Day 024 - 15 Sep 94 - Page 34
1 says that they contain 'Wholesome milk, natural
2 sweeteners, a fluid ounce of flavouring, and stabilisers
3 for consistency. And that's all.' In fact, that's not
4 really all. McDonald's own ingredient booklet shows that
5 this milkshake actually contains artificial flavor, sodium
6 benzoate and sodium hexametaphosphate, two chemical
7 preservatives. This ad doesn't tell the whole story.
8
9 3. The cholesterol ad emphasizes the relatively low (29
10 milligram) cholesterol content of the regular hamburger,
11 but doesn't even mention the saturated fat content, much
12 more relevant to those with cause for concern about heart
13 disease.
14
15 These are but a few examples. The ad campaign continues
16 in this overall vain, and has the tendency and capacity to
17 deceive millions of McDonald's customers.
18
19 Copies of all ads used in this campaign are attached to
20 this letter. In order to prevent further action by our
21 three offices, we require that McDonald's discontinue this
22 advertising campaign, and cease and desist from future
23 advertising which falsely or deceptively portrays
24 McDonald's food as nutritious.
25
26 A copy of this letter is being sent to McDonald's
27 advertising agency, the Leo Burnett Company, Inc. Notice
28 is hereby given to both McDonald's and to the Leo Burnett
29 agency that future advertising of this nature will be
30 considered to be a violation of the Texas Deceptive Trade
31 Practices Act and as well as the relevant statutes of the
32 states of California and New York.
33
34 Thank you for your immediate and responsible attention to
35 this letter. Jim Mattox, Attorney General of Texas."
36
37 This letter is linked to the previous matters that we were
38 talking about on the front page of it, saying it is a
39 "giant step backwards". Why does it say that?
40 A. We had not required, but rather urged, in 1986 the
41 companies to make their customers widely aware of the
42 availability of these brochures in addition to just
43 putting up a sign somewhere in the restaurant announcing
44 it and having the brochures, in fact, on hand in the
45 restaurants. We suggested they might find ways to promote
46 public awareness that the brochure was available.
47
48 We also felt that we had achieved considerable gain for
49 the public when we obtained the agreement of McDonald's
50 and the other companies to give the brochure out. We felt
51 that people, consumers of fastfood, were for the first
52 time able to have access to the truth about what was in
53 these various products of the various chains, including
54 McDonald's.
55
56 Therefore, when we saw that McDonald's had, essentially,
57 turned that on its head, and was using and misusing the
58 nutritional information in order to create a false
59 impression of nutritiousness of its food, we then
60 concluded that McDonald's had, indeed, taken a giant step
