Coalition Asks UNICEF to Cancel "McDonald's World Children's Day"

[Gary Ruskin]

Commercial Alert			July 31, 2002

An international coalition of public health professionals and activists
organized by Commercial Alert today requested that UNICEF stop "lending
its good name and endorsement to McDonald's" and cancel "McDonald's
World Children's Day."  The coalition sent the request in a letter to
UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy.

On July 19, Ms. Bellamy and McDonald's Corp. CEO Jack Greenberg
announced that they will "team up" to raise funds for children's
charities, including UNICEF, and launch "McDonald's World Children's
Day." The event is scheduled for November 20th, which is the anniversary
of the United Nations adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the
Child. Last year, Ronald McDonald House Charities gave $5 million to
UNICEF.  The letter follows.

Dear Ms. Bellamy:

On July 19, UNICEF announced its partnership with the McDonald's
Corporation to hold "McDonald's World Children's Day."  

In effect, UNICEF is lending its good name and endorsement to
McDonald's, the world's largest fast food chain.  McDonald's is a global
leader in the marketing of junk food that is creating soaring rates of
childhood obesity and type 2 diabetes, and that is disrupting
traditional ways of food preparation in families and cultures. 

It is truly a challenge to see how this partnership with McDonald's is
consistent with UNICEF's claim to promote "good nutrition" to the
world's children.  As you know, McDonald's markets precisely the
high-added-fat, high-added-sugar junk food that undermines good
nutrition for the world's children.

McDonald's is responsible for multi-million dollar ad campaigns that
prod children to nag, whine and throw tantrums so that their parents
will consent to buy them junk food.  The company's ad campaigns
deliberately foment conflict between parents and children regarding
food.

It is not the proper role of UNICEF to endorse or serve as enabler for
corporate activities of this kind.   Do you really think people
contribute to UNICEF so that you can help corporate advertisers to
manipulate innocent and impressionable children with sophisticated
psychological techniques, cause strife in the home and promote the
consumption of junk food?

UNICEF's mission is to protect children from just these things. 
Therefore, we urge you to reconsider your partnership with the
McDonald's Corporation, and cancel "McDonald's World Children's Day"
immediately.

