It’s easy enough for us adults to evaluate and avoid that wretched place if we have the good sense to do so, but the advertising is aimed mainly at luring in the kiddies, and they’re pretty defenseless against it - especially when it’s being plugged by people they hero worship.
Beer advertising is aimed at adults and is an entirely different matter altogether.[/quote]
I don’t know about that. I could sing the budweiser song when I was a kid. Here comes the king here comes the big number one…bum bumbumbum.
But GBH, you have a point. My anger is not at McDonalds, or Coke, or Bud. It’s at advertisers and parents. You seem to think that EVERYONE knows that McDonalds burgers and fries are calory ridden filth. You sure about that? Taiwanese still fear whistling at night because they might attract ghosts. How many people have I met here that didn’t know stars were distant suns? Lots.
Put CrapDonalds (jdson’s word) together with Chinese/Taiwanese parents give-them-what-they-want-to-shut-them-up parenting philosophy and see what happens. Fat young boys with B-cup breasts hogging down Chicken Mcbeaks and then getting some “exercise” on the slide before they eat their McFlurry.
And many parents here don’t know dick about dental hygiene, allowing their kids’ baby teeth to rot away because “They’ll fall out anyway” yet somehow, in your estimation, they are well versed in human dietary needs?
It’s not a secret. It’s not a conspiracy. But that doesn’t make it any less wrong.
LOL. True true. But then again most Westerners believe in ghosts too…they just call them souls and think they go to heaven or hell instead of lingering about…and yet you’d be hard pressed to find an American who doesn’t know fast food is unhealthy. And Taiwanese people, at least the ones I’ve met, are obsessed with health and criticize Americans for our unhealthy eating habits. My mother in law constantly tries to convince me to drink this god awful vegetable tea.
Same problem in the US writ large. Doesn’t mean their parents don’t make the connection between that enormously fat child huffing and puffing behind them and the mountains of fast food/sugary sodas said child has consumed on a daily basis.
I think this is really the only point we disagree on. I don’t think it’s “wrong” for McDonald’s to sell their crappy food or hire athletes to appear in cheesy commercials. Now if they were aggressively marketing their food as healthy, that would be a different matter and at least in the US they could face legal sanctions. But as far as I know they aren’t doing that.
There’s plenty of cheap, healthy options available at other establishments. Back when I was living with my dad and we were both on major health kicks, we used to go to Wendy’s all the time. We never got burgers or fries or sodas. We ordered water, chili, baked potatoes, and salads. It’s filling, cheap, and healthy. And at least in the US there are Wendy’s everywhere. I’m hardly the physical specimen I was back then, but I still stay way the hell away from places like McDonald’s that basically have no healthy options at all.
I blame the customers for making poor choices, not the guys selling the crappy food.
I eat McDonalds. I drink their coffee even. Their breakfasts can be scrumptious. I never feel guilty about it. I already understand that we all die someday.
I’m tempted to buy one, try to eat it and then puke all over the McCountertop.
Maybe sooner or later they can do a cross promotion with Phillip Morris.
“Would you like a McSmoke with that?” [/quote]
Well I had my four patty McStroke followed by a McSmoke the other day. Not bad washed down with green tea.
Then again, I hardly ever eat at Mickey Dee’s, and when I do, it’s 'cos I’m hungry and in a hurry. Nothing can beat McQuick for time and speed. I don’t think the occassional (read two to three times a year) McCholesterol is going to kill you or make you fat. It depends on whether you exercise or not and generally eat well balanced meals or not. I do, so the odd gamble with a McCardboard isn’t gonna kill me.
But I agree on one point. It is worrisome that pro-athletes allow themselves to be associated with fast food. Especially when you see all the 6 year old McFatties in Taiwan. Mommy’s precious little McBuddha. But, then again, that’s not the biggest nor the only problem in Taiwan. In Taiwan the kids also go to McSchool, where they just McStudy and McFuck-up their McEyes. This goes a long way in contributing to their ill health and McWaistline, not to mention generations of kids who aren’t raised to be sports aware. I exercise because I’ve always exercised and done sports. I’ve played it and watched it. In Taiwan it’s almost non-existent. You couldn’t even see the athletics on local cable during the last Olympics, although they did show Taiwan’s 13-0 humiliation by Cuba (baseball) every dan day.
The problem is bigger than McD’s and Olympic athletes (and being an official Olympic sponsor) and baseball players aren’t helping. But I wouldn’t put most of the blame at their door.
[quote=“Fox”]I eat McDonalds. I drink their coffee even. Their breakfasts can be scrumptious. I never feel guilty about it. I already understand that we all die someday.
Be brave munch on a Makkers.[/quote]
I would argue that the food SMELLED scrumptious, but that it actually tasted like wet newspaper.
[quote]
Grainger had brought a dozen small glass bottles from the lab. After he opened each bottle, I dipped a fragrance-testing filter into it – a long white strip of paper designed to absorb aroma chemicals without producing off notes. Before placing each strip of paper in front of my nose, I closed my eyes. Then I inhaled deeply, and one food after another was conjured from the glass bottles. I smelled fresh cherries, black olives, sautéed onions, and shrimp. Grainger’s most remarkable creation took me by surprise. After closing my eyes, I suddenly smelled a grilled hamburger. The aroma was uncanny, almost miraculous – as if someone in the room were flipping burgers on a hot grill. But when I opened my eyes, I saw just a narrow strip of white paper and a flavorist with a grin.[/quote] rense.com/general7/whyy.htm
numnumnum
[quote]
Well I had my four patty McStroke followed by a McSmoke the other day.[/quote]
The grateful dead sang:[quote]
I may be going to hell in a bucket, but at least I’m enjoying the ride.[/quote]
Would anyone disagree that one of the biggest problems in Taiwan contributing to childhood obesity is the attitude to food that they have. Eat it all or the cook will be offended. Finish it off even when you are stuffed and then eat some more. Large portions because no one wants a skinny kid. Thin being frowned upon in younger kids. It’s a habit that carries gloriously over to heart disease from stuffing more in that you want. It’s forced gluttony in many cases.
You know, I don’t see lots of Taiwanese kids often eating stacks of McD’s, I see the parents eating the kiddie meals and the kids playing in the playground. I see students making fries and coke last for hours in order to have a place to study. The worst of the food torture happens at home and in the night market. Almost everything cooked in oil of some kind.
I see it more here in NZ, the problem with McD’s that is. McD’s here has McCafe with sandwiches. sure there’s cake too and coffee. There’s the Mc SUB, the McPasta with vegies for the kids. There’s milk with chocolate and strawberry straws. But that isn’t the problem. It’s the kids packing it in all the time. Even that isn’t the problem. Those same kids go home and do jack besides X-box. There’s the biggest part of the problem. So, we have a Push 2 play program for physical activity and healthy eating education in school. Physical activity is something I see missing big time in Taiwan.
I also truly love McMuffins, but the muffin here in Taiwan is not the same as it is in North America. Here it is a spongy thing that is often not toasted properly, whereas in North America it is physically a different muffin altogether, much more like an English Muffin. I love 'em here, but they are even better back home.
And they know the deal in Hong Kong, you can get McMuffins 24 hours a day at some outlets.
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