"Healthy Meal": The Right-Wing Media Rages Against Healthier Happy Meals
Following McDonald's decision to offer "more nutritionally-balanced" Happy Meals and First Lady Michelle Obama's praise of its move, the right-wing media jumped to attack McDonald's for supposedly bending to the will of the "fat police" and making Happy Meals "less happy." However, numerous studies show that childhood obesity leads to significant health problems, and moreover, McDonald's reportedly made their decision in part so that parents could feel "less guilty" about buying their kids Happy Meals.
McDonald's Makes Apple Slices A Regular Part Of "Happy Meal"
McDonald's "Announces Commitments To Offer Improved Nutrition Choices." From a July 26 McDonald's press release:
Today, McDonald's USA president Jan Fields announced the company's "Commitments to Offer Improved Nutrition Choices." The comprehensive plan aims to help customers -- especially families and children -- make nutrition-minded choices whether visiting McDonald's or eating elsewhere.
Menu changes underway include the addition of more nutritionally-balanced choices that meet McDonald's reputation for great taste and affordability, along with an increased focus on providing nutrition information that enable customers and employees to make simple, informed menu decisions.
"McDonald's will always try to do the right thing, and we know we can help make a difference in our communities," said Jan Fields, president, McDonald's USA. "The commitments we're announcing today will guide the future evolution of our menu and marketing." [McDonald's, 7/26/11]
CNN.com: "Happy Meal Gets A Makeover." A July 26 CNN.com article reported:
McDonald's Happy Meals are getting their fat and calories trimmed, the fast food giant announced Tuesday.
The seemingly ubiquitous Happy Meals that have drawn the ire of health advocates and have been blamed for contributing to childhood obesity, will carry apple slices, reduced portion of french fries and a choice of beverage, including new fat-free chocolate milk and 1% low-fat white milk.
The core of the Happy Meal will remain the same as kids will still get fries (a smaller portion) and a choice of a hamburger, cheeseburger or chicken nuggets. All beverages, including milk, fruit juice, water and soda, continue to be options for the Happy Meal.
The changes are scheduled to begin September with the hopes that all 14,000 restaurants will transition to the new Happy Meals by the first quarter of 2012. [CNN.com, 7/26/11]
First Lady Praised McDonald's For "Providing More Fruit And Reducing The Calories In Its Happy Meals." On July 26, First Lady Michelle Obama issued the following statement regarding McDonald's announcement:
McDonald's is making continued progress today by providing more fruit and reducing the calories in its Happy Meals. I've always said that everyone has a role to play in making America healthier, and these are positive steps toward the goal of solving the problem of childhood obesity. McDonald's has continued to evolve its menu, and I look forward to hearing about the progress of today's commitments, as well as efforts in the years to come. [Let's Move, 7/26/11]
Right-Wing Media Outlets Rally Against Healthy Alternative, Blame First Lady For Change
Fox Responds To McDonald's "Fat Police" With Outrage Over "Happy" Being Lost In "Healthy Meal." During the July 26 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, the co-hosts repeatedly attacked McDonald's for voluntarily making Happy Meals healthier, claiming, in the words of Steve Doocy, that "there's about to be no more happy in your Happy Meals" because "they're being replaced with the healthy meal." [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 7/26/11 via Media Matters]
HotAir: "McDonald's To Revamp Happy Meals Because You're Too Dumb To Watch What Your Kids Eat." In a July 26 HotAir post titled, "McDonald's to revamp Happy Meals because you're too dumb to watch what your kids eat," AllahPundit wrote:
Fair headline? Well, until now, when ordering a Happy Meal you had a choice between the traditional burger and fries and a more nutritious but-mom-I-don't-want-that burger with apple slices. But it turns out most of you were choosing "poorly."
And so your choice had to be taken away. [HotAir, 7/26/11]
The Blaze: "Michelle Obama Might Have Taken The 'Happy' Out Of McDonald's Happy Meals." A July 26 post to Glenn Beck's website The Blaze said:
A child could once feel excitement over hearing a parent utter those beautiful words: "honey, we're going to McDonald's for a Happy Meal." But those carefree days are over and that sense of childhood wonderment and abandon is about to be seriously curbed by a new McDonald's policy that cuts an order of fries in half, throws apple slices, raisins and pineapple chunks around as if they were ketchup, and just generally makes Happy Meals "healthier," and, less happy. And even though the apples are reportedly not well-received by customers, guess what? McDonald's is forcing the fruit in its Happy Meals anyway. Whether you want it or not.
And what's more, politics, perhaps even the White House itself, could be to blame.
[...]
So after all the years of satisfied customers "lovin' it," it is political pressure, including First Lady Michelle Obama's war on childhood obesity, that reportedly forced McDonald's hands.
[...]
McDonald's: another casualty in the Nanny State's war on personal choice, or is the fast food giant bringing this on themselves? Will the new, and perhaps not improved, McDonald's menu affect your decision to patronize the long-time burger institution? [The Blaze, 7/26/11]
Weasel Zippers: "McDonald's Caves In To Michelle Obama," "Because Parents Are Too Stupid To Make Their Own Decisions." A July 26 Weasel Zippers post titled, "McDonald's Caves In To Michelle Obama's Food Police, French Fries In Happy Meals Take A Back Seat To Apple Slices" went on to add "because parents are too stupid to make their own decisions." [Weasel Zippers, 7/26/11]
Malkin Holds "Unhappy Meal" Photoshop Contest. In a July 26 post to her website, Michelle Malkin wrote:
With the approval of First Nutritionist Michelle Obama, McDonald's is getting rid of caramel apple dip, reducing the French fries portion, and adding more apples to its Happy Meals offerings.
Mrs. Obama expects more.
[...]
They won't rest until the Happy Meal has undergone the total Berkeley makeover.
Next up: Goodbye, hamburgers. Hello, tofu burgers.
Goodbye, fruit juice boxes. Hello, kale/wheatgrass boxes.
I'm running out to Sonic before right now before they get their grubby Nanny State hands on my cheesy tots and cherry limeade.
Malkin's post went on to say:
Okay, all my wonderful Photoshop friends and readers. ... Send me your best Unhappy Meal makeover images and I'll post the best! Winner of the contest gets a Sonic gift card.
The following images are responses from Malkin's readers displayed within her post:
[MichelleMalkin.com, 7/26/11]
But Studies Show The Importance Of Healthy Eating Choices For Children
USDA: "More Than One-Third Of Children" Are Overweight Or Obese. A January 31 press release by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) stated:
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Kathleen Sebelius today announced the release of the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the federal government's evidence-based nutritional guidance to promote health, reduce the risk of chronic diseases, and reduce the prevalence of overweight and obesity through improved nutrition and physical activity.
Because more than one-third of children and more than two-thirds of adults in the United States are overweight or obese, the 7th edition of Dietary Guidelines for Americans places stronger emphasis on reducing calorie consumption and increasing physical activity. [USDA, 1/31/11, emphasis in original]
Health Risks For Overweight Or Obese Children Include Heart Disease, Type 2 Diabetes, High Blood Pressure. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), there are numerous health risks both during childhood and later in life stemming from childhood obesity. From the CDC:
What are the consequences of childhood obesity?
Health risks now
- Childhood obesity can have a harmful effect on the body in a variety of ways. Obese children are more likely to have-
- High blood pressure and high cholesterol, which are risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD). In one study, 70% of obese children had at least one CVD risk factor, and 39% had two or more.2
- Increased risk of impaired glucose tolerance, insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.3
- Breathing problems, such as sleep apnea, and asthma.4,5
- Joint problems and musculoskeletal discomfort.4,6
- Fatty liver disease, gallstones, and gastro-esophageal reflux (i.e., heartburn).3,4
- Obese children and adolescents have a greater risk of social and psychological problems, such as discrimination and poor self-esteem, which can continue into adulthood.3,7,8
Health risks later
- Obese children are more likely to become obese adults.9, 10, 11 Adult obesity is associated with a number of serious health conditions including heart disease, diabetes, and some cancers.12
- If children are overweight, obesity in adulthood is likely to be more severe.13
[CDC, accessed 7/27/11]
CDC: 17 Percent "Of Children And Adolescents Aged 2-19 Years Are Obese"; "1 of 7 Low Income" Children Aged 2-4 "Is Obese." According to the CDC, "Approximately 17% (or 12.5 million) of children and adolescents aged 2-19 years are obese." Additionally, "1 of 7 low-income, preschool-aged children is obese." From the CDC:
2009 State Prevalence
Among
Low-Income Children Aged 2 to 4 Years
2007--2009 County Obesity
Prevalence Among
Low-Income Children Aged 2 to 4 Years
[CDC, accessed 7/27/11]
Overweight And Obese Children Are More Likely To Become Obese Adults. From First Lady Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" campaign's website:
Obese children may experience immediate health consequences which can lead to weight-related health problems in adulthood. Obese children and teens have been found to have risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD), including high cholesterol levels, high blood pressure, and abnormal glucose tolerance. In a sample of 5-to 17-year-olds, almost 60% of overweight children had at least one CVD risk factor and 25% of overweight children had two or more CVD risk factors. In addition, studies have shown that obese children and teens are more likely to become obese as adults. [Let's Move, accessed 7/27/11]
And McDonald's Happy Meal Change Was The Result Of A Business Decision
LA Times: "Business Strategy For McDonald's Is To Make Parents Feel Less Guilty" About Buying Happy Meals. From a July 25 Los Angeles Times article:
The business strategy for McDonald's is to make parents feel less guilty about feeding fast food to their children, so they'll become more frequent customers.
"People tell us they want to feel good about visiting us regularly, about the food options that we serve, and want to visit us even more often," [President of McDonald's USA Jan] Fields said. [LA Times, 7/25/11]
These people will protest ANYTHING.
They're unhinged. They're psychotic. I wish they'd all take up smoking in protest of the Tobacco Warning labels.
...Because Natural Selection doesn't work fast enough!
---------------------------------------
IMHO
UTOPIA
The Federal Government telling private businesses what they have to sell or face the wrath of Big Brother is what concerns freedom loving people.
Consumer Reports came out with a piece on the new regulated front loading washing machines. Guess what? They don't get your clothes clean. How about the regulated dishwasher soap? It doesn't clean your dishes. How about the low usage toilets? If you want to get your bum clean (like most civilized humans) You have to flush three or four times because more than two pieces of buttwipe will clog the toilet. How about the toxic mercury lightbulbs that don't illuminate rooms, catch fire & need an EPA cleanup crew if broken? Now the Fed wants to tell restaurants how much salt can be used in their food.
There are always the know-it-alls who want to tell everyone what to do and there are always those scared little sheep who want to be told what to do.
They are called liberal-socialists.
A better response than you deserve you pathetic, ignorant, brainwashed piece of garbage. Your litany of stupid isnt worth the waste of life it takes to read. Pavlovs dogs were iconoclasts compared to your programming. You disgust all decent human beings and you will never be one yourself. The human race is shamed by your very existance
"Your litany of stupid (you forgot a word or don't know how to compose a sentence) isnt worth the waste of life it takes to read"....
....and yet you always read and respond to my posts with your anger & rage. Obviously you like wasting your life and are a hypocrite as well.
I'm sure there is a federal program where you can attend anger & rage management class.
GOD but you are pathetic. Why dont you explain to me exactly WHAT the subject was of your post?
I dont see a subject. See you are snivelling like the PUNK you are about me insulting YOU after your post which was NOTHING but an insult. GOD but you are pathetic
I told you this is how I amuse myself. I just LOVE to laugh at morons as stupid as you and I have no anger whatsoever. I understand that being as stupid, pathetic, and brainwashed as you are you cannot begin to undertand people amusing themselves by ridiculing your vast resevoir of ignorance.
I love the way you breeze in, spewing insults, heaping contempt, and fouling the site with your vitriol then snivel like the punk you are that we dont act like sheep and just TAKE your abuse. You really are very stupid but try to keep up just this once. I LIKE punking you. It is easy, it is fun and I am going to continue to do so.
You can keep repeating like the demented parrot you are that I am angry because I treat you the way you treat us. Far be it from me to stop you from humiliating yourself with your constant displays of stupidity and hypocrisy.
There MAY be an adult education course somewhere that you can TRY. However your problem isnt JUST ignorance. You are debilitatingly stupid and you always will be. Perhaps you should try anyway just so you arent settling for being the sad, twisted, brain damaged, inbred moron you are.
I'm guessing it's repressed humiliation at being suckered by that incompetent boob in the White House. His poll numbers are sinking as fast as your blood pressure is rising, his base is abandoning him and there is now talk that the Dems might push someone else to run against him. The latest polls are saying that a rusty bucket of oyster shells could beat him in the next election.
So keep punking away, it's what humiliated losers do.
I agree. Just like how the tea party tells the rest of the country how to live, what the TRUE meaning of the Constitution is (except for the parts they don't like...that's not the REAL Constitution), conservative lawmakers legislating what women can and cannot do with their uteruses (sp? uteri?), the religious right telling the rest of the country they HAVE to become Christians...but the RIGHT kind of Christian...