Sincerely,

Enola Aird, Director, The Motherhood Project, Institute for American
Values
Monika Arora, Programme Director, HRIDAY-SHAN, India
The Honorable Danielle Auroi, Member, European Parliament, France
Belen Balanya, co-author, Europe, Inc.: Regional and Global
Restructuring and the Rise of Corporate Power
Peter Barnes, Co-founder, Working Assets; author, Who Owns the Sky?
Medea Benjamin, Founding Director, Global Exchange
Stephen Bezruchka MD, MPH, Senior Lecturer, Department of Health
Services, School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of
Washington
Louis Borgenicht, MD, Member, Board of Directors, Physicians for Social
Responsibility
Brita Butler-Wall, PhD, Executive Director, Citizens' Campaign for
Commercial-Free Schools
Nancy Carlsson-Paige, EdD, Professor of Child Development, Lesley
University
Vittorio Carreri, Presidente, Giunta esecutiva, SItI; Head of the
Sanitary Prevention Unit of Lombardy Region.
Joan Claybrook, President, Public Citizen 
The Honorable Ian Cohen, MLC, New South Wales Parliament, Australia
Ronnie Cummins, National Director, Organic Consumers Association
Donald R. Davis, PhD, Research Associate in Nutrition, Biochemical
Institute, University of Texas
Erica Frank, MD, MPH, Vice Chair and Associate Professor; Director,
Preventive Medicine Residency Program, Department of Family and
Preventive Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine
Gary Goldbaum, MD, MPH, Associate Professor of Epidemiology, University
of Washington
Joan Gussow, EdD, M. S. Rose Professor Emeritus, Nutrition and
Education, Teachers College, Columbia University
Andy Harris, MD, Board of Directors, Physicians For Social
Responsibility
Paul Hawken, Natural Capital Institute
Michael F. Jacobson, PhD, Executive Director, Center for Science in the
Public Interest
David L. Katz, MD, MPH, FACPM, Associate Clinical Professor, Yale School
of Medicine
Joe Kelly, Executive Director, Dads and Daughters; and Publisher,
Daughters Newsletter: For Parents of Girls
Michael Kieschnick, President, Working Assets 
Jean Kilbourne, Author, Can't Buy Me Love: How Advertising Changes the
Way We Think And Feel
Ronald M. Krauss, MD, Senior Scientist, Life Sciences Division, Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory; Adjunct Professor, Department of
Nutritional Sciences, University of California, Berkeley
Velma LaPoint, PhD, Associate Professor of Human Development, Howard
University
Pieta-Rae Laut, Executive Director, Public Health Association of
Austrailia
Diane Levin, PhD, Professor of Education, Wheelock College
Jane Levine, EdD, Founder, Kids Can Make A Difference
Lida Lhotska, PhD, Regional Coordinator for Europe, International Baby
Food Action Network
Susan Linn, EdD, Associate Director, Media Center of the Judge Baker
Children's Center; Instructor in Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
Alison Linnecar, International Coordinator, Geneva Infant Feeding
Association
Alan H. Lockwood, MD, Professor of Neurology and Nuclear Medicine,
University at Buffalo; Past-President and Chairman, Environment and
Health Committee, Physicians for Social Responsibility
Ben Manski, Co-Chair, Green Party of the United States
Mohamed Marwoun, MS, Specialist, Community Medicine, Ministry of Public
Health, Saudi Arabia
Bob McCannon, Executive Director, New Mexico Media Literacy Project
Robert McChesney, PhD, Research Professor, Institute of Communications
Research, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; author, Rich
Media, Poor Democracy
Mary Anne Mercer, DrPH, Senior Lecturer, University of Washington School
of Public Health and Community Medicine
Jim Metrock, President, Obligation, Inc.
Mark Crispin Miller, PhD, Professor of Media Ecology, New York
University
Diane M. Morrison, PhD, Research Professor & Associate Dean for
Research, University of Washington School of Social Work
Keven Mosley-Koehler, MS, MPH, Grant Project Manager, Group Health
Community Foundation
Robert K. Musil, PhD, MPH, Executive Director and CEO, Physicians for
Social Responsibility
Peggy O'Mara, Editor and Publisher, Mothering Magazine
Sheldon Rampton, Editor, PR Watch
Mike Rayner, DPhil, Director, British Heart Foundation Health Promotion
Research Group
John Rensenbrink, US Representative, Global Green Network
The Honorable Lee Rhiannon, MLC, New South Wales Parliament, Australia
Gary Ruskin, Executive Director, Commercial Alert
Ted Schettler, MD, MPH, Science Director, Science and Environmental
Health Network
Juliet Schor, Professor of Sociology, Boston College; author, The
Overspent American and The Overworked American
John Stauber, Executive Director, Center for Media & Democracy;
co-author, Trust Us, We're Experts and Toxic Sludge is Good for You
Vic Strasburger, MD, Professor of Pediatrics, Univ. of New Mexico School
of Medicine; author, Children, Adolescents, and the Media
Karen Valenzuela, MA, MPA, Washington State Public Health Association
Susan Villani, MD, Medical Director, Schools Programs, Kennedy Krieger
Institute; Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Johns Hopkins School of
Medicine
Robert Weissman, co-author, Corporate Predators; Co-director, Essential
Action
The Honorable Matti Wuori, Member, European Parliament, Finland

<----letter ends here---->

Below is the UNICEF/McDonalds news release:

http://www.unicef.org/newsline/02pr45McD.htm

UNICEF, McDONALD'S ® and Ronald McDonald House Charities ® team up to
raise funds for children 

McDonald's Announces "World Children's Day" for November 20 

NEW YORK (July 19, 2002) - UNICEF and McDonald's today announced plans
to team up to raise money on behalf of the world's children as part of a
new McDonald's fundraising initiative called "World Children's Day,"
which will benefit Ronald McDonald House Charitiesā (RMHC) worldwide and
UNICEF programs in about a dozen countries. The initiative was announced
by Jack Greenberg, McDonald's Chairman and CEO, and Carol Bellamy,
Executive Director of UNICEF. 

McDonald's World Children's Day is a major fundraising initiative that
will be inaugurated on November 20, 2002. On that day, McDonald's
restaurants in 121 countries will raise money for local children's
organizations through a variety of activities and promotions developed
by each restaurant. UNICEF will be a beneficiary of the World Children's
Day effort in select countries, including the United States, where
McDonald's will support UNICEF's renowned "Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF"
program. 

The November 20th date coincides with the anniversary of the United
Nations adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which
took place on November 20, 1989.

