Transnational food corporations
An end to burgerisation?
Alda Sigmundsdóttir (left) celebrates the end of McDonald's in Iceland.
More success (right): flying fish with cou-cou ousts fast food in Barbados
Reports from meetings
Every month we will be publishing news stories by Fabio Gomes, often on
meetings and other events in which he participates.
Fabio Gomes reports When as sometimes happens, all McDonald's stores in a country are closed, the company cites 'business reasons'. But as Bolivian film-maker Fernando Martínez shows, in a new documentary, there's more to it than that. His documentary, Por qué quebró McDonald's en Bolivia? (Fast food off the shelf) shows how a multinational giant was 'brought to its knees' in 2002 by a concerted campaign to uphold Bolivia's authentic food culture.
After five years of operation, the eight remaining McDonald's' stores located in La Paz, Cochabamba and Santa Cruz finally shut down after making a loss in every one of these years. They were not wanted in Bolivia. Fernando Martínez said in an interview for the TreeHugger: 'It's easy to say that the closure of this chain was for economics reasons, but who drives the economy?... In a small country, ordinary people, champions of our culture, beat a transnational.' Access here the documentary's trailers.
Enrique Jacoby, previously of the Pan American Health Organization, now Vice-Minister of Health in Peru, is delighted. The Bolivian experience is, he says, an example of 'how public health nutrition can benefit from non-scientific fields, such as the arts, or from other non-medical fields where food is not seen just as a combination of nutrients, and meals are not regarded merely as fuel for the human machinery. A speaker-participant in the forthcoming World Nutrition Rio 2012 congress, he is one of the masterminds of the new Peruvian initiative 'Come rico, come sano, come Peruano!' ('Eat delicious, eat healthy, eat Peruvian!'), which ' vindicates Peruvian culinary and dietary and traditions'.
Iceland, Jamaica, Barbados, Bermuda, who's next?
In 2009, economic arguments were again used by the holder of the Icelandic McDonald's franchise, to explain their failure in that country. According to Sky News 'withdrawal of the golden arches symbolises a sharp fall from economic grace for a nation'. However, the Icelandic journalist Alda Sigmundsdóttir (above, left) says that Iceland's 'food production is exceptional. In purely gastronomic terms, the abandonment of the McDonald's franchise marks a vast improvement... The majority of Icelanders couldn't be happier.'
In 2005 McDonald's suspended their business and closed their eight restaurants in Jamaica. In Barbados the one outlet lasted only six months. 'A business decision' said the corporation. The real reason is that Barbadians prefer their own easily prepared delicious traditional dishes, such as flying fish with cou-cou (a Caribbean polenta made with okra) (above, right).
In 1995, the only McDonald's outlet located in Bermuda also closed, when the US military base left the island. A former Bermuda prime minister tried to restore it but was stopped by opposition from government and civil society. The founder of Keep Bermuda Beautiful, Phyllis West-Harron helped to win the battle to prevent, in her words, 'the proliferation of litter and the poor quality of food.'
McDonald's-free zones are increasing. Tavistock in the UK is an example. The city is investing in promotion of local foods. This is essential, says Association member and Rio 2012 speaker-participant Ricardo Uauy: 'to support and reinforce local food cultures, slow food, more natural foods, less processed and ultra-processed foods, and always considering both human health and the environmental impact of food processing.' A campaign named Tavistock EatWise is pushing the city to become 'recognised as a haven for those wishing to escape from modern society's pre-occupation with uniformity, blandness and speed'. McDonald's failed to compete with the high quality local food and ended up closing its outlet in 2006. In that same year Tavistock won the title of Best Food Town in the South West.
Retire Ronald and McDonald's
According to John Taylor, Tavistock Forward and EatWise chairman, McDonald's really started to suffer a year before when healthy school meals were introduced. For Associate member and Rio 2012 speaker-participant Walter Willett, 'Children will most benefit from a McDonald's-free city or nation, since the company profits by hooking children on foods and beverages high in sugar, refined starch and calories by using seductive marketing practices that go from Ronald McDonald to toy giveaways.'
Tim Lobstein, Director of Policy of the International Association for the Study of Obesity (IASO) and Rio 2012 speaker-participant, agrees. 'McDonald's and other fast food chains use a range of marketing methods to get children's attention and sympathy, with free toys, cartoon characters, film tie-ins and attractive websites to promote their brands while by-passing parental controls. Such companies take advantage of children's desire for the taste of fats and sugars to sell products which undermine good health, encourage over-consumption, and damage family cooking and eating patterns'. He adds 'If the McDonald's-free Iceland achievement spread to other European countries and worldwide, this would greatly benefit parents and children.'
Meanwhile citizens in most countries struggle to get their children protected from Ronald McDonald and other aggressive marketing practices. Legal actions are one way forward (see Box 1). For Walter Willett, in countries that are so industry-dominated, such as the US, legal action 'will be challenging, but this may be more possible elsewhere, and that would have a global impact'. Lawsuits were harder to mount 'when the evidence was not so strong that, for example sugar-sweetened beverages cause obesity and diabetes. But now the companies should be legally liable if they continue to promote their products, especially to children.'
Box 1
McDonald's fined $US 1.7 million
McDonald's Brazil has now been fined US$ 1.7 million for the advertising and marketing of their 'Happy Meals' together with Puss in Boots toy giveaways. It all started in January 2010, when the Alana Institute, a civil society organization dedicated to protect children against exploitation, sent McDonald's a formal request asking them to quit advertising to children. They argued that McDonald's offers collectible, exclusive toys (above, right) with the McLanche Feliz (Happy Meal, above left) and push advertisements directed exclusively at children using toys that appeal to their fantasy worlds (above, right). In the following month McDonald's answered saying they would continue to advertise to children.
So Alana denounced the company to PROCON, the Brazilian consumer protection agency with juridical powers, arguing that McDonald's was abusing vulnerable children not yet able to resist aggressive advertising. Seven months later PROCON published the official decision directing Golden Arches Food Commerce Ltd (which is to say, McDonald's) to pay the fine. They have not yet done so, and may appeal against PROCON's decision.
