McDonald's UK CEO Blames Video Games for Childhood Obesity

BoingBoing is reporting that Steve Eaterbrook, McDonald's UK CEO, says that video games are leading the charge in obesity. He does have the decency to at least admit fatty foods are a part of the problem, but points the finger at interactive games for keeping kids indoors and not out burning off energy. "According to The Times, McDonalds UK is 'on the brink of its best year for two decades'. The firm has enjoyed six per cent like-for-like sales growth in the last year. More than 88 million visits were made to McDonald's restaurants last month, up 10 million on the previous year." Don't forget, we have known for ages that video games make us fat and mean.

Comments

The Layer Cake of Disappointment

[eldavojohn]

We have a problem with obesity--increasingly with children.

Disappointment Level One: Someone, somewhere decided that it is one single factor contributing to this, not a combination. Blame is absolute and illogically must be placed on one thing.

Disappointment Level Two: The media reinforces Lvl 1 idea and is on a witch hunt.

Disappointment Level Three: Each alleged witch further exacerbates by shifting blame to another witch, none of them ever admitting to being part of the problem. Once a new target is acquired, they escape the public eye.

Disappointment Level Four: Lvls 1-3 act as a free pass to parents. There are so many witches to point at, surely nothing they have done resulted in this. Again, no responsibility is taken.

And all the while, we're setting ourselves up for a diabetes explosion. Although many have claimed it's been on the horizon for a long time, the numbers are starting to creep. Enjoy eating through all four layers of that cake!

Re:The Layer Cake of Disappointment

[TeknoDragon]

It's almost like Easterbrook said in the original article:

"I don't know who is to blame," Mr Easterbrook says. "The issue of obesity is complex and is absolutely one our society is facing, there's no denial about that, but if you break it down I think there's an education piece: how can we better communicate to individuals the importance of a balanced diet and taking care of themselves? Then there's a lifestyle element: there's fewer green spaces and kids are sat home playing computer games on the TV when in the past they'd have been burning off energy outside.

"The Government has a part to play, individuals have a responsibility and so does the food and drink industry. These are the three pillars that need to work together and demonstrate that they have a commitment to solving the issue. We're front and centre of the diet piece of the debate and, as a large business with a big influence, it is a responsibility that we accept as a leader in our sector."

Government responsibility, individual responsibility, industry responsibility have to be in sync to solve the issue.

Re:The Layer Cake of Disappointment

[JeepFanatic]

In the case of children, you also have to include PARENTAL responsibility.

Re:The Layer Cake of Disappointment

[poticlin]

Fully Agree with you there! Actually, I would say it is mostly Parental responsibility as children are brought to Fatty Restaurant where the food is bought by mom and dad. Video Games are bought and "supervised" by the parents. Balance Diet : Have you ever seen kids cook?
What is Fatty restaurant's responsibility involved here? or Video game industry? It's all about education...

Re:The Layer Cake of Disappointment

[dada21]

You're right about sugar being a big cause of obesity (not fat), but McDonald's isn't really to blame. When I met my (now) wife, I had never been a big carb eater. I was always a meat & cheese kinda guy. She introduced me to pasta, sugary snacks, potato chips, and other stuff. I went from my "anorexic" 140lbs to 190lbs in less than a year. When I realized I was fat, I thought it was because I was eating too many fatty foods, so I cut my fats out entirely. I gained even more weight. Thanks to Dr. Atkins and about 12 months of diet research, I then proceeded to reduce my sugars, increase fiber and healthy fats, and I lost my weight back to 140-150lbs. Some of my meals were at McDonalds, too. At one point, I ate McD's almost every day, and continued to lose weight while getting my blood pressure and bad cholesterol levels lower.

Americans are sickeningly fat, but it isn't video games or McDonalds -- its their love of sugar and sugar-like products (HFCS). I can't believe how many unbelievably fat people I know, and I know I'll have to pay for their early retirement because they won't stop shoving candy into their mouths. Cola soda is candy. "Healthy" Granola is candy. Most of the products on Weight Watchers are candy. Don't these fat people see that they're not only killing themselves, but they're putting the cost on me and others who decide to live healthy?

Here's a reason why I detest single-payer healthcare: because people will have LESS reason to live a healthy lifestyle. I haven't been to the doctor in years except for my annual checkup. I haven't been sick in years, either. And yet I know my health costs go up because of the people who refuse to look into what ails them in terms of weight problems.

Re:The Layer Cake of Disappointment

[Simon Brooke]

When I was six, I used to walk a mile to school - and a mile back - every day. In the summer all through my chidhood, I'd make myself a sandwich before anyone else was up, and be out in the woods until evening - or else, later on, drop down river in my boat on the outgoing tide and come back in on the next. When I was twelve, I used to cycle twenty miles up into the hills with a friend - and, at the end of the day, twenty miles back. Kids these days aren't allowed to do that sort of thing. They're driven everywhere. They get no time to be out by themselves. The sea - the roads - the woods - are all suddenly 'too dangerous' for kids.

It isn't video games - at least, not mostly. It's over-protection. Of course, the over-protected, housebound kids then have to be entertained, so they get given video games. Diet doesn't help, this much is true. But the real problem is over-protection.

Re:The Layer Cake of Disappointment

[cluckshot]

I own chickens. It might seem unrelated but in owning chickens I wanted to learn how best to feed them. (I learned much about their nutrition and the epidemic of obesity in the industrialized world by this.) So I went to the local feed suppliers and tried to determine the best diet for feeding the birds. The answer to the question of how best to feed the birds was always another question that made no sense. "How much Antibiotics do you want?" was the answer! After getting this illogical response about 6 times, and eliminating disease as a reason for this, I finally got it out of the feed suppliers what is going on. Chickens gain 1.3 times as much weight per pound of food consumed when fed antibiotics as when they are not fed them. Typically Chickens convert about 3kg of feed into 1kg of chicken meat but when fed antibiotics it only takes 2.3kg of feed to produce 1kg of chicken meat.

Shortly there after I learned that this was a fairly typical gain associated with feeding animals. I learned that chickens being such high efficiency converters of food into meat and eggs also didn't alter the feed that much in its content. The Future Farmers of America (FFA) typically has an experiment that shows this very well. It involves feeding a laying hen purple dyed food. The egg yolks from that hen become purple!

I learned a lot more about the breeding of birds in the years that passed and about their raising. A typical farm raised bird is sold with about a 4% margin to the farm. This leaves the farm about 25% "under water" financially if the do not feed antibiotics. This is also typical in most meat production. Unless the meat is specifically raised without antibiotics it has them in it. These antibiotics pass through to the one eating the meat and they affect that person exactly as the feed animal. How this works is pretty simple and leads right into our epidemic of fat people. Antibiotics screw of the Glucose metabolism causing Hyperglycemia. Bluntly they cause a temporary diabetic episode. This triggers insulin release and begins damage towards type II diabetes. This causes almost instant weight gain in the individual. But this is hardly all of it regards our feed animals.

McDonald's Corporation, KFC and several other major US food delivery companies have done tremendous research now covering something close to 70 years to optimize user demand and to breed foods that stimulate demand. Chickens for example are highly genetically altered through breeding and other processes so that they produce meat of this profile. Similarly most meat animals have been modified this way. In addition our vegetable crops have been altered this way as well. This modification has come to dominate the production of most food crops in the USA. Potatoes and many other crops have become altered to achieve the goals of McDonald's et al. The essential demand increase is to produce a food that demands more food by screwing up blood sugar. As a result a person gets a very high blood sugar followed by a very low one. This is very nearly a profile for diabetes and weight gain. If you are a farmer, it is very nearly impossible to get farm loans and such to raise crops outside this genetic and marketing chain. As a result it is beyond doubt that McDonald's and other similar institutions have caused our epidemic of obesity. Their success in genetic and farming control is about 20 years old now and it corresponds directly to the time when this obesity started developing dramatically. It is so deep and so profound in the food chain in North America, that it is quite possible to point out that even a vegan who never ate at McDonald's could be proved to have problems directly traced to McDonalds et al.

The point here isn't to divorce any personal responsibility from the system. Rather to point out that it is a far lessor factor than we might like to think. Frankly it has fallen to a trivial level of consideration. The real issue here is when will be realize that our foods have been screwed up to the point wher

By that logic....

[Rooked_One]

does fast food cause violence?

Re:By that logic....

[AbsoluteXyro]

Violent diarrhea maybe...

Re:By that logic....

[Anonymous Coward]

Violent diarrhea maybe... But in my experience, it doesn't stop at violent diarrhea, there are several more types caused by fast food:

• Explosive
• Projectile
• Neverending
• Reverse
• Liquid
• Instant
• Presidential
• Quad Core

Re:By that logic....

[elrous0]

It does when it's 1 minute past breakfast and I'm trying to get an egg McMuffin.

Helmet Society

[Aeonite]

As I said on this site:

There's a lot to be said for this, but I think the finger should be pointed past the video games and towards an overprotective and overly litigious society.

When I was growing up we had our Nintendos and Segas and Ataris and Intellivisions and Apple IIe computers, but we only played around with those for a few hours, and then we'd go outside and play baseball or football or street hockey, or merely ride our bikes around the neighborhood for a few more hours.

But nowadays it seems like everyone is scared to get up out of their chair. Are you going to ride a bike? Better wear a helmet, get some reflectors, ride with a friend, attach a siren, etc. Going to play street hockey? Better wear a helmet and a bunch of pads and secure the services of a lawyer so you can sue the first person who body checks you into a parked car. Going for a walk? Better rethink that - you might get abducted by a stranger. Gym class? Recess? Are you mad? You might fall and skin a knee.

We didn't take precautions when we played when I was growing up. And you know what? We survived. We did amazing crazy things. We played tackle football in the street. We threw rocks at each other. And no matter what we did we didn't wear helmets. And the worst that came from all of it is one of my friends got a broken arm once.

I think we need more Nietzsche and less nurture. "That which does not kill me makes me stronger." Because that which does not make me stronger is killing me.

Re:Helmet Society

[moderatorrater]

According to this study, activity levels for children stay the same no matter what they're forced to do, ie if they're not active at home they'll be active at school and vice versa. A child will be active no matter what they do for play. My little brother and his friends start to get overly energetic when they play video games for too long, and then they quit and run around for a while. It should also be mentioned that this same brother plays video games more than anyone I know, and he's also skinnier than average.

Re:Helmet Society

[Rinikusu]

I've been noticing for years the trend of "wussifying" our youth. You're right, when we were kids (I'm in my mid-30s), I played in ditches, played soccer, got beat-up by the neighborhood bully, rode bikes on the trails and make "jumps", played lots of hide and go seek or kick the can, we ran home from school, ran down the street, just being kids.

You know what ruined it for me?

Air Conditioning. Cheap electricity, Central A/C, and summers just got too hot to bother going out in. Heating in the winter made going out in it too cold, nevermind our forebears survived quite handily. A couple years ago, I started an experiment. I quit using the A/C except for when I was expecting company. I opened up my windows, turned on a fan to circulate the air, and wouldn't you know it? I was hot, but after a couple weeks, I got used to it. Walking into an office building felt like I was walking into a meat freezer. My electricity bill halved, if not more. I was amazed. I went out for walks more. I lost 30 pounds that summer, because it was no longer "too hot" to go outside.

SO, I don't think it's video games, for sure. Video games are just what you do when it's too hot to go outside, and it becomes a habit. Turn off your a/c, let your athlon crank your room to 120 degrees, and you'll *want* to go do something else for awhile. :)

Hm...

[Smordnys s'regrepsA]

He must not have heard of the Wii ;)

In other news...

[volpone]

The tobacco industry claimed that great sex causes lung cancer.

In related news

[Sciros]

1) Philip Morris say video games are promoting smoking among children.

2) KKK Grand Wizard says video games are making children racist.

3) Exxon-Mobil says video games make children averse to renewable energy.

4) McDonald's CEO is a peen.

Video Game makers blame McDonalds for bad games

[neo]

In a statement made by the United Video Game Designers of the UK, stated ...

"Clearly our reliance on fast food, particularly McDonald's, has caused us to become unimaginative and lackluster in our new game designs. By buying initially from the value menu and then going to super sized items we have replicated this trained up-sell response in our own games. We haven't made an original game since Doom. We even tried watching Super Size Me 10 times, but that only made one designer go completely mad and make a copy of Burger Time. We can only hope that McDonald's changes the way they sell food items so that we can again create new and innovative games that people around the world will become lethargic blobs of goo playing. Thank you."

Except that he is right in part.

[LWATCDR]

There are lots of things causing the problem.
Blaming McDonald's is kind of silly. Don't raise your kids on a diet of McDonald's. It is supposed to be a treat and not a diet.
You feed your kids the big breakfast at IHOP the same thing will happen. Again it is supposed to be a treat and not a diet.
Letting your kids play video games for hours on end. Also not a good plan.
Letting them sit in front of the TV is also not a good plan.
Frankly I am amazed at the amount of passive entertainment we have available to all of us. With NetFlix, PVP, PVRs, Cable, Video Games, and the Internet there is always something worth while to watch or read or play.
A kid today doesn't need to find something to entertain themselves with.
Combine that with traffic today and all the fears over safety, and both parents working kids are often raised on a diet of video and fast food. It isn't bread and circuses it is Burgers and Playstations.
I have noticed that McDonald's is offering some better choices on the menu as well.
So don't dismiss video games just because you like them.

BTW if you don't think the techie life style contributes to the problem take a look around your office.

Korea and Japan

[the eric conspiracy]

Ooops. Forgot the fact that the two most videogame obsessed countries don't have obesity problems.

Doh!

Re:Korea and Japan

[the eric conspiracy]

The point is that videogame use is not correlated to obesity. Duh.

Being a larger guy...

[Manip]

Being a larger guy myself I'd put it down to a number of factors including:
- Eating too fast
- Forgeting to enjoy food (fat people enjoy their food less than thin people while eating it)
- Very concentrated sugar / fat foods (e.g. Soft Drinks, Burgers)
- Society encourages us to stay home (Safer, Entertainment, and for Computer Geeks even work-useful activities like coding)
- Very little "good" help available (Doctors throwing pills, diets selling useless books, but nobody wants to give good advice except perhaps Paul Mckenna and a couple of others)

I wouldn't pin it down to Games or any other single form of entertainment. Well except perhaps World of Warcraft but that is a different kind of crack within its self. ;-)

Re:Not only that

[Drooling Iguana]

Actually, seeing as AIDS (or rather HIV) is a sexually transmitted disease I'd say videogames are doing a great deal to fight AIDS.

Slashdot, of course, does far more.

Tell Ronald to stay the frack away from my kids

[jeko]

I'll make you a deal.

Tell Ronald to pull his creepy pedophile advertising from all the children's shows. Tell him to quit bribing my school board for access to the classroom for his "special presentations." Tell him to keep his Richard-Simmons fat ass away from whispering in my children's ears 24/7 "McDonald's is cool and magical and if your Mommy and Daddy will take you there Grimace has a special present for you."

Pull his multi-billion dollar marketing machine away from my children's playground. Stop cramming preternatural amounts of fat, sugar and salt into their food so that my children's hindbrains don't scream "My God, we found the mother lode, we'll never need to eat again!" at the first whiff. Tell Ronald to quit fucking around with the peace in my home, and I'll lay off trying to shove him in jail with all the other fat, middle-aged men who wanna wear makeup and play with little kids.

Yes, I keep my kids away from that crap, but I'm sick of Ronald spending billions of dollars worming his way into my kids' dreams telling them that Mommy and Daddy are keeping them from something special.

Parental Responsibility?! How would you react if I followed your kid around all day telling them "I'll take you to McMagicFairyLand if your Mommy and Daddy will let me..."