And yet, a topic where almost every nutritionist, pediatrician, general practioner, child welfare expert, execercise expert, physiologist, health care professional all agree on is all of a sudden big brother.
STFU.
You are called a wingnut-moran!
GOD but you are stupid. Do you know what the word choice MEANS? Did the government force McDonalds to do this or did they do it as their CHOICE? Did they do it to satisfy the demands of their customers also known as their CHOICE.
It is sad to see people as stupid and brainwashed as you thinking you are clever coming up with these weak strawman arguments and ignorant hypotheticals.
Why dont you decide for once in your pathetic life to think for yourself instead of having Rush et all do your thinking FOR you?
I saw this on Glenn Becks chalkboard once.... or was it on 24?
This "marketing business decision" is a direct result of the greater awareness brought about by... wait for it... "government interference."
You can't claim to be against government interference while simultaneously claiming that you like the info you can get as a result of it.
Only a moron would consider nutritional labeling to be "government interference" in the marketplace. It would be more correctly termed "market enhancement" as providing this information allows consumers to make more informed choices. The open display of nutritional information does not prevent companies from offering unhealthy foods, nor does it stop the average consumer from purchasing those products if that is what they want. The same goes for warning labels on cigarettes, alcohol and over-the-counter cold medications. The information is simply provided to inform the consumer who wishes to know more about the products they are purchasing, and in no way interferes with their right to purchase products which may be dangerous to their health. In fact, providing this information protects the companies against future lawsuits, because the consumer can't say that they didn't know or were never informed of the dangers when the information is freely available right there on the packaging or the menu or posted on the wall.
JoeSixpack somehow thinks that he has tricked the silly libruls into seeing the error of their ways with his conservative logic about free markets and the "government interference" he imagines all libruls love so much, proving conclusively that he is indeed a moron.
You don't even have the slightest understanding of what I was saying. In fact, you got it exactly backwards, which was quite a trick. Why would I want to "trick the silly libruls" when, for the most part, I'm one of them? I'm speaking out against the myth of the magical free market, which jamesB cited at the beginning of this exchange. This is a liberal position, moron. It's the exact opposite of the "conservative logic" on the issue. JamesB is the one who brought the conservative logic, without even the slightest understanding of its implications. He said specifically that this was "proof that the free market takes care of these things without government interference." To look at this McDonald's thing as an example of the free market at work is naive at best. Can you really not see how government mandated labelling has lead to restaurants offering healthier options? That was the whole point of requiring the labelling in the first place - to promote healthier eating habits through education.
Companies would not need to "protect against lawsuits" if there weren't laws regarding product safety, liability, etc. Those laws are themselves examples of government intereference in the market - they restrict what the market can and cannot do.
It's exactly that naive, simplistic nonsense that I have a problem with. I'm right on topic, you just choose not to see it because you can't admit you're wrong. Businesses should be able to sell whatever they want? Great idea. I can see that you've really though this through. I mean, who doesn't love asbestos, rat feces and cockroaches in their food?
If you are against government telling companies what they should or shouldn't sell, you're against food safety. That's what food safety is - legal (i.e. government) restricitons on what businesses can or cannot sell. It intereferes with their ability to sell whatever they want. Without the force of law that it carries, businesses could and would sell anything at all if they thought it would yield a profit. Your initial point was, and still is, devoid of logic and just plain wrong.
I realize that you're desperate to view this with blinders on. It's the only way that the idiotic statement that "it was their choice. and more proof that the free market takes care of these things without government interference" could possibly make any sense.
Before even a single component of that happy meal hits the box, it has been subject to numerous regulations and restrictions. You refuse to acknowledge this undeniable fact, instead "flailing" to deny its obvious relevance because you know that it exposes the vapid shallowness of your original statement. You even went on to lambast the "empty nonsense from these same right wing morons," while echoing the right-wing's nonsensical beliefs about the almighty free market. You are one confused little dude.
Why does the right-wing media hate capitalism?
O_o
I'm sorry, did Steve "YAY for war, close the closet door" Douchy just make out like healthy is the warring polar opposite of happy?
Good grief. Who buys this sh**?
I'm just a little worried about making things like McDonalds out to be healthy. Kind of the whole diet-coke mentality, it just makes people feel better about pigging out.
When I think about McDonalds I can feel my body getting ready to vomit, and that's how it should be.