McDonald's Is Poisoning Consumers -- And Blaming Everyone Else for the Catastrophic Societal Costs

By Stacey Folsom, AlterNet. Posted June 24, 2009.

For most of us it’s not that difficult to understand how McDonald’s share profits rose over 2008 when the rest of the Dow Jones (save for Wal-Mart) was taking a nose dive. After all, they offer a value at the register that’s easy on our thinning pocketbooks.

That said, the value at the register is a misnomer when you look at the true costs McDonald’s is passing on to its patrons. Each year, the direct and indirect costs of diet-related disease cost Americans well over 120 billion dollars. Value meals cost a great deal more when you subdivide that tab by the number of us eating regularly at the Golden Arches and other chains that serve food high in fat, calories, salt and sugar.

McDonald’s has yet to take its share of the blame for this alarming number, let alone the skyrocketing rates of diet-related conditions like obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. It has instead pumped hundreds of millions into a high-stakes, public relations blame game.

Line 1 – “It’s not our food that’s to blame, it’s a lack of exercise.” Too bad recent studies find that are kids and adults are not much less active than they were just 30 years ago when the amount of fast food being consumed was much lower.

Line 2 – “It’s not our marketing to kids that’s to blame, it’s all the video games and internet media that distract our kids from physical activity.” Have you ever seen McWorld, McDonald’s interactive online playland where, “it’s a kid’s world where kids rule?” Well, it provides a window into the duplicity of the corporation’s marketing to say the least.

Line 3 – “We’re a leader in offering healthier menu choices.” If that means offering salads that have more calories than a Big Mac and apple slices with a caramel dipping sauce…McDonald’s nutritionists seem to have fallen asleep behind the wheel.

And there are as many lines as you’ll find in your neighborhood McDonald’s and more.

But the American public is increasingly seeing through the antics. In a recent Corporate Accountability International poll conducted by Lake Research partners 57 percent of Americans said they believe the fast food industry was, “responsible…for the increase in diet-related diseases and health conditions.” This is a three-fold increase over a similar Gallup poll conducted in 2003.

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Stacey Folsom is the Development Director of Corporate Accountability International, an organization devoted to battling corporate abuse.

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