Why don't fast-food restaurants make their food healthy?

[floorrunner]

Some of the response in this thread are really troublesome to me. McDonalds and others are just responding to consumer demand. When are consumers going to take responsibility for their own actions? Until that happens these places will continue to sell whatever the consumer will buy. If it is too unhealthy for you don't buy it. No one is forcing you to eat it. I am tired of hearing all the excuses for not taking responsibility for what you do. No one is forcing you to eat anything that you don't want to. Advertising does not force you to do anything, it only suggests, so do not use that as an excuse for being too lazy to do what is right for yourself.

 

[NotThatCreative]

I'm not blaming them for having a successful advertising campaign. Everybody can have one. I have a problem with them because theirs is particularly insidious. Toys + Cartoons + Cheap Food + Regularly scheduling + Indoor Playgrounds = Captivated Kids.

Nobody cared about smoking up until a few decades ago when they realized... oh shit, this stuff is fucking KILLING people. In Canada (BC at least, not sure about the rest of the country), you aren't allowed to phsyically SEE cigarettes when you go into a store. They are hidden. They aren't allowed to advertise on TV or sponsor events. The FDA just approved banning of flavored rolling papers/additives (which I am super fucking annoyed about, but thats another story). They aren't allowed to have cute cartoon characters as mascots. All because it appeals to kids. The tobacco industry still exists, and seems to be doing fine; even with deep government controls.

When the food (not just fast food, but all that processed garbage that is all equally as bad) industry becomes a liability instead of a tax stream, things will change. And thats how you have to get people to care. Not because they SHOULD care, but because it will affect their pocketbook. People are already dying of obesity related problems in record numbers, but I just don't think its epidemic levels yet.

Go check out a playground and see the physical level of the kids playing on it. Add 20 years. How much fun is THAT going to be to deal with? The American love affair with the quick, easy and bad for you diet may be its undoing and we may all end up looking like the people in Wall-E.

I do wish McD's had a conscious and did the right thing, but as long as corporations carry no responsibility (yay capitalism!), then they won't. I know, I get it. We live in a society where money is more important than people, I understand this.

But its all okay tho. Because we're under some guise that its our "choice" and cheeseburgers are delicious.

It's the parents responsibility to say no to the kids if they want to go to McDonald's. They should try it some time. My parents said no oftentimes, as did I'm sure a lot of other people's. Do some parents not say no enough? Yes, but it isn't society or the government's job to step in and be extra parents.

Here in America, you are allowed to see cigarettes. Anyone who goes inside a convenience store sees them. Disallowing big tobacco to advertise on TV and the radio was made on the basis that those are public property that are simply leased out, if you will, to companies. As I said in my most recent response to ephemeral, "But as the latter [tobacco] is physically addictive and is rarely ever used "in moderation" (as opposed to McDonald's which most people eat in moderation) then I don't see that happening. And, quite frankly, I don't even agree with making tobacco companies advertise against themselves (I can see a ban on their adverts via TV and radio as being fine, but not advertising against themselves)."

And the ban on cartoon mascots for the tobacco industry, I'd argue, is also too much. They should be allowed to have camel joe if they want. The government forces such bans on them and all that because it's politically popular. Since 1966 we've had in the US warnings on all packs of cigarettes about its health hazards, and since 1970 it's invoked the office of the surgeon general for credibility. The bans on advertising and cartoon mascots are just a popular way of pretending that people who've taken up smoking over the past 44 years aren't at fault. They are, and it's not my duty as a taxpayer to pay for their fuck-ups or make them feel better about themselves.

And we've been discussing the "obesity epidemic" in this country for years. Hasn't changed McDonald's bottom line. You want kids to not be fat, then their parents need to not take them to McDonald's or Wendy's every day, and they need to have limits on their TV watching and their computer/video game playing. They should be told to get their fat asses outside. But none of that's happening. As technology advances parents are becoming increasingly unwilling to tell their kids to get away from the screens and go outside. All of that is the parents' responsibility. And much of that would counteract the effect of regular McDonald's eating. Whereas nothing can counteract smoking except for quitting.

I'm not going to seriously take as a point in an intelligent debate the way some people in a kid's movie (that was up its own ass in a message) were.

Obesity has more causes than just fast food. It's gross oversimplification to blame obesity on McDonald's. Is it a factor? Yes. If all McDonald's were to shut down tomorrow would we suddenly have a healthy population? No.

