I had to think for a while about the article in the url below before deciding what I wanted to say about it (Issues: Wages, p204; Special Cases of CSR: Fast-Food Industry, p283; McDonald’s, p295):
“FAST-FOOD chains often post nutritional report cards about their product ingredients on restaurant walls. Now one is using children's report cards to help stimulate sales. The McDonald's restaurants in Seminole County, Fla., and the Seminole County School Board have agreed to reward students for good grades and attendance during the 2007-8 school year with Happy Meals.”
While this effort by McDonald’s seems crass and insensitive to growing concerns about the role fast-food plays in record high obesity among children, there is clearly social value in incentivizing students to work hard at school (presuming they consider a McDonald’s Happy Meal to be an incentive). And, since the ‘reward’ is only one Happy Meal a semester, why should a less-than-healthy, occasional ‘treat’ be such a bad thing (I remember being bribed with ice-cream when I was a child)?
“Students in kindergarten through fifth grade can now receive a Happy Meal from a local McDonald's restaurant as a ''food prize,'' as it is described, for achievements like all A's and B's in academic subjects or two or fewer absences from school.”
This story reminds me of the criticism Cadbury’s received in the UK for encouraging sales of chocolate bars by promising donations of sports equipment to schools (Special Cases of CSR: Cadbury, p297). Having said that, however, McDonald’s took over the sponsorship of the report cards from Pizza Hut that had run the same scheme without complaint for ten years (although their involvement was more subtle and sensitive). Still, something just doesn’t seem right about this, which is why, perhaps, McDonald’s CSR efforts ended up as a case study in the “Companies Persevering Against All The Odds” section of Strategic CSR (Special Cases of CSR: McDonald’s, p305).
Take care
Dave
Bill Werther & David Chandler
Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility
© Sage Publications, 2006
http://www.sagepub.com/Werther
Straight A's, With a Burger as a Prize
By STUART ELLIOTT
1273 words
6 December 2007
The New York Times
Late Edition - Final
4
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/06/business/media/06adco.html
