McDonalds says: McDonalds is one of the world’s largest employers. It is the world’s largest ‘global foodservice retailer’, with more than 28,000 restaurants serving nearly 43 million people each day in 119 countries (one of which is India, the McLibellers point to the contradiction of serving Big Macs in a country where the cow is sacred to most of the population). As such, it is acutely aware of its image. On the 16th of February this year, it was recognised by the American Bar Association for ‘outstanding Pro Bono Legal Service to the community’. It presents a sporting (and therefore healthy) image through its sponsorship of junior football, and athletics. It had two restaurants in the Olympic Village at Sydney 2000, with five others at ‘Olympic venues’ in Sydney. McDonalds spends uncounted (maybe, it isn’t obvious exactly how much) millions on charitable ventures; it runs numerous ‘home away from home’ Ronald McDonald houses around the globe for families of children with serious illness (5 such houses currently exist in the UK, one at the Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, Liverpool, interestingly enough...), Ronald McDonald Family Rooms adjacent to children’s wards in hospitals (also providing free accommodation) and it makes charitable grants to children’s organisations caring for kids with special needs. They spend a lot of money on sport and children, then....

McLibel: In 1991, two individuals were taken to court by McDonalds, sued for libel. The allegations centred around a leaflet that the two had produced and circulated. The case lasted for six years and aroused much media attention. McLibel is the only real solidly documented evidence of McDonalds malpractice. The couple claimed that there were eight areas where McDonalds was particularly damaging: 1) Nutrition; for obvious reasons (the judge found that McDonalds advertising ‘pretended a nutritional benefit’ in the food which it did not have). 2) Environment; do McDonalds aid the destruction of the rainforest in order to expand cattle ranching? The judge ruled not. 3) Advertising; do McDonalds target children in order to manipulate the market? Do McDonalds use ‘gimmicks’ in advertising to cover up the quality of the food?  The judge ruled yes to the former and no to the latter (!).  4) Employment; the judge ruled that McDonalds were artificially depressing wages in the catering industry, and only paying low wages. He stated that they did not exploit the disadvantaged. 5) Cruelty to animals; the judge ruled that cruelty did take place and some animals were mistreated. 6) Starvation in the third world; the judge ruled that McDonalds did not directly cause 3rd world starvation. 7) Food poisoning; the judge refuted that McDonalds caused food poisoning through poor quality or undercooked food. Yet, finally, some mud had stuck.

I must admit that when I started researching McDonalds, I expected the ‘net to be teaming with anti-capitalist complaints, people who’d had nightmare experiences, IRA funding allegations... What did I find? That it’s very difficult to pin down one of the world’s biggest companies for anything.

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Furthermore...McDonalds does not tolerate bad publicity if it can possibly do anything about it. In the past decade it has taken up legal battles with the BBC, Channel 4,‘TheGuardian’. and numerous others Yet the bad publicity stories continue to feed through, perhaps unavoidably for such a big organisation. Two years ago, they were fined £10,000 after a Coventry branch continued to serve food for four hours, despite being flooded with sewage. An American customer only last year found the chicken head pictured above in her McNuggets. Anti-capitalist campaigners repeatedly target McDonalds as the ultimate symbol of the system they oppose. PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) has run repeated anti-McDonalds campaigns and an international anti-McDonalds days held annually. These events seem beyond the control of even the world’s biggest foodservice whatsit...

 

For more information, visit: www.mcspotlight.com(an anti-McDonalds site), the original McLibel leaflet is available online @ http://www.mcspotlight.org/media/reports/trans.html.The McDonalds website is http://www.mcdonalds.com/,and their virtual restaurant can be found at http://www.mcdonalds.co.uk/,where you can find out the ‘nutritional’ value of your favourite McMeal.