More than 600 doctors and health professionals have sent a message to McDonald's in full-page newspaper ads: It's time to dump Ronald McDonald, the fast food chain's mascot for 48 years. The anti-Ronald campaign is part of a push to get McDonald's to stop marketing its high-calorie food to kids. McDonald's CEO Jim Skinner is fighting back: Ronald "is an ambassador for good," and he "isn't going anywhere." Customers irked by the ads, says Skinner, have actually flooded his office with votes of support for the clown. Is Ronald's job safe?
Ronald is the Joe Camel of fast food: McDonald's paints the attack on its "burger-pushing mascot" as an assault on freedom, says David Freeman at CBS News. But the campaign sure looks like a genuine effort to help kids. Childhood obesity has more than tripled during Ronald's tenure, and one in three kids is now fat or obese. And a 2010 study found that "branding food products with cartoon characters clearly influences young children's taste preferences, easily luring them to eat junk food."
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