Day 292 - 01 Nov 96 - Page 14
1 cannot use recycled polystyrene, they cannot not have the
2 colours in it, i.e. it would be prevented that way from
3 being re-cycleable, because it is for image.
4
5 It is all part of the gimmicky dressing up of otherwise
6 mediocre food. One of the reasons why McDonald's is such a
7 successful company, while their food is completely
8 unremarkable, is because they have tapped into some kind of
9 subconscious of the population through their very careful
10 image promotion techniques. And packaging is part of that,
11 we would say.
12
13 The reason that is important - and I will come along to
14 meaning later - is there is a direct reference in the fact
15 sheet, in the "fast equals junk", under the "What's so
16 unhealthy about McDonald's food" section: "Even if they
17 like eating them, most people recognise that processed
18 burgers and synthetic chips, served up in paper and plastic
19 containers, is junk food".
20
21 And, of course, there are further references in the
22 advertising section about the gimmicky dressing up of poor
23 quality food. And the packaging is clearly, in the fact
24 sheet, identified as part of the image, not only part of
25 the image, but by linking it there with the junk food, the
26 junk image, also the fact that the packaging is part of the
27 junk because it is wasteful.
28
29 I have sort of digressed there, but that was quite an
30 important point, I feel. So I will move on.
31
32 I think one of the McFact cards, which I have not got in
33 front of me, but I am sure I will find it over the
34 weekend, is the one that says about how - I think you will
35 remember - that in the 1970s there was criticism from
36 environmentalists about the damage that paper products did
37 to the environment through the use of chemicals. The word,
38 I think, was involves the destruction of trees. And
39 therefore, in America - this is America - therefore they
40 changed to polystyrene.
41
42 Then they got criticism about the damage that polystyrene
43 was doing to the environment, so, as we know, they dropped
44 their polystyrene clamshells in the States around 1990
45 because of the damage it was doing to the environment. So
46 that one fact sheet, which is their most public document on
47 the subject, is an admission. We would say one might think
48 that would be really the end of the story and we could have
49 saved a lot of court time if that was deemed to have been
50 an admission -- that both types of packaging, (a) are
51 damaging and both McDonald's responded after the
52 criticisms, and the public criticisms and concerns, had
53 been aired, reacting.
54
55 If I can move on to CFCs next. Robert Langet, who is the
56 director of environmental affairs at McDonald's
57 Corporation. A bit of background, he admitted that very
58 little recycled paper was used in McDonald's packaging
59 before 1990. He also accepted that CFCs from their
60 Polystyrene foam food packaging were used in their
