Official sponsors of London 2012 - Mcdonalds & Coke

Hey ATS, been wanting to make a thread on this for a couple of weeks now.

I really want to talk about how backwards it is that these events are allowed to be sponsored by products such as mcdonalds and coke. I dont think i can list a worse pair of food and drink!
Specifically i would like to reference how mcdonalds are "giving back" to the community by giving away *free* pedometers with their happy meals. This advertising campaign is aimed at 5-12 year olds.

I dont feel like there trying to give back, i think there just trying to pull the next generation of consumers in early. In effect, they are associating fitness and exercise with fast, #ty food. An adult can distinguish this fact, we know that when eat a mcdonalds (or other fast food) its a poor nutritional choice. A child is not as aware of this fact. A child is mainly aware of two things: 1) It taste good. 2) Its COOL to eat.

To add, more and more children are being brought up on fast food and this only stands to cement its "Normality" in society. So i think its incredibly irresponsible of the Olympic committee to allow mcdonalds (and coke) to be sponsoring these events.

In the age where obesity is on the rise and personal responsibly is diminishing, how on earth are they getting away with promoting such awful products? They might as well be being sponsored by cigarettes and alcohol or Type 2 diabetes and teeth decay.
Surely this would be an excellent opportunity to educate people in general on nutrition? The importance of water in your diet? The importance of exercise and training for an ultimate goal?

I just feel like they're selling themselves out to make a quick buck and its almost like losing any respect the games had. Do you also find this ridiculous? Should we be bothered by what's going on?

For me, it just takes away any respect i had for the whole idea of the olympics. You dont gain the ability to run 100m in under seconds by eating # food and drinking coke!

reply to post by SearchLightsInc


Totally agree with all of your points in the OP.

It's an oxymoron... but unfortunately follow the money once again.... :down:

Would be better to have Barclays and Herrods,for local presence, or even Gatorade and Powerbars if they are so worried about global sponsors....

I don't see a problem with it. I don't like McDonalds at all(as all fast food) but why shouldn't they act as a sponsor? McDonalds is so well known, popular and like by so many, that i wonder why they do advertisements in the first place, as all people know them and in every city you are surrounded by them.

Same with Coca Cola, everybody knows them. So even if the Olympics wouldn't allow them as sponsors, would it change anything? No! Would people say "Oh, they don't sponsor anything, they don't advertise anything, i stop buying it"? Surely not.

Of course it's all about the money.

Besides: Neither McDonalds nor Coca Cola are responsible for obesity. I drink Coca Cola (even do it right now) and i don't have any weight problems. As always, people love to blame the companies and shift they blame away from themselves, because that's easier than saying "Yeah, i'm fat, i should do something, i should stop eating/drinking that stuff"
And no, even if some super-ultra healthy food companies would advertise those events, it wouldn't change anything. Because most of the fat people aren't interested, they aren't interested in changing anything because they enjoy it too much.

Originally posted by BurningSpearess
reply to post by SearchLightsInc

 

Totally agree with all of your points in the OP.

It's an oxymoron... but unfortunately follow the money once again.... :down:

Would be better to have Barclays and Herrods,for local presence, or even Gatorade and Powerbars if they are so worried about global sponsors....

edit on 22-5-2012 by BurningSpearess because: (no reason given)

Thats half my point to, of ALL the sponsors they could have (And they have more then just these two) they specificly pick the two unhealthiest in regards to human consumption??
Its absurd!

Originally posted by ShadowAngel85
I don't see a problem with it. I don't like McDonalds at all(as all fast food) but why shouldn't they act as a sponsor? McDonalds is so well known, popular and like by so many, that i wonder why they do advertisements in the first place, as all people know them and in every city you are surrounded by them.

Same with Coca Cola, everybody knows them. So even if the Olympics wouldn't allow them as sponsors, would it change anything? No! Would people say "Oh, they don't sponsor anything, they don't advertise anything, i stop buying it"? Surely not.

Of course it's all about the money.

Besides: Neither McDonalds nor Coca Cola are responsible for obesity. I drink Coca Cola (even do it right now) and i don't have any weight problems. As always, people love to blame the companies and shift they blame away from themselves, because that's easier than saying "Yeah, i'm fat, i should do something, i should stop eating/drinking that stuff"
And no, even if some super-ultra healthy food companies would advertise those events, it wouldn't change anything. Because most of the fat people aren't interested, they aren't interested in changing anything because they enjoy it too much.

