Think about your son or daughter, your little cousin, or perhaps even that little girl who lives on your block.  Do you think he/she could recognize the famous “Golden Arches” of McDonald’s from down the street?

Although marketing can enhance a company’s view from the public, and increase sales, companies must be cognizant of what the side effects are of these various marketing strategies.  For example, is Ronald McDonald’s sole purpose to raise awareness and money for the Ronald McDonald house? Maybe.  However, through this advertising to raise money for what I believe to be an extremely worth-while cause, children everywhere are being negatively effected by the health impacts that come along with McDonald’s.

According to a report by Statistics Canada, nearly one third of Canadian children are overweight or obese.  With Ronald McDonald parading around, encouraging children to consume fat and incredible amounts of sodium, otherwise known as a happy meal, this statistic should not come as a shock.  It is no doubt that a childhood favourite would be chicken mcnuggets and fries.  Let’s just put this into perspective: 6 mcnuggets, and a small fries has a total of 510 calories, 29 grams of fat, and 640 milligrams of sodium.

The fast food industry collectively spends over $5 million dollars each day on advertising unhealthy food to children.  If this keeps up, more and more children are going to become overweight, and be at increased risk of heart disease, cancer, strokes, and type 2 diabetes.  Just imagine how many lives may be lost to these sicknesses, rather than saved if even just a portion of that $5 million dollars went towards the Ronald McDonald campaign

A link to McDonald’s Fry Kids commercial: