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

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