Talking about fast food - should we do online chat with MacDonalds' new chap?

but everyone talks about it, it becomes part of our lives. Everyone knows who she is and has a view. Doesn't matter if you like her or not. Same with McDs.

See? I'm here talking about it! Raising awareness, going on ...

bad example, sorry, couldn't think of anything else!

Not sure I agree re no publicity.
Kerry Katona's publicity isn't all good.

The only bad publicity is no publicity.

True, they will have thought of every question, of course. And he will have stock answers ready, true. And there will be a 20 yo PR looking over his

So do you think we'll be persuaded by them or some people will and therefore it WILL be good PR for them?

I wonder if it is possible salt is the reason why DD wont eat McDs.
She wont even eat veggies at my parents because they salt their veg and we never do. She spits them out - odd child!

But there is such a thing as bad publicity isnt' there? Mumsnet aren't going to cover the site in golden arches (Mmmmumsnet?!) are they?

I'm curious. Of course they won't let him loose without a PR person looking over his shoulder, and I really don't think even MN could come up with a question / talking point they haven't seen before.

Any researcher worth their salt only have to trawl this site to get a broad range of objections and they'll have their answers all sorted before he's let loose aroudn thse parts.

Ooooh did I mention salt???

I'm not so sure Mike will face blanket critisim here.

At least they sell bottles of milk (organic) and bags of fruit and carrots that actually are quite appetising to small children, and not hugely expensive. I think that's a massive improvement on what there was and I wish all fast food chains did the same.

Mind you, milk and raw fruit/veg is hard to muck up - it would take a lot to convince me that a chef's influence could make their standard cooked fare actually healthy.

Oh I know that he will be annihilated but my point is that his appearing on here will get mcD's linked with mn particularly if the press pick up on it and most people won't bother to search. They want to appear on mn because they want the brands connected, they benefit from it, mn and parents won't imo.

Suppose it depends on how you led the media influence your life.
DH and I rarely read the papers (I will watch the headlines on Breakfast) and most my news updates come from MN .
DD has a short attention span so we tend to tape shows on Sky + so she doesnt see many adverts. Its only if the TV is on in the background that adverts are on - DD is too busy to take real notice.
Its partly the reason why I will go to work and say "wow, did you see that Skoda advert where they make a car out of cake!" and everybody laughs at me as I'm so behind the times!

Actually, the more I think about it the more I think it's a great idea and I really don't think McDs have thought this through.

Has the US head office REALLY sanctioned it?

He'll be picked over until he is nothing but scraps of polystyrene drifting in the scorched air

He'll be harangued if he doesn't answer them. And these chats are live.

WWW - agree totally. And it will show up nice and prominently in Google forever, thanks to the mighty Tech

But he probably won't answer the difficult questions, and if he does he will have the stock answers given by the PR machine.

Now, a live audience with him would be a different thing...

I think he has got us confused with another site if he thinks he's coming on for a cuddly chat about Happy Meals.

No such thing as bad publicity apparently

Take your point Carmenere but I think he'll just get an absolute drubbing. And a lot of uncomfortable questions and quite right too. It won't normalise McDs imo, it'll be a bitchfightdebate about what they do and how they do it.

But... (Cant you see I'm trying to avoid studying for my tax exam)

IIRC, the vast majority of the well known posters would relish a chance to have their say with somebody from MacDonalds, I can name a fair few anti MacDonalds posters, but I cannot name a few MacDonald supports.

I cannot see how it could be turned into positive spin from MacDonalds - (aren't all posts copyrite to MN?) even if it was picked up by the papers, it would be the usual stuff - people would read the comments and stumble on the site for the full picture. For eg, there were the comments about the MM "film" at Odeon in the papers, which people read, and then searched for the site / thread for more info to get the big picture.

Carmenere said it so much better than me

what carmenere says

I just don't want them to appear in every aspect of my life! They are in my childs reading scheme book, on here, everytime I go shopping - why? why are they the norm and why do we accept it? Its all promotion and its acceptable to the majority.

I reserve the right to not be pestered everytime one of my children see the farking golden arches because they want a crappy bit of plastic tat. Of which I have a house full already.

I am against it as, although I allow my child the occasional happy bribe meal, I am against the 'normalisation' of fast food chains.
If this chat happens it will be seen as subtle approval of McDonalds by a parenting community and perpetrate the myth that it is ok to feed your dc's salty, sugary, fatty crap on a regular basis.
I am concious of what my dd eats and have the luxury of having the time to balance her diet so I know that the occasional happy meal will not do any harm. But I am concerned for the children who end up eating these nutritionally empty foods as a matter of course. Hosting this man will make mn complicit is the national subconscious acceptance of fast foods as a normal part of our children's diet.

I mean it is not as if he wants to come on here to be convinced that he is in the wrong job, is it?