Mumsnet and McDonalds

[tattychicken]

DH popped into a Mcdonalds yesterday to (ahem) use the facilities. Did his usual trick of taking his iPhone with him, and later let me know that when he was connecting to the Internet, the free wifi for McDonalds users popped up 'in conjunction with Mumsnet'!!! The blurb on mumsnet still says they don't allow advertising from mcdonalds, but when we googled it, it turns out this ban was lifted last May, and 'Mumsnet is proud to be associated with the family friendly restaurant'. .

WTF? You might be, MNHQ, but I'm not.

I think Lambrini should advertise on MN

Can't fault McDonald's they even do 'KFC style' chicken balls as I saw today.

If you don't like it then tell your DH to shot elsewhere

usual has to be cherry lambrini

so OP if you feel a twit for believing MN is not for profit etc how do you feel about the other companies that advertise / associate with MN?

"all about having an impact on the health of children."

Yea, you have to watch out for those flying burgers. I mean, its not even as if parents have a choice on whether their kids eat them or not, they just, like, land in childrens mouths

Pret a manger is actually owned by McDonalds, so having them as a sponsor over MDs wouldn't achieve much.

It's nothing about being upmarket and all about having an impact on the health of children

WE impact on the health of our children...not fast food.

So Hairy you're saying Mcds advertising has no impact on the consumption of it's food,that you'd be happy for them to advertise in schools and hospitals.Think of the money the gov could make,the extra facilities hospitals and schools could have!

McDonald's could advertise outside of my house and it wouldn't make a difference. It's up to you weather you go in or not

Yes Worral we do which is why having a pop up on the nations biggest parenting forum isn't a good idea.Clearly the money McD paid MN was worth every penny.

I couldn't care less if they advertised in hospitals or any where else. There not forcing you to eat it every day.

Soooo lets open the doors to Coca Cola and McDs advertising in our schools,they're gagging to and we could damn well use the money.

If Maccie D's want to paint the golden arches on my house and pay for the privilege, where to I sign up?

Do, blasted iPad!

This is MN an adult forum , not a school or hospital , as far as I'm aware children don't use MN

They can go for it. When they start saying 'eat here or we will kill your first born' then they will be unreasonable as that advertising is.not acceptable in my opinion. Til they literally force people to spend money there then they can.advertise where they want and what they want

So Usual it's ok on MN but not in schools,I thought advertising made no impact what so ever so MN,schools etc are all the same.

Thesingle do you have the same view for tobacco and formula?

I suppose if you don't like the advertising policy of MN and feel really strongly about it you could always leave and go to Netmums ?

If not I suppose you will have to put up with it

What's wrong with advertising formula? Not everyone can BF and it's nice to have a choice of formulae.

Yes Worral we do which is why having a pop up on the nations biggest parenting forum isn't a good idea.Clearly the money McD paid MN was worth every penny

That doesn't even make sense in reply to my post saying WE impact on the health of our children, not fast food

Are you really crediting parents with such little intelligence that you think they're not going to realise, fast food is bad when fed frequently and not as a part of an otherwise healthy diet....just because there's a banner on Mumsnet?

As I said WE impact on our children's health.

Mumsnet could advertise cigarettes for all I care...it doesn't mean I'm going to take up smoking.

If you want an Advert free site maybe MN is not the place for you.

Or you could do what I do and use a Adblocker

MrsH no, Im not saying that at all. Im saying that parents can say no.

As for the schools / hospital thing, I wouldnt be thrilled with it in schools, but I dont think a comparison between school - kids zone, and MN - adult zone can be drawn really.

Hospitals are also different IMO, eveyone knows McDs is essential if you are unwell. Personally Id love it if there was a McDs kiosk in them, much nicer and appetising than the grey hospital shit you get.

Infact, scrap my last post, if they did advertise in schools and DS came home demanding a McDs Id use.....whats that word Im looking for......oh thats it. No.

Whoopy netmums advertise a certain eco washing powder. I saw it on the back of the box today. Did she have a problem with them advertising that, do you think thats why she left? [boggles]

Re the "family friendly wifi," I'm not a techie, but I had thought that MN had publicly backpedalled from supporting category filters, following lots of opposition to that particular strategy from techie-informed posters on MN? So it is confusing to see it supported as part of their family friendly programme. It would be interesting to know whether this particular aspect of "family friendly" is one for which MNHQ claim validation from "the MN community" or whether it is explicitly an autonomous MNHQ decision for which they wouldn't claim a community provenance. I'm never sure whether the family friendly scheme counts as a commercial activity or one that they claim a community grounding for, and I hate that they can be ambiguous about that.