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Criticism of McDonald's

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A PETA activist dressed as a chicken confronts the manager of the Times Square McDonald's over the company's animal welfare standards.

American restaurant chain McDonald's has been criticised for numerous aspects of its business, including the health effects of its products, its treatment of employees, the environmental impact of its operations, and other business practices.

Overview

Criticism of food

In the late 1980s, Phil Sokolof, a millionaire businessman who had suffered a heart attack at the age of 43, took out full-page newspaper ads in New York, Chicago, and other large cities accusing McDonald's menu of being a threat to American health, and asking them to stop using beef tallow to cook their french fries.[1]

In 1990, activists from a small group known as London Greenpeace (no connection to the international group Greenpeace) distributed leaflets entitled What's wrong with McDonald's?, criticizing its environmental, health, and labor record. The corporation wrote to the group demanding they desist and apologize, and, when two of the activists refused to back down, sued them for libel leading to the "McLibel case", one of the longest cases in English civil law. A documentary film of the McLibel Trial has been shown in several countries.[2]

In 2001, Eric Schlosser's book Fast Food Nation included criticism of the business practices of McDonald's. Among the critiques were allegations that McDonald's (along with other companies within the fast food industry) uses its political influence to increase its profits at the expense of people's health and the social conditions of its workers. The book also brought into question McDonald's advertisement techniques in which it targets children. While the book did mention other fast-food chains, it focused primarily on McDonald's.[3]

In 2002, vegetarian groups, largely Hindu and Buddhist, successfully sued McDonald's for misrepresenting its French fries as vegetarian, when they contained beef broth.[4] In the same year, Spanish band Ska-P released a song titled "McDollar" in their album ¡¡Que Corra La Voz‼ criticizing McDonald's.[citation needed]

Morgan Spurlock's 2004 documentary film Super Size Me claimed that McDonald's food was contributing to the increase of obesity in society and that the company was failing to provide nutritional information about its food for its customers. Six weeks after the film premiered, McDonald's announced that it was eliminating the super size option, and was creating the adult Happy Meal. A counter-documentary called Fat Head puroported to point out inconsistencies in Super Size Me.[citation needed]

Critcism of corporate practices

Though the company objected, the term "McJob" was added to Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary in 2003.[5] The term was defined as "a low-paying job that requires little skill and provides little opportunity for advancement".[6] Merriam-Webster's Unabridged Dictionary also contains the word "McMansion", a critical, pejorative term used to describe an overly large, ostentatious, sometimes poorly designed or constructed house, often found in a suburb or in new developments on traditionally rural land. McMansions are often built in multiples that are difficult to distinguish from one another, like assembly-line factory parts or fast-food hamburgers.[7][8]

Screenshot from McDonald's Video Game, a satirical parody of the company's business practices

In 2006, an unsanctioned McDonald's Video Game by Italian group Molleindustria was released online. It is a parody of the business practices of the corporate giant, taking the guise of a tycoon style business simulation game. In the game, the player plays the role of a McDonald's CEO, choosing whether or not to use controversial practices like genetically altered cow feed, plowing over rainforests, and corrupting public officials. McDonald's issued a statement distancing itself from the game.[9]

In January 2014, McDonald's was accused of having used a series of tax maneuvers to avoid taxes in France. French authorities have billed McDonald's France in 2016 for 300 million euros for unpaid taxes on profit.[10]

In April 2020, McDonald's apologized after footage showing a notice that was being displayed inside one of its restaurants in China saying that "black people are not allowed to enter."[11]

In October 2020, the Azerbaijan branch of McDonald's was criticized for Facebook and Instagram posts endorsing Azerbaijan's military actions against Armenia in Nagorno-Karabakh.[12] While McDonald's restaurants exist in Armenia, as of January 2020, none of them were franchises of the global chain.[13][14]

Company responses to criticism

Discreet shopfront in historic Stratford-upon-Avon

In response to public pressure, McDonald's has sought to include more healthy choices in its menu and has introduced a new slogan to its recruitment posters: "Not bad for a McJob".[15] The word McJob, first attested in the mid-1980s[5] and later popularized by Canadian novelist Douglas Coupland in his book Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, has become a buzzword for low-paid, unskilled work with few prospects or benefits and little security. McDonald's disputes this definition of McJob. In 2007, the company launched an advertising campaign with the slogan "Would you like a career with that?" on Irish television, asserting that its jobs have good prospects.

In an effort to respond to growing consumer awareness of food provenance, the fast-food chain changed its supplier of both coffee beans and milk. UK chief executive Steve Easterbrook said: "British consumers are increasingly interested in the quality, sourcing, and ethics of the food and drink they buy".[16] In a bid to tap into the ethical consumer market,[17] McDonald's switched to using coffee beans taken from stocks that are certified by the Rainforest Alliance, a conservation group. Additionally, in response to pressure, McDonald's UK started using organic milk supplies for its bottled milk and hot drinks, although it still uses conventional milk in its milkshakes, and in all of its dairy products in the United States.[18] According to a report published by Farmers Weekly in 2007, the quantity of milk used by McDonald's could have accounted for as much as 5 percent of the UK's organic milk output.[19]

McDonald's announced in May 2008 that, in the United States and Canada, it has switched to using cooking oil that contains no trans fats for its french fries, and canola-based oil with corn and soy oils, for its baked items, pies and cookies, by end of 2018.[20]

With regard to acquiring chickens from suppliers who use CAK/CAS methods of slaughter, McDonald's says that it needs to see more research "to help determine whether any CAS system in current use is optimal from an animal welfare perspective."[21]

Environmental record

Since McDonald's began receiving criticism for its environmental practices in the 1970s, it has significantly reduced its use of materials.[22] For instance, an "average meal" in the 1970s—a Big Mac, fries, and a drink—required 46 grams (1.6 oz) of packaging; today, it requires 25 grams (0.88 oz), a 46 percent reduction.[23] In addition, McDonald's eliminated the need for intermediate containers for cola by using a delivery system that pumps syrup directly from the delivery truck into storage containers, saving two million pounds (910 tonnes) of packaging annually.[24] Weight reductions in packaging and products, as well as increased usage of bulk packaging, ultimately decreased packaging by twenty-four million pounds (11,000 tonnes) annually.[25] McDonald's efforts to reduce solid waste by using less packaging and by promoting the use of recycled materials were recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.[26]

In 1990, McDonald's worked with the Environmental Defense Fund to stop using "clam shell"-shaped styrofoam food containers to store its food products.[27]

In April 2008, McDonald's announced that 11 of its restaurants in Sheffield, England, were engaged in a biomass trial program that cut its waste and carbon footprint by half in the area. In this trial, waste from the restaurants was collected by Veolia Environmental Services and used to produce energy at a power plant. McDonald's announced plans to expand this project, although the lack of biomass power plants in the United States would prevent adoption of this plan as a national standard there anytime soon.[28] In addition, in Europe, McDonald's has been recycling vegetable grease by converting it to fuel for its diesel trucks.[29]

In an effort to reduce energy usage by 25 percent in its restaurants, McDonald's opened a prototype restaurant in Chicago in 2009, intending to use the model in its other restaurants throughout the world. Building on past efforts, specifically a restaurant it opened in Sweden in 2000 that was the first to incorporate green ideas, McDonald's designed the Chicago site to save energy by managing storm water, using skylights for more natural lighting, and installing partitions and tabletops made from recycled goods, among other measures.[30]

In 2012, McDonald's announced they would trial replacing styrofoam coffee cups with an alternative material.[31]

In 2018, McDonalds switched from plastic straws to paper ones in Ireland and the United Kingdom[32] and Australia[33] in an effort to reduce plastic pollution. Followed by the Netherlands in 2020,[34] and Germany in 2021.[35] Disabled activists criticized that the shift away from plastic straws is ableist, as certain disabilities result in the loss of gross or fine motor control, thus would prevent a customer from safely lifting, balancing or drinking from a cup.[36]

In January 2021, McDonald's Arcos Dorados, the largest independent McDonald's franchise in the world which operates stores in Latin America and the Caribbean, introduced food trays manufactured by UBQ Materials that use a mix of food waste by-products to reduce the use of virgin plastic.[37]

