© Meg Barone / Connecticut Post Freelance Jack Kyzer, 11, of Stratford, a 6th grade student at Eli Whitney School, gets help from Maria Pagan, building his own hamburger sandwich.
With the growing epidemic of childhood obesity and an escalation in rates of related health issues, McDonald's officials have said it also was good business to serve nutritional facts to young people.
About five years ago, the company initiated nutrition workshops, bringing schoolchildren into their local McDonald's restaurant to learn about calorie counts, sodium levels, fat content and other information about the importance of eating nutritious foods.
Comment: Nutrition workshops sponsored by McDonald's? This has got to be a joke! Read on, it is amazing how a corporation like McDonald's is using the excuse that they are 'teaching school kids about the importance of eating nutritional foods' while in reality they are pushing more of their toxic food!
Sounds like the recent story carried on SOTT:
McDonald's and PepsiCo to help write UK health policy
The Department of Health is putting the fast food companies McDonald's and KFC and processed food and drink manufacturers such as PepsiCo, Kellogg's, Unilever, Mars and Diageo at the heart of writing government policy on obesity, alcohol and diet-related disease, the Guardian has learned.
Gail Grant, local store marketer for eight McDonald's restaurants, conducted a workshop Oct. 21 at McDonald's on 2439 Barnum Ave., in Stratford, for Eli Whitney School sixth-grade students. Grant talked about the health benefits of certain vegetables and gave them tips on making healthy choices. Then she invited them behind the counter to see the kitchen and make their own sandwiches.
Comment: Health benefits about 'certain' vegetables, does McDonald's even serve vegetables? In the picture above, there appears to be no vegetables, just a bun and cheese!
"Fifth-graders and up get to go into our kitchen area to build their own sandwich if they decide to purchase one," said Grant, who asked students whether the information they learned influenced their meal choices or what they placed on their sandwiches.
Comment: So the children have to purchase a sandwich they make at a workshop offered by a corporation like McDonald's? And then they are questioned about the nutritional information they learned and how it influenced their meal choices? They can't be serious!
"I learned that McDonald's can be very healthy for you if you make the right choices. I usually have lots of cheese, but I had less cheese and more lettuce, and I had chicken instead of hamburger because it has fewer calories," said Shannon Mullings, 11.
Comment: McDonald's very healthy? Sounds more like McDonald's is brainwashing young children into becoming life long consumers. In the Documentary The Corporation Instructor in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and co-founder/director of the coalition Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, Susan Linn depicts how corporations, like McDonald's, use marketing tools such 'nutritional workshops' to instil 'Cradle to Grave Brand loyalty'. In her work Consuming Kids: The Hostile Takeover of Childhood:
Linn writes;
"Marketing is what links childhood obesity, eating disorders, violence and other public health concerns. It is linked to materialistic values, even as it undermines family values.So one can see, based on Linn's work, how corporations like McDonald's use marketing tools to incorporate name brands into the fabric of children's everyday lives, hence the workshops provided by McDonald's as part of an 'integrated health and physical education curriculum' in public schools around the US.
Marketing to children in the United States is out of control. It is escalating unchecked. It is virtually unregulated and its industry practices are unexamined.
Comparing the marketing of today with the marketing of yesteryear is like comparing a BB gun to a smart bomb. It's enhanced by technology, honed by child psychologists and brought to us by billions of dollars. We can no longer think of marketing to children merely as commercials on Saturday morning television. In the new millennium, marketing executives are insinuating their brands into the fabric of children's lives. They want - to use industry terms - to "own" children; "cradle to grave" brand loyalty; and "share of mind."
Peranai Sirichantho, 11, said he planned to get an Angus Deluxe, but chose a Big Mac because it had 210 fewer calories.
Jack Kyzer, 11, said "it was cool seeing all the McDonald's chefs cooking the hamburgers. It was my first time making it. It was the best thing that ever happened to me."
"He loves McDonald's," said George Kyzer, Jack's dad.
Comment: Here we have the true intent of McDonald's collaboration with schools' 'health and physical education programs' rather than teaching children about healthy food choices, they are creating loyal life long McDonald's consumers!
"McDonald's is providing nutritional information so when they go to a restaurant they can make healthy choices," said Maureen DiDomenico, coordinator of fine arts, health and physical education for the Stratford school system.
The back of McDonald's place mats have nutritional facts about the restaurants' food.
Grant told the students they are responsible for their own nutrition.
Comment: And if McDonald's comes and only provides their companies' food as an option for healthy eating what do the children learn? How to justify eating fast food as a good choice because they choose the Chicken Sandwich over the Big Mac.
"Read, then eat," she said.
Comment: For more information about how the Food industry targets children by claiming 'junk food is healthy' read the following articles:
Food Industry Is Now Calling Junk Food 'Healthy' - Why Could That Be?
Food Industry Continues to Market Junk Food to Children
Study Shows Fast Food Companies Aggressively Market to Kids, Minorities
Effort to Limit Junk Food in Schools Faces Hurdles
Food Industry Faulted for Pushing High-Calorie, Low-Nutrient Products
The Fast-Food Industry's $4.2 Billion Marketing Blitz
I guess we know where his future is...at least they're getting kids ready for inevitable failure.