We do have choice. Simply because people choose wrong doesn't mean they didn't. It means they chose wrong. Let them eat their way into a heart attack or cancer. That's their choice. Having freedom of choice means having the freedom to make the wrong decision. Don't know who said that, but it's as true now as it was whenever it was first said. In addition to being bombarded with messages from McDonald's, I'm also bombarded with SubWay (whose focus is on the healthy potential of eating there). I'm bombarded with messages from companies of all sorts. Simply because McDonald's takes part in this and is better than most corporations at it doesn't mean that when I eat there I didn't really have a choice.

Actually, since I rarely ever watch TV, then I don't receive nearly as many messages as most Americans. Which goes back to what I was saying before. Get the kids away from screens and out in the backyard playing running bases, or at the pool swimming, or on the driveway playing basketball. Instead of buying a 52" and a cable package, buy a basketball hoop or a baseball and some gloves.

Cheeseburgers really are delicious.

 

[LilBit]

If you're worried about an evil monopoly feeding junk food to a captive audience, you're better off going after the school lunch program. Have you seen the shit they feed kids in school? And kids on free or reduced lunch have little or no say as to what they get for lunch. School lunches are WAY more dangerous than any fast-food chain.

 

[Beachguyj]

Places like McDonald's have no excuses.

They are not a health food store that's why.

You go to McD for burgers and fries. They do sell salads but they have as many calories as the burgers and fries but at least they are vegetables.

They have taken a few small steps to make things healthier. I think once their fries were fried with some lard in it. I think they are taking trans fats out too.

They bake their pies and their ice cream is low fat or ice milk or something healthier than regular ice cream but it tastes the same.

 

[Joshua_me]

Now, honestly...

*What* could be healthier than KFC's new "double down" sandwich ??

Mmm ! That's good eatin' !

 

[seven2go]

Nobody cared about smoking up until a few decades ago when they realized... oh shit, this stuff is fucking KILLING people.

But its all okay tho. Because we're under some guise that its our "choice" and cheeseburgers are delicious.

There were campaigns espousing the dangers of smoking in the early 1900's....... http://www.tobacco.org/resources/history/Tobacco_History20-1.html

AND......cheeseburgers ARE delicious.........

SOMEONE SOMEWHERE here mentioned something about personal responsibility.......

 

[Telstra]

because the processed food is easy to keep and have a very long shelf life span.

Longer life span means no wastage .

 

[Purplebic]

McD's used to be about cheap, easy fast food. The menu has become so vast some customers get at the cash and still don't know what they want. And their policy of hiring retards means you have better odds of eating sooner at a sit-down restaurant.

 

[DigitalFudge]

Places like McDonald's have no excuses.

1) They have plenty of money and resources to provide healthy products.

2) They don't have to worry about losing customers; they're freaking McDonald's. Their customers would probably still eat there if they started serving ostrich egg stuffed with cow intenstines.

If the major fast-food places change their menus to healthier, maybe even some organic foods, it'd be a hit. People will be healthier and they'll still be reeling in dough.

If they wanted healthy they would make it themselves?

Perhaps it is their guilty pleasures?

Who knows?


But at the same time (this is coming from a health nut)
I eat out everyday, I try to make right choices. I just cannot cook at all. Restaurant food no matter what is a hell of a lot of calories. Plus when I say I eat out everyday I mean EVERYDAY.

When I was snowed in I ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and oven made onion rings. Thats all I had to eat. I wanted to kill myself.

I do wish there were at least two chains of healthy food when i am on the road.




Oh and I actually believe a healthy-fast-food place would make a lot of money

All these people at whole foods and at roots that I see everyday...... Tap on that market.

It is the same thing as hybrids and Recycle bins. 80% of these people would not do shit for planet earth if it required so much work.

Make it easy for people, and they will make the right choices. Sux, kind of defeats the purpose most of the time but it works.

 

[freefall]

Fast food restaurants require food which can be prepared and served fast. The grim fact is that healthy food takes longer time to prepare (aside from their cost); there's nothing faster than dipping chicken in the flour dough and frying them---except tossing salad and still they put enough mayonnaise to clog the coronary arteries.

Also, the customers play a great role too. Most people don't care what they eat---as long as it can make them full in a short matter of time, they take it. And (I don't know the condition in USA or Canada or other places) most people dislike veggies, which are vital components in healthy food.

 

[Ram]

refined carbohydrates + "healthy" vegetable oils = McDonalds being slightly unhealthy.

I still prefer my McDonalds over the low fat, high sugar super duper "organic" crap we are constantly eating and not blaming.

