McDonalds has fallen prey to royal wrath. On a recent trip to the Middle East while watching a class of school children learn about food choices, the Prince of Wales was heard to ask a nutritionist: “Have you got anywhere with McDonald’s? Have you tried getting it banned? That’s the key.”
The comments, made during a visit to the Imperial College London Diabetes Centre in Abu Dhabi, have sparked a furious response from the fast food giant who accused the future king of being “clearly unaware of some of the moves we have made over time to improve choice and variety on our menu.”
Leaving the issue of menu modifications aside, Prince Charles’ burger-bashing comments are nothing new. McDonalds has always scored high on the hit lists of healthy eating advocates, (for some reason ranking far higher than Burger King and KFC, despite their nestling comfortably alongside it on the calorie gallery). Where the issue of portly pubescents arises, no matter where in the world, you can be sure that the ‘Mc’ word will be wheeled out, alongside recommendations to shut the restaurants down.
But secretly, the stomachs of policy makers must be churning with fear that the UAE may take his advice. For if tomorrow, all 42 of the country’s golden arches were dismantled and Ronald McDonald exited into the Middle Eastern sunset, a more pressing problem would replace him. Namely that our favourite scapegoat for child obesity would disappear, leaving us blinking into a yawning crater of complacency on the part of parents and public health leaders. At present, when defeated by rocketing rates of diabetes and obesity, guardians and government alike shrug and point to the influence of slick marketing campaigns and peer pressure on children’s eating choices, allowing the shadowy issues of indulgent parenting, unregulated school canteens and apathetic public health campaigns to slip into the background.
This may appear pessimistic; particularly after whispers of new health-based curriculums for regional schools, but the unpalatable truth is that while we play the blame game, an ever more weighty problem is unfolding. And if we are to take ownership of the obesity debate, we must stop targeting pantomime villains of health. So while Charles’ (presumably lean and mean) anti-junk machine continues to churn out simplistic messages, I have some fast food philosophy of my own; if you want to treat the kids, take them swimming.
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