By Joanne Fischetti, Senior Account Executive, R&J Public Relations
News. It’s all around us. As PR professionals, we eat, breathe and sleep the news. But sometimes we forget just how much influence the news really has.
One major topic that has been in the news, for what seems like forever, is childhood obesity. Whether you are watching television, reading the newspaper or listening to the radio, each of us is well aware of this widespread epidemic. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 17 percent of children and adolescents are obese. Why do people care so much? Obese children most likely grow up to be obese adults, which will impact our healthcare system drastically in the future. Children who are obese have a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, and many other diseases.
Watchdog groups, such as the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest, take childhood obesity very seriously. In May, a range of leading health institutions from the Chicago Hispanic Health Coalition to the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry endorsed a full page ad in the Chicago Sun-Times, New York Metro, Boston Metro, San Francisco Examiner, Minneapolis City Pages and Baltimore City Paper newspapers. The ad was a letter from doctors across the country calling for the world’s largest fast food company to stop marketing to children by using their spokesperson, a happy redheaded clown, and toy giveaway tactics.
Great. Now what’s Ronald McDonald to do? He’s been using his ‘magic’ for years to market Happy Meals to children. If you watch a half hour of children’s television, chances are you will see a McDonald’s commercial. Will Ronald be out of a job and have to file for unemployment?
Not quite. The head honchos at McDonald’s heard what the people had to say but decided to take a slightly different approach. The company decided that they won’t get rid of Ronald McDonald completely but will instead alter what they put in their Happy Meals. The fast food chain recently announced that it will make their Happy Meals healthier by cutting the amount of French fries in them as well as adding apple slices and making low-fat milk the default drink.
Will this end childhood obesity? Probably not. But it proves a point of just how much the news can influence companies – even goliaths like Micky D’s. Next time you write that pitch, remember: you can be changing the world!
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