But it isn't just television. It is billboards, and trucks, and brighly coloured play places that they see as we drive down the road. It is toys that they see in stores, toys that their friends tell them about from the "happy meals", and more. There are even online games and school bus radio ads. SCHOOL BUS RADIO ADS! [Guess parents shouldn't let their kids take the school bus] It is partnerships with schools, and recreational facilities, and sports programs, and olympians, and so much more. It never stops.
And even if I personally had no trouble saying no to my kids all the time, I consider this a public health issue. Banning advertising to children gets results -- as can be seen from the low childhood obesity rate in Quebec as compared with other jurisdictions.
The province of Quebec in Canada has the lowest childhood obesity rates in the country despite having one of the most sedentary lifestyles. How is that possible? A study by Tirtha Dhar and Kathy Baylis found that Quebec’s 32 year ban on advertising to children led to an estimated:
- US$88 million annual reduction in expenditures on fast food
- 13.4 billion to 18.4 billion fewer fast food calories being consumed per year
The study also found that patterns established in childhood carried into adulthood, with French speaking young adults in Quebec being 38% less likely to purchase fast food than French speaking young adults in Ontario (where there is no advertising ban).
I want to feed my children a healthy, balanced diet. That does include going out for a not-so-healthy meal every once in a while. But I will say this -- the more relentlessly a company markets to my children, the less likely I am to take them there. McDonald's? Sorry...I'm not 'lovin' it'. Until you leave my kids alone, you won't be seeing my kids in your fast food joints.
Visit www.MomsNotLovinIt.org to learn more about how McDonald's is targeting your kids and find out how you can tell them that you're not lovin' it.
You can also read these great posts (and follow the colourful discussion in the comments):
- This mom is not lovin' it - A Peek Inside the Fishbowl (lots of comments and discussion!)
- Time for Action: Moms and Marketing to Kids Don't Mix - Civil Eats (good commentary on whether it is simply parents' responsibility)
- A Letter to McDonald's: My Mother's Day Wish #MomsNotLovinIt - Jessica Gottileb
Reader Comments (7)
Very interesting facts about the ban in Quebec. Thank you for sharing. Even though I limit my children's exposure to TV commercials, they are still exposed to unlimited number of ads, in places out of my control. Like you wrote, I have no problem saying no, but the struggle, the negotiation, the begging is exhausting. There is definitely impact on kids with these ads.
I can honestly say my children have never seen an ad for McDonald's and wanted to go there, nor have they ever asked me to take them there. Like, never. Of course I HAVE taken them there before, but we usually save fast food for road trips a few times a year, and when we do eat there, we enjoy it.
I know it's okay because it's in moderation. We rarely eat fast food. I know that most of the time, my children are eating well. Kind of hard not to, coming from a Greek household where 99% of the food we eat is home made, grown in our gardens, etc. etc.
I am a fan of McDonald's and all they do to help sick kids, for example. I'll always support them, even though I know when I'm eating a Big Mac I'm not doing anything 'good' for my body. I love having their cheeseburgers once in a blue moon, though. If we get rid of all things that are 'treats', well, that's not very fun, is it?
Also, my kids usually never watch 'live' TV... so we always fast forward commercials, anyway.
Another point—just because they see a commercial for Lego, or a video game, or this toy, or that toy, and ask me to buy it, doesn't mean I'm going to. I have the power to always say no, no matter what company is advertising.
Harvey's, Wendy's, A&W, all the other fast-food chains also advertise and have meals just for kids, too. I don't see what the difference is.
P.S. My boys have never in their life even looked at the toy that comes in a Happy Meal. Those toys always gets tossed. I'm be on board with getting rid of those!
Loukia:
Each parent obviously needs to make their own choices and each child is different. However, on the whole, research has shown that when you get rid of advertising to children, obesity rates and family expenditures on fast food go down significantly (as I noted in the post above). That, to me, is a public health issue, not just a parenting issue.
In terms of "Why McDonald's?" -- one big reason is that they do more advertising directly to children than any of the other fast food brands by a large margin (more than double the second place company, which is Subway). Here's a link to the data:
http://www.nourishinteractive.com/healthy-living/free-nutrition-articles/187-fast-food-restaurant-advertising-kids
Wendy's does some advertising to children, but not nearly as much as McDonald's. A&W and Harvey's have children's meals, but there is no toy with them -- they are just more appropriate portion sizes for children. I've also never seen or heard of A&W or Harvey's ads aimed at children (just general advertising and not on children's television channels or in other children's media).
This is a great campaign. I'm glad to see that there is a growing response to the marketing to children. It seems like kids are being marketed to as the main consumers in the household, which is upsetting. McDonald's tastes terrible, is made of awful quality food and should not be a regular part of anyone's diet. Once in a great while, I will admit those french fries are good. But I'm an adult, I can make that choice. Kids aren't old enough to make informed decisions.
This non-Profit is no worse than corporations. Non-Profits(Churches, ect), need to pay Taxes as do Corporations.
Great post, Annie! I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels like I'm always saying no! I've had to stop taking my 6 year old with me to the regular grocery store because I can't handle all the requests for brightly colored packages with little nutritional value. I would love to see these companies stop marketing their products to my children!
I have a 4.5 year old, a 2.5 year old and a 10 month old. Not buying them McDonald's is easy.
Where I have a problem is all the darn chocolate bars and smarties and kinder eggs at the checkout counter at the grocery store!!