McDonald’s Ending Promotion on Jackets of Children’s Report Cards
Stuart Elliott
The New York Times
January 18, 2008
McDonald’s has decided to stop sponsoring Happy Meals as
rewards for children with good grades and attendance
records in elementary schools in Seminole County, Fla.
The “food prize” program, as it was called, for students
of the Seminole County Public Schools in kindergarten
through fifth grade was sponsored by the owners of the
McDonald’s restaurants in Seminole County, in central
Florida northeast of Orlando. The decision to end the
promotions for the program, appearing on children’s
report-card jackets, came from executives at McDonald’s
USA, part of the McDonald’s Corporation, the world’s
largest fast-food business.
The sponsorship, between the restaurant owners and the
Seminole County school board, drew national and
international attention amid an outcry over childhood
obesity and junk food diets because a fast-food chain
was tying its products to academic performance. It also
generated controversy because McDonald’s USA had agreed
to curb its advertising to children in schools.
The decision was made “because we believe the focus
should be on the importance of a good education,”
William Whitman, senior director for communications and
public affairs at McDonald’s USA in Oak Brook, Ill.,
said Thursday. “McDonald’s, not the school district,
will cover the cost to reprint the report-card jackets,”
he added, and “remove our trademarks.”
The reward program, called Made the Grade, will
continue, Mr. Whitman said, because the local restaurant
owners agreed in September that it would run through the
current school year.
The sponsorship became known last month when a parent
complained about it to an activist organization, the
Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood. The parent,
Susan Pagan, was upset about the promotion on her
daughter’s report-card jacket. The jacket showed Ronald
McDonald, the company’s mascot for children; its Golden
Arches logo; and Happy Meal menu items like Chicken
McNuggets.
“Check your grades,” the jacket advised. “Reward
yourself with a Happy Meal from McDonald’s.”
The local McDonald’s restaurants replaced Pizza Hut as a
sponsor of the incentive program. Pizza Hut had
sponsored a similar promotion for a decade, as part of a
national campaign to encourage children to read.
Because of the attention the complaint drew, the school
district said last month that it would review the
appropriateness of the jackets in the spring when making
plans for the 2008-9 year.
But when McDonald’s USA offered to reprint the
report-card jackets immediately, Beverly Perrault,
executive director for elementary education, said, the
district accepted the offer.
Susan Linn, director of the Campaign for a
Commercial-Free Childhood, said Thursday that she was
pleased with the end of the report-card advertising.
“In the absence of needed government regulation to
protect schoolchildren from predatory companies like
McDonald’s,” she added, “the burden is on parents to be
vigilant about exploitative marketing aimed at
children.”