McDonald's clown called to retire

It's always easier to point out to someone else for our failure. Today, a coalition of over 500 health specialists are accusing Ronald McDonald, of all people, for the poor state of children health in the United States. They are calling for his retirement along with the abolishment of all marketing of fast food to kids.

Let me say first that some real efforts have been made to reduce obesity in both Canada and the US. We've promoted active lifestyle, restricted the availability of fast food in schools and adopted restaurants with healthier menus to the point where fast food restaurants have had to change their own menus to adapt to a new reality (McDo selling salads! really?)

With that said, the target consumer of Happy Meals is aged between 4 and 12. I can hardly fault a child for eating too much fast food at this age since it has nor the knowledge, nor the money to hold any responsibility. If parents can't moderate their children, they shouldn't ask a corporation whose goal is to attract as many clients as it can to do so in their stead.

Ronald will undoubtedly survive this campaign to retire him. As long as we don't take a look at the mirror and continue to place the blame on mascots, nothing will happen. The small progress we did make was lead by changes in our consuming habits.