Why Won’t McDonald’s Really Lead?

Every McDonald’s executive I’ve met who happens to be a parent says something like this: “I don’t let my kids eat at McDonald’s all the time. It’s a treat; we know that.” Yet these same executives, in literature and in public, say that they’re “championing children’s well-being.”

Big Mac is confused. It remains among the world’s most envied brands, yet its unique position means it must—or at least should—lead within the industry. But despite the company’s claims, its tardiness in marketing real, healthful food solidifies Big Mac’s public image as a pusher and profiteer of junk food, incapable of doing (or unwilling to do) the right thing. Envied by the competition, beloved by at least some customers, McDonald’s is reviled by those who see it as setting undesirable eating patterns in children, patterns that remain for life.

Despite the fact that the company removed images of soda from national advertising for its Happy Meals, it comprises 57 percent of the beverages sold to kids. And, despite a well-publicized announcement in which the company promised to market only water, milk, and juice in its Happy Meal advertising, there’s little sign of the sugar-peddling diminishing. It’s true that 21 percent of all Happy Meals are now sold with milk, but the vast majority of that is chocolate milk, which, according to the company’s fascinating nutrition charts (you should look), contains about 10 grams of added sugar per serving, about the same as you’d get in 20 M&Ms. This is progress?

Yet McDonald’s is as good a spinmaster as any. (They’re like Speaker Boehner: in the history books already, but still with a chance to influence the reason.) Thus the company and some surprising allies descended on New York with yet another announcement about its “healthier” food.

The news was developed in conjunction with the Alliance for a Healthier Generation (what were they thinking?), a joint venture of the Clinton Global Initiative and the American Heart Association. And although it would have been fun to see the former president preach his part-time veganism to his McDonald’s partners—Hey guys! How about a Meatless Monday?—instead we found Big Bill less critical of McDonald’s than he was of welfare. We learned mostly that the company will “increase customers’ access to fruit and vegetables and help families and children to make informed choices in keeping with balanced lifestyles.” You can imagine.

First McDonald’s promised that it would no longer “promote and market” soda in Happy Meals; only time will tell if that’s the precise truth. This means, according to a spokeswoman, that within five years, “sodas will no longer be listed on the Happy Meal menu boards in the specified 20 major markets that represent 85% of our global sales.”

It doesn’t mean you’ll be asked only whether your kid prefers milk, water, or juice; it just means there won’t be pictures of soda with Happy Meals on the menu boards. It’s not like milk will become the default. No: McDonald’s will actively discourage the drinking of soda (likely its most profitable item and among the least healthy items in the American diet) only when it’s forced to.

The company also pledges to offer fruit, a vegetable, or a salad with so-called Value Meals for those customers who would prefer one of those instead of fries. You could say this would expand choice, and you’d be right; it’s not a complete failure. But as they say, no one goes into McDonald’s looking for salad.

McDonald’s and its brethren want some love; they want people like Marion Nestle, Michele Simon, and me to stop kvetching and instead acknowledge that they’re making great strides in promoting health rather than “illth”…but only the most gullible buy that.

For example. The company boasts of having served 440 million cups of fruits and vegetables to its customers between mid-2012 and mid-2013. But let’s do some math: McDonald’s serves 28,000,000 people a day, which translates to around 10 billion customers a year. So those 440 million cups? That’s only about .04 cups more per customer, per day. Compare this to something like a billion pounds of beef.

I used to joke that many Americans counted the lettuce on a hamburger as a serving of vegetables. But it’s not a leaf of lettuce: it’s a shred. It would appear that McDonald’s idea of “bold nutrition moves” (a phrase used by McDonald’s senior vice president Greg Watson) is a shred of lettuce.

The timetable for even these modest changes—which, for all we know, will preclude any meaningful changes during the phase-in period—is laughable: it will take place in 30 to 50 percent of 20 major markets within three years and the remainder of those markets by 2020. So in seven years most McDonald’s customers a) won’t have soda forced upon them and b) will, upon request, be able to not have fries with that.

McDonald’s thinks its customers are afraid of change, and it may be right; but it’s in a bind. The company is already failing with the coveted millennials market and may even be losing steam when it comes to kids. A bold marketing move would see real food and real health as a huge opportunity in fast food, and the dozens of successful new companies that do so are starting to eat McDonald’s lunch.

But although Mr. Watson told me that at any given time there are “around 50” new products being tested in the Mickey D pipeline, the company is afraid that its customers “just aren’t ready” for something like a veggie burger. They say things like, “You told us you’re trying harder to be more nutrition-minded for yourself and for your family. We listened.” But what they do is introduce McWraps—many of which have unfavorable nutrition profiles even when compared to burgers—and make it marginally easier for the best-educated, most assertive of their customers to demand marginally better choices.

If McDonald’s wanted to be on the right side of history, it would announce something like this: “Starting tomorrow, we’re not offering soda with Happy Meals except by specific request. And starting Jan. 1, at every McDonald’s, we’ll be offering a small burger with a big salad for the price of a burger and fries to anyone who asks for it; we’re also adding a chopped salad McWrap. We challenge our competitors to follow us in making fast food as healthful as it is affordable, and we dare our critics to say we’re not changing.”

That ain’t gonna happen. But if it did, I’d be the first in line to applaud.

OCTOBER 8, 2013