The article in the url below presents an update on efforts by anti-obesity activists to force fast-food restaurants to display the calorie content of separate items on their menus in stores (Special Cases of CSR: Fast-Food Industry, p283):
“On Jan. 22, New York City voted to require that calorie information be posted on chain-restaurant menus as of Mar. 31. … From Hawaii to Massachusetts, more than a dozen state and local governments are considering putting calories front and center on menus. San Francisco will hold hearings this month, and a law passed last year in Seattle goes into effect Aug. 1.”
Unfortunately for the fast-food industry, their response has been to adopt many of the tactics and advisors who framed the tobacco industry’s response to anti-smoking legislation (Special Cases of CSR: British American Tobacco, p305; Philip Morris Companies, p307):
“Last year the New York State Restaurant Assn. challenged an earlier New York calorie-labeling law, retaining Arnold & Porter, longtime counsel to tobacco giant Philip Morris (MO).”
This response by the fast-food industry is short-sighted and contradicts information that individual firms are making available online. I am certainly no fan of McDonald’s (Issues: Wages, p204; Special Cases of CSR: McDonald’s, p295), but I was impressed by the extent of nutritional (or absence of nutrition) information McDonald’s makes available about its Happy Meals on its website (http://www.mcdonalds.com/app_controller.nutrition.categories.happymeals.index.html):
“Nutrition Information for McDonald’s Happy Meals
We provide a nutrition analysis of our kids meals to help you choose foods that best meet your child’s nutrition needs. Our goal is to provide you with the information you need to make sensible decisions about balance, variety and moderation for you and your family. You may view this information below or download a printable version. To learn more about how Happy Meals contribute to your child’s recommended daily intake for key nutrients, click here.”
Many of the fast-food companies have fought tooth and nail against the forced revelation of these kinds of details (and, maybe McDonald’s fought just as hard???), but I am not aware that all firms are as forthcoming as McDonald’s (I am assuming that this disclosure is voluntary). Their calculation, no doubt, is that the majority of consumers will not go to the trouble of finding this information and, if they do, it is only if it is advertised at the point of sale that it might deter purchases.
On the other hand, however, although you would think that fast-food restaurants have much to fear by greater transparency in this respect:
“So what if a McDonald's (MCD) menu tells customers that a large chocolate shake contains more calories than two Big Macs? Or a Quiznos menu lets a patron know that its large tuna melt weighs in at 2,090 calories—a full day's allotment for a typical adult?”
There is anecdotal evidence to suggest that a lot of consumers know full well that fast-food is unhealthy, but eat it anyway because of its other characteristics—cheap and convenient (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
A Food Fight Over Calorie Counts
Public health officials want caloric content listed on menus. The restaurant business is biting back
by Michael Orey
BusinessWeek
January 31, 2008
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_06/b4070036764931.htm
