Preview

Mcdonald's Business Ethics

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
602 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Mcdonald's Business Ethics
McDonald’s Ethics
Or
Lack of Ethics
Dymirra G. Ambeau
Test Drive College

McDonald’s was founded in San Bernardino, CA in the year 1940 by Richard and Maurice McDonald. The two brothers sold their fast food restaurant to a milk shake salesman named Ray Kroc in the year of 1961. Kroc believed in conformity, uniformity and the ethic of mass production. Following the ethic of mass production Kroc began to use frozen beef patties and genetically-modified potatoes to ensure uniform taste.
McDonald’s also pays minimum wage to their workers, who essentially do assembly line, factory-type work. If you were to reclassify the work they do to factory work that would “add about 3.5 million manufacturing jobs to the U.S. economy, at a time when such jobs are rapidly being exported overseas. From a statistical point of view, it would make the U.S. seem like an industrial powerhouse once again, instead of an ageing superpower threatened by low-cost competitors” (Schlosser, 2004). Despite the objections of McDonald 's, the term "McJob" was added to Merriam-Webster 's Collegiate Dictionary in 2003. The word “McJob” means a low-paying job that requires little skill and provides little opportunity for advancement.
McDonald 's is the world 's largest distributor of toys, which it includes with kids meals which were introduced in June 1979. It has been alleged that the use of popular toys encourages children to eat more McDonald 's food, thereby contributing to many children 's health problems, including a rise in obesity. Many parents weren’t happy and said that giving toys with children 's meals circumvents parental control and teaches children unhealthy eating habits. One mother sued McDonald’s and went on to say, “I object to the fact that McDonald 's is getting into my kids ' heads without my permission and actually changing what my kids want to eat”. McDonald’s now features fruits, salad, and healthier drinks but continues to give out toys.
This was not the first time



References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Meal http://www.neumann.edu/academics/divisions/business/journal/review_08/gibison.pdf http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Kroc#McDonald.27s http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/dec/19/mcdonalds-happy-meals-sued-california http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonald 's#Criticism

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In the essay “The Big Fat Case Against Big Macs,” Ellen Goodman doubts that the best lawyers can prove that fast food companies, like McDonald’s and Burger King, are the causes that make many people become overweight and have health problems, but they can prove that fast food companies fooled their consumers, especially young kids. For example, McDonald’s uses toys as attractions to make kids buy its meals. She also states that fast food companies put slogans to make kids think that eating their “Big Kids Meal” will make them…

    • 748 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    McDonald's is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 68 million customers daily in 119 countries. McDonald’s is headquartered in the United States in Oak Brook, Illinois. The company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald. In 1948 they reorganized their business as a hamburger stand using production line principles. Businessman Ray Kroc joined the company as a franchise agent in 1955. He subsequently purchased the chain from the McDonald brothers and oversaw its worldwide growth.…

    • 1437 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Mcdonalds Case Study

    • 2283 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Kroc’s offered his services and the first McDonalds open 1955 in Chicago and by 1965 there were more than 700 sites across the United States. It wasn’t long before McDonalds caught on in several countries and today forty seven million people are being served every day and sales are at a hefty $17 billion.…

    • 2283 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Kroc pitched his vision of creating McDonald’s restaurants all over the U.S. to the brothers. In 1955 he founded the McDonald’s Corporation, and 5 years later bought the exclusive rights to the McDonald’s name. By 1958, McDonald’s had sold its 100 millionth hamburger.…

    • 778 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    McDonald's was started as a drive -in restaurant by two brothers, Richard and Maurice McDonald in California, US in the year 1937. The business which was generating $200,000 per annum in the 1940's,got a further boosts with the emergence of a revolutionary new concept called ''self-service''. The brothers designed their kitchen for mass production with assembly line procedure.…

    • 1081 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Are McDonald’s, Motor City and Starbucks at fault in situations such as these, in my opinion absolutely not? I remember I read a story about a case similar to this one, a couple, the McMahons was on a trip and stopped for coffee, the coffee spilled and the wife suffered burns. They sued the makers of the brewing machine saying it was brewing the coffee too hot. The trial was taken to court and although the court sympathized with the McMahons they believed that it cannot be that producing hot liquids makes a machine defective any more than a knife is defective because its blade is sharp. The McMahons stated that the coffee machine should have warnings on it but they both said in their depositions that they knew before purchasing the coffee that it is served hot and that there is a possibility that the coffee can cause burns. Finally the courts felt that judging in favor of the McMahons would have bad effects for other people who like their coffee hot. One of the cases referenced in McMahon v Bunn-O-Matic was Nadel v Burger King. In Nadel v Burger King, Paul Nadel and his mother, Evelyn was driving his children to school. Paul’s son, Christopher was sitting in the front between them. On the way, they ordered breakfast from the drive-through window of a Burger King restaurant. Paul's order included several breakfast sandwiches and drinks and two cups of coffee. Evelyn tasted the coffee and found it too hot to drink. The lid of the coffee “jiggled off” and burned her on her right leg after she lifted the flap. After bending the flap of the lid so that it was closed, Evelyn returned the cup, covered by the lid, to the container. She put the container of coffees on the floor next to Christopher's foot when Paul drove away from the restaurant, making a left turn onto a street. At that point, Christopher began screaming that his foot was burned. Christopher, Paul, and Evelyn discovered that one or both of the cups had tipped, and that…

    • 501 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Childhood obesity rates are at an all time high. The percentage of children aged 6–11 years in the United States who were obese increased from 7% in 1980 to nearly 18% in 2010. Similarly, the percentage of adolescents aged 12–19 years who were obese increased from 5% to 18% over the same period. (cdc.gov, 2013). The time frame these statistics were taken from corresponds well with the boom in the fast food industry. People may argue there is no way to prove it is directly a result of fast food. This may be true, but how can they justify advertising directly at children? It is no secret that fast food is not healthy, and at a young age many children will not know that. All they know is they want to go out to lunch and get the action figure from the newest movie or video game around. In an article titled, “Just How Happy Does the Happy Meal Make McDonald’s?” (2010) the author, Maureen Morrison tells reader’s happy meal sales account for 10% of their revenue, and to put into perspective the monstrosity that is the McDonald’s industry, that 10% would equal more than all of Panera Bread or Ihop in 2009. (Morrison, 2010, p.4). Essentially, the Happy meal or any other kid’s meal is taking advantage of a child who doesn’t know any better and selling them unhealthy food. And that is something the…

    • 2790 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Daddy, there it is… please stop,” my kids yell and scream from the back seat of the car as we pass by the signature golden arches of McDonalds. My children recognize the golden arches, the leprechaun on Lucky Charms cereal, and all the characters from Tinkerbell, to Dora to Scooby Doo on all the boxes of fruit snacks. Yet no one is screaming for a stick of cheese, an apple, or a banana at snack time. It’s amazing really, that foods loaded with extra calories, sugar, and fat have a colorful, fun friend attached to enhance their marketing and foods that are healthier like milk, cheese, bread and chicken do not. Everywhere you look from TV, billboards, to creative packaging unhealthy foods are being pushed to our young consumers in an irresistible manner. The US rate for childhood obesity and health issue is at an all-time high and yet we wonder why. The Marketing of unhealthy food to children, has led to the overwhelming health issues in the lives of our present generations. The creative presentation of sugar loaded, calorie laden and salt ridden snacks makes it nearly impossible for parents to offer healthier snacks to their children or to fight obesity with healthier living, therefore leading to the health issues.…

    • 724 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Supersize Me Paper

    • 751 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Children are bombarded with images of fast food by media advertising. Most Americans understand the marketing strategy of McDonalds: to appeal to the young. That is why they have a clown for a mascot, Happy Meals which include children’s toys, and just about every location has a “play zone” for kids. The food is fast, comparatively cheap, and hot, which makes it a convenient dinner-choice for parents, especially after a long day. So who is to blame: kids, parents, or the business?…

    • 751 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When I was a child, I used to beg my parents to stop at McDonald’s anytime we went anywhere. Sometimes they would even bribe me to go somewhere with the promise: “If you do a good job at the dentist, we’ll get McDonald’s afterward.” I remember quite vividly the toys that I collected over the years—Muppets and Sesame Street figures, Matchbox cars, and a few transformable happy meal items. Each week, these toys were advertised during each commercial break on Saturday morning cartoons, and my sister and I would promptly point out the latest offerings to our parents in an effort to sway their meal plans for the week. In addition to the toys, they also had a talking apple tree in the restaurant, a train on which visitors could dine, and a full…

    • 984 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In "The Big Fat Case Against Big Macs," published in The Washington Post on December of 2002, Ellen Goodman argues that the best lawyers cannot prove that the fast food industry caused the obesity epidemic in its customers, but they may prove that they fooled its customers, especially the young customers. Goodman argues that corporations like McDonalds target young kids by putting toys with their meals to attract them. She also states that they put slogans to make kids think that eating their "Big Kids Meal" will make them grow up faster. The author questions the health consciousness of McDonald 's corporation because why would McDonald 's in France take out an ad telling the parents that kids should eat no more than one hamburger a week when they claim that their food is healthy. Goodman also states that childhood obesity is the result of corporations marketing their products to kids, just like the tobacco industry did. She concludes that this fight with the fast food industry on obesity is just the beginning on the fight with unhealthy foods. The author compares the problem with marketing unhealthy foods to kids to how the tobacco industry use to target kids with their marketing ploy. Although many people feel that childhood obesity starts with the kids overeating, I agree with Goodman that childhood obesity is caused by corporations targeting kids with their marketing because they use toys, slogans and cartoon characters to attract kids to buy their products.…

    • 1512 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mcdonald's Ethical Issues

    • 1125 Words
    • 5 Pages

    First of all, we will touch the field of food health. In this situation, McDonald’s as the world’s leading fast food company has inevitably been first in the firing line. The problem in obesity and health eating has confronted the company. The company has criticized for providing unbalance menu and insufficient nutrition information about their food. Consequently, it actively encourages consumers, especially teenagers and children to make unhealthy choices. This can be seen by its promotion of ‘Supersize’ portions in their menus. The multinational company has also been claimed for its standard fare of its high calorie burgers and fries as the major factor of spiraling obesity rate among the consumers. In 2002, the fast-food chain was accused of misleading young consumers about the health of its products. This lawsuit was brought on behalf of two New York children with great publicity that brought harms to the company.…

    • 1125 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    McDonald's was founded on April 15, 1955 in Des Plaines, Illinois. McDonald's, the national corporation was founded by Ray Kroc. Before then Dick and Mac McDonald opened McDonald's Bar-B-Q in 1940 and then switched to burgers in 1948 in San Bernardino, California. Mickey D's founder started out as a milk shake mixer salesman when he first met the McDonald brothers and their small hamburger shop. Their large purchases of his mixers gained his interest, so he investigated their establishment further. Using his knowledge of what people enjoy when eating out, he offered to be their agent and to help them expand. By 1961, Kroc bought out the founding brothers. It only took McDonald's four years to have 100 operating stores.…

    • 621 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Children easily get addicted to food that has a high concentration of sugar and salt. As a result, a child wants more and more fast food and does not understand that junk food is unhealthy. Parents are responsible to look after children, and should prevent them from eating the fast food. However, it is very hard to keep a child away from eating junk food because the fast food restaurants are everywhere. Fast food is cheap and fast, so children have enough pocket money to afford it. McDonald’s is supersizing meals for just a little more in price. Bigger size-more fat! More fat-more weight! Also, fast food commercials on TV make food attractive for children. For example, at McDonald’s, meals are served with toys for children. As a result, children go to the fast food restaurants for toys and hamburgers. On Lawyers for overweight kids file class-action suit against McDonald’s, lawyer Samuel Hirsch argued “that the high fat, sugar and cholesterol content of McDonalds food is a ‘very insipid, toxic kind of thing’ when ingested regularly by young kids” (Obesity, Fitness & Wellness Week). A child who eats high fat foods has slow calories burn that cause health problems. Excessive lipids in the blood stream can elevate the cholesterol level. Sodium increases high blood pressure and slows regulation of the amount of water in the body. Excessive sugar can cause diabetes, heart dysfunction, and insomnia. Indeed, obesity evokes health problems because of great fat intake to the body that fast food restaurants provide to people. Excessive junk food nourishment especially hurt children because they are not aware of danger such food can cause. People are guilty for children obesity because they allow fast food restaurants progress in business by frequent…

    • 1707 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ethical Issue in Mcdonald

    • 1985 Words
    • 8 Pages

    McDonald’s currently faces a crisis, as parents, who objected to the free toys offered with the McDonald’s Happy Meal, sued the company. San Francisco passed a law banning free toys with food. In this paper, I will address how a corporation responds to a law, which challenges the organization’s current policies. I will also assess McDonald’s ethical dilemma of the balancing corporate concerns and community concerns, and I will argue they can still provide toys with their food if they can make their food healthier and the toys encourage children to eat healthy food.…

    • 1985 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays