Tugas Perilaku Konsumen

Sesi 7 – Chapter 2

1. What do you think — should McDonald’s be required, or at least pressured,

to “police” itself for contributing to childhood obesity?
I supported this legislation even though it has been ridiculed nationwide as another
example of politicians becoming the “fun police,” egged on by the “food police” in the
form of mothers and medical professionals.
This legislation doesn’t ban toys with meals — it simply asks that the toys be included
with HEALTHIER choices rather than high-fat, high-sodium, high-sugar items.
It makes me sad that efforts to pressure food companies to help children and families
make healthier choices — at great benefit to their personal health AND the associated
savings to our society in decreasing rates of chronic conditions like heart disease, obesity
and diabetes–are always ridiculed as coming from the food police.
If people still want to eat at McDonalds they can – but there’s less child grooming to
contend with.
Apparently McD’s in the UK offers quiet a different and supposedly healthier range than
in the US – more emphasis on salad and fruit. Perhaps because of the various public
health campaigns against the chain. Maybe someone who has experience of both states
recently can confirm or refute this.
I tend not to go myself – my daughter has unexpectedly grown into an implacable enemy
of the chain, and wonders how it is that the police do not have the power to bulldoze
almost every outlet, leaving a maximum of one per country. Seem a bit extreme.
Even McDonald’s does have healthy choices in the menu. People have to make the
choice to choose them.

2. Should the company cease all marketing efforts to children, or are critics
wrong to view Happy Meal toys as a threat?
 The idea of a Happy Meal is great – a meal in a fun looking box with a toy surprise. It’s
not necessarily the food the kids are so excited about. I think, as long as a meal is
presented in a fun way, kids will be excited about it, even if it is healthy. We have to lead
by example, when our kids see us making healthy choices, then they are more likely to do
the same.

Marketers have an obligation to provide safe and functional products as part of their
business activities. It is both ethically and financially smart to maximize customer
satisfaction. In some cases, external bodies such as the government or industry
associations regulate businesses to ensure that their products and advertising are safe,
clear, and accurate. Consumer behavior researchers may play a role in this process and
those who do transformative consumer research (TCR) may even work to bring about
social change. Companies also play a significant role in addressing social conditions
through their corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices and social marketing
campaigns that promote positive behaviors.

3. How much responsibility does McDonald’s bear for childhood obesity, and
how much belongs to parents who feed their children unhealthy food?
The obesity issue is simple. Many parents are too lazy to raise their children to eat
healthy food instead of easy, convenient, unhealthy food. Kids eat way more processed
food than ever before because it available like never before.

Alot of parents come into mcds because they dont want to be bothered with cooking. they
dont care about what their kids are eating. or drinking. some come in more than once a
day. fyi chicken nuggets are made from white chicken breast, we use veggie oil. transfat.
and instead of ordering fries you can have apple slices. its not that hard to choose from
their menu selection we do have options. and we have nutrition guides. As parents that
not have a responsibility to provide our children with choices that are healthy and teach
them about nutrition? I don’t believe the toy, nor MCDonalds itself, is the issue.

Its up to the parent to decide what their child is eating and frankly the lazy parent is going
to go on a mcdonalds run rather than cook up a healthy meal even if there isnt a toy. You
 cant blame McDonalds for all the chubby kids out there its the parents fault for not
implamenting healthy eating in the first place

4. Should a third party — such as the government — get involved, as San

Francisco did last year by banning the sale of toys with unhealthy meals
I agree that fast food is harmful. But, that doesn’t give the government the right to
regulate whether fast food places can operate. I do wonder, though, how many of the
people on this board who so vociferously call for government intervention in this case,
would be as happy to discover the government regulating whether they can cookies at
their local supermarket. 
People should be able to consume what they want and not have the government dictate
what restaurants can and can not serve.
Besides certain legal and tax regulations and such, businesses (restaurants in this case)
should be free to serve and operate what they like.
Face it, kids aren’t the ones purchasing Happy Meals; parents are. Removing the toy from
the meal isn’t really going to influence the parents who take their kids there.
This isn’t a McDonalds problem, this isn’t a fast food problem, this is a parental problem.
With that said, these restaurants aren’t to blame for obesity; parents are. McDonalds
every now and then is no big deal, but feed your kids something healthy every now and
then, and get them to play outside every now and then instead of being sedentary. Why
does the government need to punish restaurants because parents can’t practice self
control?