McDonald's also introduced an educational campaign, Real Life Choices about how to track diets and put menu items into three categories: "Watching Calories," "Watching Fat," and "Watching Carbohydrates." McDonald's also provided nutritional information on its Web site" (Obesity and McLawsuits). The Menu Education and Labeling Act (MEAL) was released by the House and the Senate in November 2003. Its requirements implied the disclosure "in a statement adjacent to the name of the food on any menu listing the food for sale, or by any other means approved by the Secretary [of Health and Human Services], the number of calories, grams of saturated fat plus trans fat, and milligrams of sodium contained in a serving of the food, offered for sale, in a clear and conspicuous manner and information, specified by the Secretary by regulation, designed to enable the public to understand, in the context of a total daily diet, the significance of the nutrition information that is provided" (Obesity and McLawsuits). As a consequence, the firm will have additional costs in order to determine the exact features of the products. Moreover, whenever introducing a new product, it should develop a close analysis of the ingredients. These requirements imply spending more time and money on products.

D. Conclusion/Recommendations

McDonald's is not liable for the obesity problem. The fact is that people are free to choose about the products that they purchase. If they decide to buy from McDonald's, it's a matter of their will. The market offers a wide range of products among which many can...

However, people do not file lawsuits against their producers.
In addition to that, some people blame the marketing campaigns that the brand develops. They are considered as being an essential factor which contributes to the people's attraction towards the products. Though, the competition on the market is fierce and one of the four marketing Ps is promotion. This is a lawful act used by all companies in their domains and should not represent an unethical procedure.

The company can be blamed only if the items comprised in menus contain ingredients left unmentioned. Otherwise, if the company respects all the requirements and discloses all the ingredients, it cannot be considered guilty for the obesity problem. It is a matter of individual responsibility. As long as McDonald's offers choices for each client, it is not accountable for the fact that people prefer French fries instead of a salad.

The company should be very careful about the accuracy of its menu statements and should seek to improve the ingredients and the production methods in order to dispose of most of the negative effects. However, this implies a tradeoff between nutrition and taste which the company must make.

Bibliography

David Upton, McDonald's Corporation (Abridged)

Stanford Graduate School of Business, Obesity and McLawsuits, Case p-49, 25 Jan 2005

McDonald's website, Corporate McDonald's, http://www.mcdonalds.com/corp.html