I’ve done a complete boycott of McDonalds and have adamantly opposed their stores because of various issues. I just watched the documentary on the McLibel case and thought it the appropriate time to state my case.
McDonalds exploits workers, the environment and burrows into people’s minds, especially children with their dishonest forms of advertising. For some people these points are blatantly obvious for others you either don’t care or refuse to see it.
The majority of McDonalds workers are kids. As kids are the targets of much of this giant’s advertising it’s quite logical that their workforce consists of children sucked in by their propaganda. Their pay is abhorrent, they have no conditions and they are basically disposable workers because they have no access to unions and, as casual workers, have no protection against unfair dismissal.
The environment is a major casualty because of the ethics, or lack of therefore, from McDonalds. The amount of packaging that they produce is disturbing. For every customer that ‘eats in,’ the cashier places a piece of paper that covers the tray, this piece of paper is not used except for advertising and is thrown out after consumption. This is to avoid washing up, which means less workload, less employees, more profit. Even more so disturbing is the clearing of rainforests from contractors to McDonalds. This company is the biggest producer of beef products in the world, and in order to accommodate they clear rainforests in poor South American countries to produce more beef for a cheap price and more profit and at a huge cost to our environment.
It is now certain that through hit documentaries such as ‘Super size me’ that McDonalds is bad for you, but McDonalds advertising does not reflect this. The subliminal message of McDonalds sponsoring children’s sporting events and having big name sports stars in their advertising campaign misleads the consumer into believing it’s ok and healthy to eat McDonalds.
Now after stating my argument against McDonalds I would like to make it clear that it’s not just McDonalds who are responsible for bad practices in the interest of profits. Most, if not all, major fast food companies employ these abhorrent tactics. It is because McDonalds heads this assault and it’s major influence that it is targeted and not unfairly in the least.
