So, now Ronald McDonald is going to be the McDonald’s “ambassador for an active, balanced lifestyle“.
This is like the perpetually chubby, round-faced Dr. Phil dispensing weight-loss advice.
In the past, the Ronald McDonald character has visited schools to teach about such issues as bike safety and literacy. Now the clown will be touting physical activity. No burgers or fries will be promoted. “Ronald does not promote food, but fun and activity — the McDonald’s experience,” said company spokesman Walt Riker.
The campaign was criticized by Harvard psychologist Susan Linn, author of “Consuming Kids.”
“It’s just another marketing ploy for McDonald’s,” she said. “It has no place in the school. The amount of exercise it will take to exercise off everything these kids consume will take all day.”
[Disclaimer: this was written as I ate 4 “fun size” packets of Bottle Caps candy.]
If Ronald and McCorporation really wanted to promote fitness. The first step would be to close all McDonalds. And open McGyms.
Come climb our double arches!