McDonald's uses a corn-based bioplastic to produce containers for some products. The environmental benefits of this technology are controversial, with critics noting that biodegradation is slow and produces greenhouse gases, and that contamination of traditional plastic waste streams with bioplastics can complicate recycling efforts.[38]

Studies of litter have found that McDonald's is one of the most littered brands worldwide. In 2012, a Keep Australia Beautiful study found that McDonald's was the most littered brand in Queensland.[39][40] In 2009, Keep Britain Tidy likewise found McDonald's to be the leading producer of fast-food litter on British streets, accounting for 29% of the total.[41] An early protest against this practice was "Operation Send-It-Back", launched by London Greenpeace in 1994 in response to the company's targeting of activists in the McLibel Trial.[42] Participants in Operation Send-It-Back returned 30 sacks of McDonald's litter to the company.[42] In the 2010s, similar individual protests took place in New Zealand[43] and England.[44]

Main article: McDonald's legal cases

McDonald's has been involved in a number of lawsuits and other legal cases, most of which involved trademark disputes. The company has threatened many food businesses with legal action unless it drops the Mc or Mac from trading names.

European Union

In April 2017, Irish fast-food chain Supermac's submitted a request to the European Union Property Office to cancel McDonald's owned trademarks within the European Union, claiming that McDonald's engaged in "trademark bullying; registering brand names... which are simply stored away in a war chest to use against future competitors", after the trademarks had prevented Supermac's from expanding out of Ireland. The EUIPO ruled in Supermac's favour, finding that McDonald's "has not proven genuine use" of many trademarks, cancelling McDonald's owned trademarks such as "Big Mac" and certain "Mc"-related trademarks within the European Union.[45][46][47]

Burger King responded by "trolling" McDonald's by giving their sandwiches names that included the words "Big Mac", that also mocked the original burger, which included, "Like a Big Mac But Juicier", "Like a Big Mac, But Actually Big" and "Big Mac-ish But Flame-Grilled of Course".[48]

Malaysia

On September 8, 2009, McDonald's Malaysian operations lost a lawsuit to prevent another restaurant calling itself McCurry. McDonald's lost in an appeal to Malaysia's highest court, the Federal Court.[49] On December 29, 2016, McDonald's Malaysia issued a statement that said only certified halal cakes are allowed inside its restaurants nationwide.[50]

Australia

In April 2007, in Perth, Western Australia, McDonald's pleaded guilty to five charges relating to the employment of children under 15 in one of its outlets and was fined A$8,000.[51]

United Kingdom

The longest-running legal action of all time in the UK was the McLibel case against two defendants who criticized a number of aspects of the company. The trial lasted 10 years and called 130 witnesses. The European Court of Human Rights deemed that the unequal resources of the litigants breached the defendants rights to freedom of speech and biased the trial. The result was widely seen as a "PR disaster" for McDonald's.[52]

United States

The 1994 court case Liebeck v. McDonald's Restaurants examined a McDonald's practice of serving coffee so hot that when spilled, it caused third degree burns requiring weeks of hospitalization and skin grafting surgery.[53][54] The trial outcome was an award of $2.86 million (equivalent to $5.33 million in 2023)[55] for the plaintiff, 81-year old Stella Liebeck.[53][54] The amount was later reduced to $640,000 (equivalent to $1.2 million in 2023). In 2019, a McDonald's employee, Jenna Ries, sued the restaurant chain over allowing sexual harassment in the work place and described the working environment as "toxic".[56]

