Ronald McDonald Will Be Around for a While

You know, I’m all for getting healthier, and educating the American public about how to eat healthier, and to make sure they raise their kids to appreciate healthy, whole foods. But let’s face it, we can’t force healthy eating down everyone’s throat, and not everyone is going to choose to eat the low carb diet way at Mickey D’s like me.

And hey, I remember how excited my sister and I got when my parents would head to McDonalds for any reason. We didn’t get it often, nor did we get treats like sugary breakfast cereals very often, but McDonalds is sort of a children’s right of passage, and not every kid who eats McDonalds is going to grow into an obese adult.

To think that is just crazy. But that’s what some in the government and consumer advocacy groups thought. They thought that McDonalds use of Ronald McDonald, the iconic clown they’ve used in their advertising campaigns since the company was in its infancy, is too much of an appeal to children.

Well, they are a business, and do they not have the right to appeal to their child audience? Remember, it’s the parents of the kids who ultimately make the decisions on what kids eat, not the kids still.

Many would have liked to have seen Ronald McDonald go the way of the dodo bird, because he just appeals too much to kids and makes them want McDonalds. I think that such radical censorship is not a good thing here in the US.

And to do something like censor an icon that’s been around for decades in the name of public health is dangerously teetering on the edge of socialism, which is the exact opposite of something I hold near and dear to my heart – capitalism.

Kids are going to like McDonalds, but that doesn’t mean their parents can’t also teach them to like healthy foods like fruits by cutting them up into little pieces and making them handy as snacks. Preventing overweight kids is in the parent’s hands, and they hold that power to make sure that the kid’s only sustenance is not Happy Meals.

They also can teach their children to like veggies by making sure they get them in their diet at a young age, so the children develop a taste for foods that are healthier and more wholesome.

McDonalds is but a small piece of the puzzle when it comes to childhood obesity and health. They are not THE problem. To label one fast food restaurant as a major part of the obesity epidemic would be akin to saying that all cars are an enemy of health because they prevent us from walking.

It’s ridiculous. It’s an individual choice, and to take away a component of that, even advertising, is a travesty where capitalism and freedom of speech is to reign free.