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.

Now you're talking Squeaky!

USA McDonalds is much better, Rootbeer and biscuits and all manner of things that have to be tasted!!

And the unlimited drinks dispensers are much more civilised, i saw one of them in an Essex McDonalds recently!

Kind of wonder how many parents of non toddler children bypass the fries and go for the fruit bag(pretty much the only healthy choice on the McD menu). Salads swimming in fat which don't fill you up don't really count.

Giving a huge amount of space to pretty wholesome McD adverts which can easily dupe many parents into thinking a Happy Meal is a healthy food choice is completely wrong

Well thankfully it would seem MNHQ credits parents with a lot more intelligence than you do MrsHeffley.

I agree obesity is crippling the NHS but you have to blame people for that and not fast food businesses.

Again, there is nothing wrong with fast food when eaten in complete moderation, as part of a healthy balanced diet

MrsHeffley.... McDonalds does not make you obese. Too much of ANY food will make you fat, a constant bad diet will make you unhealthy... and a parent should be capable of ensuring a child gets a balanced diet.

By all means educate parents, but a happy meal once a week combined with a healthy diet the rest of the time will not cause any child to be waddling to the NHS for a gastric band.

I am a parent, i take responsibilty for what my children eat, a healthy and balanced diet.

If other parents don't do this surely the fault is their own, you can't blame MN or any other company.

Kind of find the way MN seems fit to lecture us all on Nestle( urging us all to boycott the company) a tad hypocritical. If I'm bright enough to need zero support on my food choices for my dc I don't need guidance on wether or not I buy Nestle products either thanks.

Oh DP pulls this one aswell "I just nipped into McDs to use the loo" while he has Big Mac secret sauce smeared all round his chops

YABU, I dont care who MN associates with, I dont have to rush out and book a Mark Warner holiday just because there is a banner on the top of the page.

No Squeaky it won't but for many parents this isn't the case.Some parents are duped into thinking that pretty advertising equals an ok choice all the time particularly when it's endorsed by a huge parent company like MN.

Saying I feed my kids ok so it doesn't matter is wrong.

Fast food advertising is a major problem and many people are becoming aware of this and the very fact as a nation we're loosing the obesity battle in young children.But hey my kids are alright so who cares.

If the info bettybat posted upthread is still current they still use hydrogenated fats in the buns:

"Enriched flour (bleached wheat flour, malted barley flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid, enzymes), water, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, yeast, soybean oil and/or partially hydrogenated soybean oil, contains 2% or less of the following: salt, calcium sulfate, calcium carbonate, wheat gluten, ammonium sulfate, ammonium chloride, dough conditioners (sodium stearoyl lactylate, datem, ascorbic acid, azodicarbonamide, mono- and diglycerides, ethoxylated monoglycerides, monocalcium phosphate, enzymes, guar gum, calcium peroxide, soy flour), calcium propionate and sodium propionate (preservatives), soy lecithin."

&I think its an utter disgrace they are a major olympic [sic] sponsor along with cadburys [sic] though*

But what else is left? Cigarette brands can't sponsor, alcohol brands can't sponsor. Dh said that the largest sponsors left are banks & insurance companies...and are places like this, that are ripping off people left right & centre (high interest/defaulting on payouts etc) REALLY the best ones to do it?

I think people get too caught up in deciding who should do what. Live & let live, by sponsoring the Olympic games they aren't making YOU eat the food, are they??

I suppose you think we all run out and buy everything advertised on the tv as well mrsheffley, we all have our own minds and as others have pointed out I think obesity goes a bit deeper than just maccy d's alone.

I often wonder if there is a link between the ever increasing amount of children with eating disorders and if they were raised by neurotic parents who denied them ever having occasional junk food.

I know plenty of teens who as soon as they have escaped the clutches of their frantic parents and have a bit of cash, are desperate to find out what they have been missing out on for years.. and then they stuff themselves silly.

As a child I ate pies, pastries, cakes, drank fizzy drinks, but there were limits.. we had two bottles of pop a week in the house, when they were gone, they were gone... no more. Most of the week we ate homecooked food, with veg, but we had pudding, we had chocolate, we had fish and chips now and again, and I was a perfectly healthy child, who had lots of exercise and was a size 8-10 throughout my teens...

If you can't cope with advertising switch off the television and avoid it. Most McD's around europe even sell beer it's only the UK that seems so backward about responsibility.