References

  1. ^ Dennis McLellan (April 16, 2004). "Phil Sokolof, 82; Used His Personal Fortune in Fight Against High-Fat Foods". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 11, 2017.
  2. ^ "McLibel: Longest case in English history". BBC News. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
  3. ^ Schlosser, Eric (2000). "Fast Food Nation". archive.nytimes.com. Retrieved June 11, 2021.
  4. ^ "Letter from McDonald's headquarters claiming fries are vegetarian". Archived from the original on July 11, 2011. Retrieved November 6, 2006.
  5. ^ a b "Merriam-Webster: 'McJob' is here to stay". CNN Offbeat News. Associated Press. November 11, 2003. Archived from the original on April 12, 2008.
  6. ^ "McJob". Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary. 1986. Retrieved November 29, 2009.
  7. ^ "McMansion: Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary". Merriam-Webster Unabridged. Merriam-Webster. Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  8. ^ Garfield, Leanna. "Millennials are ditching the cookie-cutter McMansion for the 'McModern'". Business Insider. Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  9. ^ Bluestien, Greg. "Creators Put Politics Into Video Games", The Associated Press, published January 21, 2007. Retrieved April 20, 2007.
  10. ^ "France bills McDonald's $341 million for unpaid tax: report". Reuters. April 19, 2016. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  11. ^ "McDonald's apologises after China store bans black people". France 24. April 14, 2020.
  12. ^ Siranush Ghazanchyan (October 28, 2020). "Armenian community calls on McDonald's to denounce support of Azerbaijani aggression".
  13. ^ "McDonald's has 'No Intention' to Open in Armenia says Spokesperson". January 21, 2020.
  14. ^ "Why is there no McDonald's in Armenia yet?". February 7, 2017.
  15. ^ Sweney, Mark (April 20, 2006). "Not bad for a McJob?". The Guardian. London. Retrieved March 30, 2009.
  16. ^ Ian Ashbridge (July 3, 2007). "McDonalds' milk goes organic – 7/3/2007 – Farmers Weekly". Fwi.co.uk. Archived from the original on May 14, 2012. Retrieved June 7, 2012.
  17. ^ Carrigan, Marylyn and De Pelsmacker, Patrick (2009). Will ethical consumers sustain their values in the global credit crunch? International Marketing Review, 26(6), pp. 674–687,(p.7).
  18. ^ "The Truth-O-Meter : Chef Jamie Oliver praises McDonald's in England". Truth-O-Meter. Retrieved October 22, 2012.
  19. ^ Ian Ashbridge (July 3, 2007). "McDonald's milk goes organic – 03/07/2007 – FarmersWeekly". Fwi.co.uk. Archived from the original on September 24, 2009. Retrieved August 27, 2010.
  20. ^ "McDonald's cooking oil trans fat-free in U.S., Canada". Reuters. May 23, 2008. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  21. ^ "Report of the Corporate Responsibility Committee of the Board of Directors of McDonald's Corporation" (PDF). November 19, 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 17, 2011. Retrieved July 23, 2011.
  22. ^ "National Pollution Prevention Center for Higher Education" (PDF).
  23. ^ Environmental Defense Fund. Task Force Report. p. 42.
  24. ^ Environmental Defense Fund and McDonald's Corporation. Waste Reduction Task Force Final Report. Oak Brook, IL: McDonald's, 1991. p. 22.
  25. ^ "Corporation. McDonald's Packaging – The Facts. Oak Brook, IL: McDonald's, 1990. p. 7". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  26. ^ "U.S. Environmental Protection Agency". Archived from the original on August 5, 2012. Retrieved April 17, 2008.
  27. ^ "McDonald's and Environmental Defense Fund Mark 20 Years of Partnerships for Sustainability". Environmental Defense Fund. November 15, 2010. Retrieved November 28, 2013.
  28. ^ "McDonald's hails success of waste-to-energy trial". Businessgreen.com. April 14, 2008. Archived from the original on September 26, 2012. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
  29. ^ "Local woman creates environmental-friendly Web site". Herald-dispatch.com. April 19, 2008. Archived from the original on September 5, 2012. Retrieved July 23, 2011.
  30. ^ Goodman, Matthew (April 5, 2009). "Big Mac, hold the CO2". The Sunday Times. London. Archived from the original on June 11, 2011.
  31. ^ "McDonald's testing eco-friendlier coffee cups". NBC News. March 12, 2012. Retrieved November 28, 2013.
