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Nikki M. Mascali
Throughout the course of a day, there are about a million things that piss me off.
Today, for example, it was the slow-driving granny in front of me on the way to work. And before that, as I ate breakfast, it was the rodent-like dog yipping nonstop in the yard behind my house. It’s always outside, which I think it hates because it never shuts up when it’s outside. I’m a huge dog lover — of big, bounding dogs like Labs — but that still doesn’t mean I don’t want to punt this little vermin clear across the street, as well as its owner who turns a deaf ear all the time. I especially love when the owner turns a deaf ear at 7 a.m., which is just plain rude to all of us in the neighborhood.
But the biggest thing that irked me today was an article I read in today’s Times Leader. The headline said “Ronald will remain; McDonald’s is not retiring its famous mascot.”
Basically, a corporate watchdog group, Corporate Accountability International, has called for the retirement of Ronald McDonald. The calling is thanks to the recent White House report that recommends food companies stop marketing junk food to children. CAI is also responsible for the retirement of Joe Camel, Camel cigarettes' former mascot.
Ronald has been around since 1963 and is a cultural icon. I personally don’t care for the face-painted fellow, but that’s just because I have an aversion to clowns. If I find myself eating a sixer of chicken nuggets, it is certainly not because Ronald made me do it. In fact, I try to avoid all pictures of him thanks to my coulrophobia.
CAI’s Senior Organizer Deborah Lapidus said during a meeting this week that Ronald is unethical because he “builds brand loyalty and eating habits that can last a lifetime” to children. She went on to say that McDonald’s made Ronald an ambassador of its corporation and sent him to schools, libraries and other locations where parents are usually not around.
So does that mean that parents are not the ones taking their children to McDonald’s in the first place? Did the legal-driving age drop, and the kids, high on happiness from seeing Ronald McDonald, are now driving themselves to the restaurants to stuff themselves with Happy Meals galore?
Cut me a break. Kids are obese in this day and age not because of clever marketing ploys, but because someone who is responsible for them buys them the very food that makes them obese.
When do Americans take responsibility for themselves?
When I was a smoker, I didn’t smoke Marlboros because the hot Marlboro man told me to or enticed me that I, too, could go out on the range and drive cattle and look hot in chaps. I smoked because I wanted to. I bought the cigarettes. I lit them, just as I drive myself through the drive-through of a fast-food restaurant on occasion.
Who’s responsible for me not being super skinny? Me, because I love food. Who’s responsible for overweight kids? Their parents or guardians. Maybe it’s time to turn the spotlight on them, dontcha think?
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About the Author
Nikki M. Mascali began her career at the Weekender as an intern in 2005 - and holds the honor of being the oldest intern the paper ever had. She received her degree in journalism from Luzerne County Community College in 2007 and joined the Weekender staff full-time in 2006 as staff writer/designer before becoming associate editor in 2010. In March 2011, she was named editor.
Nikki has interviewed everyone from Gene Simmons to Richard Simmons, and her articles have run the gamut from local and national theater to music and in-depth reports on the radio industry and negativity in NEPA.
Nikki enjoys writing, quoting movies, traveling and being a diehard foodie - which is why she pens our weekly food and drink column, "Dish."
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