The NHS is suffering an obesity problem because people seem to think that free healthcare means no personal responsibility. McD's is not responsible for obesity. Curvy people lacking portion/self control is their own responsibility and parents are responsible for their children not McD's ot television companies.

I think Macca's were stupid to start providing the salads/ fruit etc. You don't go there for a salad. You go there for a burger and so long as you dont do it too often , you are not going to suffer for it. They just caved to pressure.

They should starts selling their Big Mac sauce retail though. That would be brilliant.

Does anyone remember when McDonalds used to do Pizza?

Oh I clicked on this thread, thinking it was an offer, you know show your Mumsnet badge, get a free burger etc, very disappointed now

I have absolutely no issue taking my daughters to McDonalds, we go once a month or so sometimes even more.

MN has never "lectured me on Nestle" Did I miss the meeting?

If MN being 'sponsored' by McD's means I don't have to pay for MN - Good.

But actually they aren't - From the link provided by MissPricklePants:

McDonald's joins the Mumsnet Family Friendly WiFi programme

McDonald's is pleased to become the first company to join Mumsnet's Family Friendly WiFi programme.

We have placed filters on our Free WiFi service to prevent inappropriate content from being viewed in our restaurants. These filters are updated daily to give you and your family peace of mind.

For more information, visit
www.mumsnet.com/family-friendly

i guess the and/or is key there, bint. wonder if it's still used in the US? they do still use pink slime there, i think.

re nestle, i don't think mn lectures us, do they?

i think that the 'proud to be associated with a family friendly restaurant' wording is highly dubious, in that case. if they're only proud to be associated with their specifically family friendly wifi.

No Squeaky it won't but for many parents this isn't the case.Some parents are duped into thinking that pretty advertising equals an ok choice all the time particularly when it's endorsed by a huge parent company like MN

And some people are too stupid to be left alone in their own company...but what can you do?

Do you honestly think there wouldn't be an obesity epidemic if fast food advertising was banned?

We're living in a world where many people drive themselves and their kids absolutely everywhere.

Many people won't let their kids play out...preffering instead to see them spend hours on games consoles because they know they're 'safe'.

You only have to look at some of the threads on here to see women boasting about how much chocolate they can eat in one sitting....egged on by loads of 'YANBUs'

I was a child of the 70's and dripping on toast, stodgy potatoes, home made cakes laden with sugar, mince without the fat fried off was more or less a staple diet...yet I can remember one overweight child in my entire Primary school and 3 in my Senior school.

It's not fast food that's to blame for obesity...it's a whole multitude of things together.

So it's actually the pernicious helicopter parenting of mumsnet that is censoring the web!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

Oh suddenly the professionally outraged on here will be quiet.

Ooops, that was the US one - and this is the most updated info I can find: the bun:

Enriched flour (bleached wheat flour, malted barley flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), water, high fructose corn syrup and/or sugar, soybean oil and/or canola oil, contains 2% or less of the following: salt, calcium sulfate, calcium carbonate, wheat gluten, ammonium sulfate, ammonium chloride, dough conditioners (may contain one or more of the following: sodium stearoyl lactylate, datem, ascorbic acid, azodicarbonamide, mono- and diglycerides, ethoxylated monoglycerides, monocalcium phosphate, enzymes, guar gum, calcium peroxide), calcium propionate and/or sodium propionate (preservatives), soy lecithin, sesame seed.

No hydrogenated fats there but certainly things I would question.

Except in the Crispy Chicken fillet bun:

Prepared in vegetable oil (Canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil with TBHQ and citric acid added to preserve freshness). Dimethylpolysiloxane added as an antifoaming agent.

Granted it's USA. The UK one is here: www.mcdonalds.co.uk/content/dam/McDonaldsUK/Food/Category/Nutrients/OurFood-Booklet.pdf

No hydrogenated fats but then again, I am not trying to convince anyone else not to eat Macdonald's if you want to. It's up to you. I am only saying my choices are I choose not to eat things that contain some of the things Macdonalds do. 60% chicken is really not for me.

If you want to avoid obesity. It is not difficult. Let your children walk to school teach them to cross a road its only Stop Look Listen. Realise that your chance of having a child snatched is less than your chance of winning the lottery. Realise that roads are almost 3 times safer than the 1980's for pedestrian mile walked so let your children out and stop watching so much TV yourself!!

I never go to Macdonalds.
KfC is far better.

Well said Novack