Abstract
Despite McDonald’s success in the fast-food market, it has faced severe negative publicity, which arises from various nonmarket issues. Some of the most controversial issues surrounding the firm include obesity lawsuits and defamations, the presence of carcinogens in its French fries, and being branded a perpetrator of international animal cruelty and environmental damage. The issues that must be given priority include the obesity issue together with the other issues of toxicity in McDonald’s foods. The company needs to use the power of social media to curb the negative publicity that it faces at the moment. This paper talks about the four I’s of McDonald’s and other relevant issues.
Characterization of the four I’s
Issues
Obesity is probably the most significant issue facing the McDonald’s Company today. The corporation has been severally blamed for the menace due to its wide range of junk foods. As the world’s largest fast-food company, it has become a target of most health-related films such as Super Size Me. This is because the public blames the company for failing to give nutritional information concerning the items on its menu (Baron, 2010).
The other controversial issue mentioned in the text is the consumer warnings vis-à-vis the acrylamide chemical detected in McDonald’s French fries. However, despite the CSPI’s confirmation that the fries contained very negligible quantities of the carcinogen, McDonald’s image had already been tarnished.
In addition, McDonald’s has been facing a series of lawsuits and defamations. An example of such a court case is the one filed by Brazilian franchises in 2003. Another issue is the fact that the company has always been considered a sign of international animal cruelty and environmental ruin (Baron, 2010).
Interests
The interests mentioned about McDonald’s nonmarket environment include the decision to promote healthy lifestyles strategies to address the issue of obesity. In addition, McDonald’s has been at the forefront in sustaining antibiotics with the help of other health institutions (Baron, 2010). It also fought against growth-promoting hormones through its suppliers. Another key interest is the decision by McDonald’s company to create various environmental policies to be part of ecological conservation.
Institutions
Several nonmarket institutions keep McDonald’s in check. The institutions mentioned by Baron (2010) include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Congress and Parliament, Competitive Enterprise Institute, the Senate, CPSI, FDA, WHO, EPA, PETA, USDA, UEP, ALF, ELF, and Greenpeace.
Information
The information by Baron (2010) in the text includes issues such as vegetarianism, mad cow disease, cheeseburger bill, and the meals and menu nutritional information relating to the obesity issue.
Time Frame for the Issues
The issue of obesity has not ended up to now since its emergence in the 20th century. Within a period of 20 years, the percentage of obese people in America had increased by 16 percent from 1980 to 2000. The public first realized in February 2004 that fast food companies such as McDonald’s were the major contributing factors to obesity. In 2004, the Cheeseburger Bill came into place to protect food industries from obesity lawsuits (Baron, 2010). 2004 was an eye-opener for various countries against fast food industries since in the same year, the issue of consumer warnings vis-à-vis the acrylamide chemical detected in McDonald’s French fries reemerged. This is after its first detection and analysis in 2002 by various researchers (Milloy, 2002). In the same year, the McDonald’s Company initiated various healthy lifestyles strategies to counter these health-related issues. Before 2004, the company had faced several other issues, including being branded as a sign of international animal cruelty and environmental ruin in April 2003. Still, in the same year, McDonald’s faced a chain of lawsuits in Brazil from several franchisees. The company also received criticism from animal welfare groups in 2000 and suffered defamation the following year (2001).
The Issues to Be Given the Highest Priority
It is apparent that the origins of the tribulations that McDonald’s faces are as a result of health issues associated with its food items. Consequently, the obesity issue together with the other issues of toxicity in McDonald’s foods should get the highest priority. The current negative publicity that the company faces is a threat to its future excellence. The public has put all the obesity blames on the company since people believe that without McDonald’s, the issue of obesity would reduce significantly. Despite the positive strategies that the company has put in place to regain public confidence, for instance promoting healthy lifestyles and working toward environmental conservation, the public is still skeptical about its products (Baron, 2010). This is because the public still blames the company for failing to give nutritional information concerning items on the menu, which fuels obesity. As a result, McDonald’s must give priority to the issue of obesity to regain public confidence.
The overall strategy for McDonald’s
McDonald’s can use the power of social media to interact with its consumers to understand their grievances. Perhaps the negative publicity that the company has received is due to a lack of proper interaction with the customers (Selcke, 2012). Through social media such as Facebook and Twitter, the company can enlighten the public on the number of calories that is present in every food item. Millions of McDonald’s customers can be reached via Facebook and Twitter. The company should use its Facebook pages to apologize for any bad decisions, set the record straight, and even seek advice from its consumers to enhance positive publicity (Selcke, 2012).
References
Baron, D. P. (2010). Business and its environment (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Milloy, S. (2002). French fry scare, part ii. Web.
Selcke, T. (2012). How to respond to bad publicity. Web.