McDonald’s Under Fire for Report Card Ad
McDonald’s is causing a stir in Florida for advertising on envelopes that contain elementary school report cards.
Watch Dog group The Campaign for Commercial-Free Childhood is demanding McDonald’s stop the ads, distributed in Seminole County to children in grades K-5. The ad offers a free Happy meal for good grades (As and Bs), attendance or behavior.
Students receive the report cards in schools in envelopes branded with Ronald McDonald and images of food items. The schools use the envelopes year-round to carry report cards and progress reports to and from school.
“McDonald’s is talking directly to kids,” Josh Golin, the group’s associate director, said. “They shouldn’t be marketing in schools. Promising kids rewards without parental consent is particularly egregious.”
The group plans to petition the local school district to cease the program, Golin said.
But McDonald’s maintains it’s not doing anything wrong.
“McDonald’s does not advertise in schools,” company spokesperson Bill Whitman said in a statement. “McDonald’s has a long-standing and rich heritage of supporting education and academic excellence. This is a local program in Seminole County, FL, that promotes academic excellence and rewards academic achievement.”
McDonald’s is one of 11 other marketers that agreed to shift their advertising messages to kids under 12 to promote healthier dietary and lifestyle choices. It adopted the Council of Better Business Bureaus’ children’s food and beverage advertising initiative formed in November 2006. The envelope in question shows a McDonald’s Happy Meal featuring Apple Dippers, Milk Jug and Chicken McNuggets. However, the group said the promotion mentions cheeseburgers, French Fries and soft drinks as meal options. The Happy Meal in the image contains 710 calories and 28 grams of fat, the group said.
“I don’t see how anyone can look at this and say it is not advertising,” Golin added. “If McDonald’s doesn’t view this as advertising, basically its pledges are worthless.”
Food partnerships are not new for the school district. It had a 10-year partnership with Pizza Hut until the company decided not to participate this year.
Susan Pagan, the mother of a nine-year-old who received a report card, said was “shocked and outraged” when she saw the ad on the envelope.
“It’s just exploiting our kids to be marketing so blatantly,” Pagan said. “We need to protect our kids. The schools should be a scared place.”
Pagan sent an e-mail last week to the school board asking it prohibit the practice.
“To allow this blatant placement of unhealthy advertisement into the hands of our children is irresponsible and deplorable,” Pagan wrote in the e-mail.
Some say the issue is being blown out of proportion.
“It’s a lot of hoopla over nothing,” said Scott Hume, editor-in-chief of Restaurants and Institutions. “There always are people who don’t like a free trade economy. Nobody is being forced to go to McDonald’s. Putting a brand name in front of a child I don’t see as a felony.”
Pagan disagrees.
“I try to feed my kids well, especially with all the media hype about childhood obesity,” Pagan said. “If someone wants to send me something, fine. But let’s keep direct marketing out of the hands of our kids.”
