Friday, February 16, 2018

3 lessons from McDonald’s vow of healthier kids’ fare

McDonald’s says it wants to get healthier.

On Thursday, it announced an initiative to make healthier meals available for children worldwide.

McDonald’s shared a blog post on Medium, co-authored by the head of its global nutrition initiative, Julia Braun, and Dr. Howell Weschler, CEO for Alliance for a Healthier Generation.

They wrote:

From day one, we knew the collective force of our two organizations could catalyze change around the world — the public health expertise of the Alliance for a Healthier Generation combined with the global scale of McDonald’s. We began working together nearly five years ago with an intense focus on creating balanced meal options for children and families within McDonald’s restaurants and hoping to inspire beyond that. Together, we have a powerful opportunity to support families and help meet their needs in bigger, bolder ways.

McDonald’s framed the move as an effort to support families, and it outlined a series of steps in a press release shared in its newsroom.

"We recognise the opportunity that we have to support families as one of the most visited restaurants in the world, and remain committed to elevating our food, celebrating the joy of reading, and helping those in need through Ronald McDonald House Charities," said Steve Easterbrook, McDonald's President and CEO. "Given our scale and reach, we hope these actions will bring more choices to consumers and uniquely benefit millions of families, which are important steps as we build a better McDonald's."

The press release detailed five steps it would take:

  • Offer balanced meals
  • Simplify ingredients
  • Be transparent with Happy Meal nutrition information
  • Behave responsibly when marketing to children
  • Use its marketing to increase consumption of healthy foods
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Some consumer advocates aren’t buying it.

NPR reported:

Not everyone is impressed by McDonald's announcement. "This is more of the same. Old tricks from an old dog," says Alexa Kaczmarski of Corporate Accountability, a watchdog group that campaigns for McDonald's to change the way it markets to children. "It doesn't matter how you dress it up, Happy Meals are vehicles for hooking kids on junk food and building brand affinity for life."

Other experts seemed unconvinced that McDonald’s will be able to change what kids demand.

USA Today wrote:

"A lot of times, the options are available, but they're one choice out of many. If you're in a restaurant and your child smells french fries and sees the soda, it’s very difficult for kids to get the healthier choices," [Jennifer Harris of the University of Connecticut's Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity] said. "It increases the perception that these are healthy places, so it's OK to bring your kids there, but once inside, the whole environment is pushing unhealthy options. If you're a parent, do you risk having a meltdown or do you get your child what’s most appealing to them?"

Here are three lessons from McDonald’s healthy push:

1. Back up your words with actions—and data.

McDonald’s pointed to earlier efforts and offered hard data to back up its claims when talking about making its menu more nutritious.

In the Medium article it shared, it wrote:

Today, more customers are choosing water, milk and juice as the beverage of choice in Happy Meals over other beverages in the U.S. Specifically, since removing soda from the Happy Meal section of the U.S. menu board in 2014, we saw double-digit percentage shifts to water, milk and juice, and importantly — other restaurants followed suit. Along with a beverage choice, customers are also selecting fruit, vegetable or low-fat dairy sides — with 951 million of those options served in just one year in 13 major markets across the globe. Examples include cherry tomatoes in the Netherlands, pineapple in Spain, carrots in Russia, side salad in Germany and corn cups in Taiwan. In the U.S. alone, McDonald’s served an average of 108 clementines per minute while supplies lasted in 2016.

Supporting your claims with data adds credibility to your argument, which just might convert the skeptics.

2. Highlight your other socially responsible actions.

McDonald’s has a long history of charitable giving and corporate action on behalf of children, including initiatives such as Ronald McDonald House. The press release announcing the menu change focuses on such efforts:

When it comes to supporting families, the company has played an important role for more than 40 years in keeping families near the care they need when their children are sick. McDonald's was a founding mission partner of the Charity and remains committed to leveraging the size and scale of McDonald's restaurants to promote and raise money to support the growth of the Charity. RMHC keeps families together, close to the care they need through more than 364 Ronald McDonald Houses, 227 Ronald McDonald Family Rooms, and 49 Ronald McDonald Care Mobiles in 64 countries and regions around the world. Last year alone, RMHC provided care and resources to more than five and a half million children and families. Last year, McDonald's restaurants supported the work of RMHC by providing approximately 2.4 million overnight stays in neighborhoods and in communities around the world.

By reminding customers of McDonald’s long-time commitment to children, the company adds authenticity and credibility to its message. The changes appear to come from a core part of the company’s credo, rather than a simple gamble for higher sales.

3. Don’t be afraid to rock the boat.

The cheeseburger is big part of McDonald’s identity—and pivoting away from the menu item is no small thing for the storied fast-food chain.

Some tweeted their dismay at the change:

Change can be bumpy, but by changing course, McDonald’s hopes to be better positioned to serve families in the future.

According to the company, the cheeseburgers are just the start.

It wrote:

By 2022, McDonald’s restaurants will add new Happy Meal offerings, reformulate or remove offerings from the Happy Meal section of the menu board to meet these goals. We’re announcing a host of improvements later this year to Happy Meal menus in the U.S. — like adding bottled water, cutting the calories and sodium with smaller fries in the 6 piece Chicken McNuggets Happy Meal, and working to reduce the added sugars in chocolate milk. In addition, just last month McDonald’s Italy introduced a sandwich with lean protein (grilled chicken); McDonald’s Australia is currently exploring new vegetable and lean protein options; and McDonald’s France is looking at new vegetable offerings.

What do you think of McDonald’s promise and messaging, PR Daily readers?

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