"The value of this program for UNICEF and Ronald McDonald House
Charities goes far beyond the millions of dollars that will be raised
for children," said Mr. Greenberg, who met today with United Nations
Secretary-General Kofi Annan to discuss the McDonald's fundraising
initiative. "It brings the world's attention to the ever increasing
needs of children, and the role we must all play in affecting positive
change to improve the lives of children everywhere."

"We are very pleased that McDonald's is expanding its support for
children around the world," Ms. Bellamy said. "The opportunity to
distribute the orange Trick-or-Treat boxes through McDonald's
restaurants in the U.S. will help us reach a whole new generation of
children whose parents supported UNICEF when they were kids," she said.
Bellamy also noted that last year RMHC awarded a $5 million grant to
UNICEF to combat Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus in 57 priority countries.
"We appreciate the continued support of McDonald's and RMHC," she said.

At the United Nations Special Session on Children in May 2002, the
Secretary-General called on the private sector to become more involved
in United Nations efforts to promote and sustain child survival and
child rights. The McDonald's World Children's Day initiative represents
a response to this call.

"Whatever our role in life, there is nothing that unites us and
motivates us more than the welfare of children," Mr. Annan said.
"Children are our future. It is only by investing in them and their
well-being that we can hope to build the healthy, prosperous and
peaceful world we all strive for...Public-private partnerships have the
power to help children in many ways."

UNICEF offices will work directly with McDonald's restaurants in
participating countries to raise funds and awareness for children's
causes. Examples:

* This October McDonald's restaurants in the United States will
distribute 20 million of the traditional orange "Trick-or-Treat for
UNICEF" collection boxes - more than doubling the reach of the program.
 
* In New Zealand, UNICEF and RMHC are teaming up on a new ad campaign in
support of World Children's Day. Young people selected through a program
in McDonald's restaurants will speak out on what they see as the most
important children's issues today. 

* McDonald's China is implementing a four-week program with UNICEF
culminating in the country's first-ever on-line concert available
exclusively to those participating in the World Children's Day
fundraising effort. With the purchase of a Big Mac on November 20,
customers will receive access to the internet concert, and a portion of
sales will be donated to UNICEF. 

*UNICEF and McDonald's restaurants in Hong Kong are initiating "Love for
Our Future with UNICEF," a program designed to symbolize caring for the
next generation. Specially designed postcards which children can
personalize with their own messages will be available for sale at
McDonald's restaurants, with proceeds going to the charities. 

McDonald's is the world's leading foodservice retailer, with more than
30,000 restaurants serving over 46 million people each day in 121
countries. Approximately 80 percent of McDonald's U.S. restaurants are
owned and operated by independent local businessmen and women. 

Ronald McDonald House Charities, a non-profit, 501(c)3, creates, finds
and supports programs that directly improve the health and well being of
children through its network of 171 local Chapters currently serving in
44 countries. To date, RMHC has awarded more than $320 million in grants
to aid critical children's causes in such areas as immunization,
education, life-changing surgeries, child abuse prevention and aid for
the mentally and physically challenged. RMHC also supports Ronald
McDonald Houses, Ronald McDonald Care Mobiles and other community
efforts for children.

UNICEF works to save children's lives and build children's futures by
immunizing children against deadly diseases; fighting HIV/AIDS and its
impact on young people; promoting quality basic education for girls and
boys everywhere; protecting all children from violence, abuse, and
exploitation; and supporting early childhood programs that bring better
health, good nutrition, and clean water to children in the crucial first
years of life. Founded in 1946, UNICEF now works in 161 countries and
territories.

<----UNICEF/McDonald's release ends here---->
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP:
Please ask UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy to 
(1) cancel "McDonald's World Children's Day" and 
(2) not to partner with McDonald's.  

Ms. Bellamy's phone is 212.326.700 and fax is 212.326.7758.  You can
send her email via her assistant, Jane Cole, at
<mailto:jcole@unicef.org>.

A copy of the letter to Ms. Bellamy is available in .pdf format at
<http://www.commercialalert.org/PDFs/uniceflet.pdf>.

Commercial Alert's mission is to keep the commercial culture within its
proper sphere, and to prevent it from exploiting children and subverting
the higher values of family, community, environmental integrity and
democracy. For more information, see Commercial Alert's website at
<http://www.commercialalert.org>.

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Gary Ruskin | gary@commercialalert.org 
Commercial Alert | http://www.commercialalert.org/
Congressional Accountability Project |
http://www.congressproject.org/
phone: 503.235.8012 | fax: 503.235.5073