Filed under: Marketing and advertising, McDonald’s (MCD)
Score a victory for corporate responsibility and good taste.
After drawing fire from nearly everyone when a Seminole County, Florida, mother complained that her 9 year-old daughter’s report card arrived wrapped in an advertisement for McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD), the company has decided it will discontinue that practice.
At the time of the original scandal, I wrote that I thought the ad campaign sent the wrong message: “The ad offered kids a free Happy Meal for their good work. Shouldn’t kids be taught to work for knowledge and pride, not crappy food and imported toys?”
Apparently McDonald’s ultimately agreed, saying it offered to reprint the report card envelopes without the ad at no cost to the school, “because we believe the focus should be on the importance of a good education.”
It’s a shame that young children are exposed to cynical cradle-to-grave marketing strategies on television, but parents should be able to send their kids to school without having to worry that second-grade teachers will be hocking Happy Meals.
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