 

[MercuryJones]

McDonalds doesn't owe the world anything in terms of losing $ to make people more healthy.

You ought to ask why the govt subsidizes corn, making it so lucrative for junk food producers to sell us crap.

And of course, we make our own choices too.

 

[freefall]

^Yeah, they're quite the same, but Malaysian have gotten more influence from the cultures assimilated (like Chinese and India).

And talking about healthy food, it's pretty much the same with USA/Canada/other countries...there are cuisines which are unhealthy (hi-fat and hi-calorie) and there are some which are more healthy. But the trend also leads to fast-food and junk food consumption, so there is but not much differences.

 

[BabiGayPimp]

McDonald's doesn't need regulated...Plus, since when was it corporations' responsibility to babysit the country and make sure they eat right? They're there to deliver a profit to their shareholders and employ lots of people. Their "social responsibility" ends there. As has been said, if you don't like it, don't eat there.

There is this little thing called corporate sustainablity, which means endeavoring not to destroy the communities that you operate in, or enable your customers to commit slow suicide.

By your logic, it would be OK if McDonald's sold crack, which would also be profitable. Businesses do have a social responsibility that extends beyond making money. What is true for banks and nuclear power plants should also be true for food service companies.

It's interesting the way McDonald's type places proliferate in economically depressed neighborhoods where you cannot easily find healthy alternatives.

 

[Ephemeral]

^Where a grocery store's blocks away but McDonald's is right around the corner.

 

[MercuryJones]

I mentioned this earlier, but the pisser is that the govt subsidizes corn which makes it easy for McD's to sell cheap corn-fed beef and cheap corn-syrup laden products.

I can't begrudge McD's and its peers for wanting to make a buck. But I can begrudge the govt for making lousy food so accessible, despite the toll it takes on the people it is supposed to serve.

 

[NotThatCreative]

There is this little thing called corporate sustainablity, which means endeavoring not to destroy the communities that you operate in, or enable your customers to commit slow suicide.

By your logic, it would be OK if McDonald's sold crack, which would also be profitable. Businesses do have a social responsibility that extends beyond making money. What is true for banks and nuclear power plants should also be true for food service companies.

First off, there's a problem with the drug analogy. As I said earlier, the only way to counteract cigarettes, crack, etcetera is to stop using it. McDonald's, on the other hand, can be counteracted through exercise. Plus, most drug users do not use it in moderation, whereas most McDonald's customers do eat McDonald's in moderation. So the situations are not comparable. Nuclear power plants share a similar problem in terms of analogizing it to fast food. You cannot counteract radiation once it's in you.

That being said, I'd have no problem with McDonald's selling crack so long as they only did so for those 21+. And banks don't have social responsibilities as far as I'm concerned.

It is wise to not completely destroy the communities they do business in. Destroying customers and communities hurts their bottom line. But TV and video games are causing the same sort of slow suicide, by being forms of entertainment wherein you can sit on your ass and get fat. Those cause fatness in the population just as much as McDonald's. I don't have to play video games or watch TV, and I don't. I don't have to eat fast food, but I still sometimes do. It's my choice as a consumer.

If a community doesn't eat at McDonald's, it will have to pull out eventually. How about people use their power as consumers instead of trying to get the government to regulate so they don't have to actually put forth the effort? By all means, boycott McDonald's and Wendy's and Burger King and Taco Bell. But don't bring the government down on their heads. The government is not there to do for the people what they are too lazy and complacent to do. Don't hurt my ability to occasionally stuff my face with fatty, greasy foods because you or others can't control themselves.

It's interesting the way McDonald's type places proliferate in economically depressed neighborhoods where you cannot easily find healthy alternatives.

Because it's cheap. Better unhealthy food than an insufficient amount of food.

 

[Ephemeral]

I mentioned this earlier, but the pisser is that the govt subsidizes corn which makes it easy for McD's to sell cheap corn-fed beef and cheap corn-syrup laden products.

I can't begrudge McD's and its peers for wanting to make a buck. But I can begrudge the govt for making lousy food so accessible, despite the toll it takes on the people it is supposed to serve.

And won't it bite them in the booty when they have to pay for their health care, the same people they fatten up?

 

[seven2go]

There is this little thing called corporate sustainablity, which means endeavoring not to destroy the communities that you operate in, or enable your customers to commit slow suicide.

By your logic, it would be OK if McDonald's sold crack, which would also be profitable.

That is flawed logic. Crack is not a legal substance, they seem to have sustained themselves very well and nobody ever forced me to spend a penny at a fast food joint.......