Different Pitches: McDonald’s and the World Cup

Back in February, we blogged about the disconnect between the Winter Olympics and one of its biggest sponsors, McDonald’s. It’s a disingenuous partnership: are we really supposed to believe that the world’s best athletes would undermine their health by eating food we know is dangerously unhealthy?

And now, with the World Cup underway, it’s the same story all over again -- McDonald’s is a prominent sponsor of the most widely watched tournament on Earth. The corporation boasts that it “supports children’s well-being as an Official Sponsor and the Official Restaurant of the FIFA World Cup.”

But we know that McDonald’s practices are a primary factor in a growing generation of kids who are struggling with unprecedented levels of diet-related disease. And we know that McDonald’s spends millions each year on advertising that “is inherently deceptive and exploits children.”

Recent polls in both the UK and the US show that the majority of people want to keep McDonald’s out of events like the World Cup. A global celebration of soccer has no place for a corporation peddling the last thing would-be athletes should be putting in their bodies.

What do you think? Is this the right message to send to the millions of kids dreaming of being the next World Cup hero?

Photo: http://www.sportindustry.biz/resource/binary/cache/3e01dd37946e3d43247a25c11e62abec/568x300_mcdonalds.jpg