McDonald's is launching an "Anti-Obesity Campaign" to promote exercise and a healthy lifestyle because of all of the criticism they have received. It's true. I went into a McDonald's the other day to use the bathroom-okay and I ordered mozzarella sticks- and they had these pamphlets on how to pick a healthy meal from their menu based on what kind of diet you were following-low carb, low fat, or low calorie. I thought it was brilliant. Finally, someone's figured out a way to help the people figure out a way to incorporate moderate levels of junk food into their diet. See there is a place in the sun for everyone after all.

You have to wonder how effective this campaign will be. A pamphlet on a countertop next to coupons for Great Adventure is not going to sweep the nation with a desire to order their chicken sandwiches without the mayo. This method of advertising healthy alternatives to the Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese assumes that people will be lingering around the counters over the garbage bins. How many people actually walk into the McDonald's? The drivethru is so convenient and easy that we put them everywhere now. They have them at the pharmacies and the ATM machines. If you want real changes you need to put the information where the people can see it. Or change the menu. McDonald's has decided to do just that. They are now offering adult Happy Meals called Go Meals that will include salad, bottled water and a pedometer. A pedometer that you can get at a drive thru? How will that come in handy? If I am in a car it is safe to assume that I have an aversion to walking or else I would have parked and actually entered the building instead of waiting in the drive thru line for fifteen minutes. That doesn't seems very logical. What happens if you get a Go Meal everyday? How many pedometers does one person really need? I don't think adults need to get prizes but if they do they should change the prizes frequently like they do with the kids' Happy Meals and there should be a variety of prizes. Maybe McDonald's could offer a yoga mat or resistance bands. Maybe they could give those tai chi weight balls or a CD of music that you can really move to. Or maybe more food! Salad and water is great, but if you are trying to appeal to people that came with a Double Quarter Pounder in mind, you're going to have to give us more food.

Sadly, McDonald's giveth and McDonald's taketh away. Say goodbye to super sizing your drinks and fries. McDonald's is pulling out all the stops to appeal to health conscious people after spending so many years appealing to poor people. Great timing since the economy is doing so well! Extra Value meals and Dollar menus have gotten the financially challenged like myself through a few rough spots. We always knew that fast food was bad for us but now we have to choose between our healthy appetites and tight wallets and healthy food and tight wallets. If you are going to offer alternatives like the yogurt fruit parfait and the upcoming alternative for kids of apple slices and caramel sauce instead of fries in a Happy Meal, then you are going to have to appeal to our wallets as well. There is a reason those dollar menus and super sizing was so popular. We are a nation with a whole lot of poor people. I don't want to spend my hard earned dollars on lunch for myself and be hungry a half an hour later. We are a nation of consumers and McDonald's may try to jump start a physical fitness movement but it will never work if we feel like we are being gypped. I wonder if this is a ploy to get people to order more. More salads, more yogurts, more anything to make us feel full. It takes more now that we are used to Bic Macs and the seasonal McRib sandwich. If it doesn't no one is going to order the Go Meal and McDonald's can sit back and say, "Well folks, we tried but you're just a bunch of gluttons!" Brilliant public relations move by a multinational corporation. It's the same technique that the Bush Administration is using in Iraq. When the handover to the Iraqi people fails, we can go back in and tell the world, "Sorry folks, but they just aren't capable of governing themselves!"

As consumers and citizens the ultimate responsibility of our own well being lies with us. Putting a label on a carton of cigarettes doesn't deter a smoker from smoking and it doesn't make the cigarette companies socially responsible corporations. McDonald's doesn't get any humanitarian awards for repackaging a salad and offering apple slices. We wouldn't stop arresting drug dealers or give them the ability to call themselves a nonprofit organization if they started an anti-drug campaign in elementary schools would we?

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