  32. ^ Rob Picheta (August 5, 2019). "McDonald's new paper straws aren't recyclable – but its axed plastic ones were". CNN. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
  33. ^ Bedo, Stephanie (July 19, 2018). "McDonald's move to ban plastic straws angers Aussies". News.com.au — Australia's Leading News Site. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
  34. ^ "McDonald's Netherlands bans plastic straws and lids, focus on sustainability". dutchreview.com. September 11, 2020. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
  35. ^ "Germany to ban plastic straws by mid-2021". euractiv.com. September 18, 2020. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
  36. ^ Elizabeth Sulis Kim (September 2, 2018). "The anti-plastic straw campaign is helpful – but if we want to save marine life, we need to stop eating fish". The Independent. Archived from the original on May 12, 2022. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
  37. ^ Peters, Adele (January 25, 2021). "These new McDonald's trays are made from food waste". Fast Company.
  38. ^ Vidal, John (April 26, 2008). "'Sustainable' bio-plastic can damage the environment". The Guardian. London. Retrieved July 23, 2011.
  39. ^ Cowen (March 1, 2013). "Study reveals McDonalds to be pick of the litter". Sunshine Coast Daily. Retrieved February 6, 2020. According to a study by litter prevention organisation Keep Australia Beautiful (KAB), McDonalds packaging accounted for 17.7% of discarded trash found in the state.
  40. ^ McGregorTan Research (September 2012). "National Branded Litter Study 2011/12" (PDF). Retrieved February 6, 2020.
  41. ^ Louise Gray (January 13, 2009). "McDonald's waste makes up largest proportion of fast food litter on streets". Telegraph. Archived from the original on January 10, 2022. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
  42. ^ a b Deegan, Denise (2001). "How Not to Deal with Activists". Managing Activism: A Guide to Dealing with Activists and Pressure Groups. Kogan Page Publishers. p. 29. ISBN 9780749434359.
  43. ^ Denise Piper (July 19, 2019). "Northland pensioner dumps rubbish outside McDonald's to protest littering". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved February 6, 2020. Northland pensioner dumps rubbish outside McDonald's to protest littering
  44. ^ Ash Bolton (April 23, 2010). "Dave Elgram dumps rubbish in restaurant in protest at McDonald's litter in Swaythling". Daily Echo. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
  45. ^ "'It's like Connacht winning against the All Blacks': Supermac's CEO responds to Big Mac trademark success against McDonald's". Independent.ie. Retrieved January 18, 2019.
  46. ^ "'End of the McBully' - Supermac's wins trademark case against McDonald's". RTÉ. January 15, 2019. Retrieved January 15, 2020.
  47. ^ "EU strips McDonald's of its Big Mac trademark in Europe". The Independent. January 15, 2019. Archived from the original on May 12, 2022. Retrieved January 18, 2019.
  48. ^ "'Like a Big Mac But Juicier': Burger King renames sandwiches to troll McDonald's". The Guardian.
  49. ^ BBC online news article dated September 8, 2009 News.BB.co.uk
  50. ^ Balakrishnan, Nandini (December 30, 2016). "Cakes Without The Halal Logo Will Not Be Allowed In McD's". SAYS.
  51. ^ "McDonald's fined for employing underage workers". ABC News. April 12, 2007. Archived from the original on April 18, 2007. Retrieved April 12, 2007.
  52. ^ "McLibel: Longest case in English history". BBC News. February 15, 2005. Retrieved January 17, 2016.
  53. ^ a b Weiman, Darryl S. (July 1, 2018). "The McDonalds' Coffee Case". Huffington Post. Retrieved August 25, 2018.
  54. ^ a b Goodman, Amy (January 25, 2011). "Do You Know the Full Story Behind the Infamous McDonald's Coffee Case and How Corporations Used it to Promote Tort Reform?". Democracy Now!.
  55. ^ Johnston, Louis; Williamson, Samuel H. (2023). "What Was the U.S. GDP Then?". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved November 30, 2023. United States Gross Domestic Product deflator figures follow the MeasuringWorth series.
  56. ^ "McDonald's workers sue over sexual harassment, 'toxic' work culture". Reuters. November 13, 2019. Retrieved November 13, 2019.
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