McDonald’s and Health Eating

McDonald’s Promoting Healthful Eating

McDonald’s promotes healthful eating for its customers. The restaurant has made commendable progress in achieving this objective. In 2013, the restaurant shaped a partnership with Alliance for a Healthier Generation to announce a global commitment to increasing customers’ accessibility to fruits and vegetables. The go aimed at helping families to make informed options regarding how to maintain balanced lifestyles. The company made various commitments in its major markets, inclusive of the US that makes about 85% of its sales (Strom). One particular dedication was to offer customers the chance of choosing a salad, vegetable or fruit to substitute French fries that is common in its value meals. Other than the French fries, McDonald’s also aimed at increasing low-fat foods on its menu. The call came in its Happy Meals campaign that focuses on providing its customers with healthy foods.

The Happy Meal Campaign

The Happy Meal campaign which was planned to run from 2015 and achieve 100% implementation by 2020, is the visional menu for McDonald’s (Strom). In this visional menu, the restaurant intends to engage in promoting and marketing of water, juice, and milk as the only beverages. The new menu is a way of combating obesity across the world. It serves as part of the company’s corporate social responsibility. It also intends to reduce the amount of salt in its food. Such moves prove the corporation’s commitment to encouraging customers to embrace healthy eating lifestyles. McDonald’s vision is to be a modern and progressive restaurant that meets the expectations of the customers. The rise in cases of diet-related disorders calls for food companies to strategize on how to serve customers with foods that help to reduce such complications. Therefore, the taste of McDonald’s foods fits well in its vision.

Catering to Different Ethnicities

McDonald’s is one of the American corporations that are known for providing opportunities for women and minority groups. However, it does not mean that the company does not recognize race and ethnicity. McDonald’s has various websites that it uses to appeal to people from different ethnicities. For example, the 365Black is used to appeal to the African Americans, MeEncanta is the site used for Latinos while the Myinspirasian is used to target the Asian Americans (Sharp). These sites are updated with different pieces of information that appeal to the respective communities. As a global company, categorizing its customers and workers into various groups according to their races and ethnicities is not a good show even if it is never meant to be a negative perception. Such categorization depicts the ethnic stereotyping at McDonalds’s.

Celebrating Different Identities

Contrary to what critics may expect, the ethnic stereotype done at McDonald is used to celebrate people with different identities. For instance, the 365Black website has a message that describes how the “African Baobab tree nourishes its community with leaves and fruit.” The message is then equated with how McDonald’s reaches out to the African Americans to nourish them with valuable programs and opportunities. On the MeEncanta, Latinos are offered a sticker which they can use to show off their Latin pride. Asian Americans are identified with ”multimedia creations” as a way of recognizing their love for sports of all ages. The stereotypes are indeed not used to deride people but to show them that the company acknowledges and value them as members of the larger McDonald’s community. It is meant to appreciate all groups in the society so that no group feels sidelined. It is a move that can attract customers from all categories including the minority ones. Job opportunities are also offered indiscriminately.

Options for Vegetarians

McDonald’s caters to all kinds of its customers including vegetarians. The restaurant has a commendable number of meal choices for its vegetarian customers from breakfast through lunch to dinner. Some of the food choices for vegetarians on the menu include pancakes & syrup, toasted bagel, blueberry muffin, chocolate muffin, melon fruit among many other foods. The Happy Meal campaign also advocates for consumption of vegetables and fruits instead of fries. They also offer a meatless burger which they launched in Singapore in 2016 (Ho). The burger has a deep-fried patty that is made from green beans, carrots, green peas, potatoes and red bell peppers.

Commitment to Healthier Food Choices

Although the menu for vegetarians is still thin, the restaurant is committed to expanding it to accommodate even the non-vegetarians. Considering the various side effects of consuming large quantities of meat and fat, expanding the choices for vegetarians will help the company in achieving the goals of its Happy Meal campaign. From the words of its CEO, Don Thompson at the Clinton Global Initiative in 2013, McDonald is not meant to ”just put something on the menu” and call it an achievement (Fidler). The recent changes in its menu show how the company is committed to offering customers healthier foods that align with current customer preferences. McDonald’s is promoting healthy eating habits as part of its CSR, other than responding to the calls by health experts about the risks of consuming some foods.

Works Cited

”Alliance for a Healthier Generation and Mcdonald’S Announce Groundbreaking CGI Commitment to Promote Balanced Food and Beverage Choices.“ News.mcdonalds.com. N.p., 2013. Web. 9 Nov. 2017.

Fidler, Julie. ”Mcdonald’s Makes Positive Food Changes Due To Demand for Healthy Food.“ Natural Society. N.p., 2016. Web. 9 Nov. 2017.

Ho, Victoria. ”Vegetarians Rejoice, Mcdonald’s Just Launched A Proper Veggie Burger.“ Mashable. N.p., 2016. Web. 9 Nov. 2017.

Sharp, Gwen. ”Race, Ethnicity, And Mcdonald’S Marketing Strategies - Sociological Images.“ Thesocietypages.org. N.p., 2011. Web. 9 Nov. 2017.

Strom, Stephanie. ”With Tastes Growing Healthier, Mcdonald’S Aims to Adapt Its Menu.“ Nytimes.com. N.p., 2013. Web. 9 Nov. 2017.