My point is mainly that we are living in times where people need to change their lifestyles and make better food choices. Banning these companys and promoting healthy food and drink is needed for the future of westerners. Serious athletes have serious diets, being sponsored by these products undermines there years of hard work.

Once money is introduced all morals are gone.

reply to post by SearchLightsInc


Thanks for putting this up OP, this is one of my favorite types of subjects to kvetch about because it usually does not end up going in little vicious circle like politics and religion. We can conclude pretty quickly that the culprits are money and people.

McDonalds (Cow Palace) has been trying to associate themselves with health food and fitness for about 5 years or so now, probably longer. We have all seen the adds, "Da da, da da da! I'm lovin' it" and there is some single mom doing yoga while eating a yogurt parfait.

And people fall for it, Mc# is as big as they are because people eat that stuff; lots of it. The line at traditional meal times at my nearby McDeath is staggeringly long. Yes people line up for the stuff, spend their time waiting in line for the stuff.

And Coke? Oh boy. You are so right, there is probably not a single other thing on the planet made for human consumption that a person would want to avoid as strongly as Coke, bad stuff, a total invitation to a hip fracture when you get old, at the very least.

So yeah, I marvel as well, at the fact that we have allowed these to poison peddlers to become as large as they are.

Good stuff OP.

X.

reply to post by ShadowAngel85

Besides: Neither McDonalds nor Coca Cola are responsible for obesity. I drink Coca Cola (even do it right now) and i don't have any weight problems. As always, people love to blame the companies and shift they blame away from themselves, because that's easier than saying "Yeah, i'm fat, i should do something, i should stop eating/drinking that stuff"
And no, even if some super-ultra healthy food companies would advertise those events, it wouldn't change anything. Because most of the fat people aren't interested, they aren't interested in changing anything because they enjoy it too much.

Well good for you! I am glad you are not obese even though you feel these are upstanding companys! My problem with your post is the lack of knowledge of the side effects of high fructose corn syrup and all of the other chemicals that these two companys use in their product!

Why is it that people refuse to see how these ingredients that are used commonly in our manufactured foods are damaging to our health??

We have a government currently talking about not allowing us to eat certain foods. Not to mention their war against people who want to drink whole raw milk. You know the milk that actually has all of the good stuff still in it? But yet, they allow big corporations, like Coke and McDonalds to continuously poison us with this crap they put in our food! Maybe that is what the OP meant when he/she said what they did on this post!

But then again, your response really doesn't surprise me. After all, in your eyes, you are perfectly healthy! Good luck with that!!! Let me know when you get diagnosed with diabetes! I will try to act like I care, but after reading your response it will be very difficult1

The Super Size Me experiment that Spurlock committed to the film in the movie of the same name yielded some pretty gruesome facts about what happens to one's body when fast food, especially McGarbage, is made a staple of one's diet...

Fatty liver disease and signs of type 2 diabetes occurred in mice after only four weeks of a high-fat, high-sugar diet, according to a recent study. It's research that may have you thinking twice before upgrading to the large size at your favorite fast food joint. Saint Louis University research shows the dangers of high-fat food combined with high fructose corn syrup and a sedentary lifestyle -- in other words, what may be becoming commonplace among Americans.

www.sciencedaily.com...

It isn't even really how fat you are on the outside that counts, it's how fat one is on the inside. And the food combinations served at McGroosout combined with Coke are almost designed to make you fat on the inside.

I am willing to extend the benefit of the doubt to these companies and assume that they had no idea that this would all form such a deadly combination that also happens to dull the minds of men (and women), turning them in to mindless burger slaves that will actually wait 20 minutes so they can buy some poison, but enough is enough.

Oh god! I just found this, looks like we are back to vicious little circles...

McDonald's became an official sponsor of the Olympic Games in 1976 and has a longstanding commitment to the Olympic Movement. At the 1968 Olympic Winter Games, McDonald's airlifted hamburgers to U.S. athletes competing in Grenoble, France, who reported they were homesick for McDonald's food.

www.olympic.org...

God, I guess the world is just not what it seems. Mc Fitness has been fueling Olympians since 1968.

Well there ya go then, I am not sure all the reason in the world will stop the burger and coke gods.

Oh well, I still agree with the OP.

X.

reply to post by Xoanon


I have great difficulty making threads that get my point across and supply proper evidence, would just like to thank you for your post as you seem to understand what im getting at!

Mcdonalds and coke are NOT the only sponsors of the Olympics so i dont think they can necessarily argue that they needed the cash. I just dont personally feel that brands such as these have a place at the olympics.