AFRO-NETS> UNICEF and McDonald's

[Claudio Schuftan <aviva@netnam.vn>]

UNICEF and McDonald's
---------------------

UNICEF MULLS OVER DUMPING MCDONALD'S DEAL

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) - The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) is 
reviewing its involvement in a controversial global fundraising cam-
paign with the US-based McDonald's fast food giant, a senior official 
of the UN agency told PANA in an interview.

Dr Urban Jonsson, UNICEF's regional director for Eastern and Southern 
Africa, said an internal review on the campaign announced in July is 
going on and a decision is likely to be arrived at soon.

"There is a review going on because this was kind of a beginning. 
Quite a number of UNICEF people are of the opinion that it is really 
not appropriate to have any strong agreement or partnership with 
McDonald's for obvious reasons. "Because we all know that they pro-
mote a dietary culture that is very alien to what we call good nutri-
tion. So the argument is very straightforward." millions of dollars 
on behalf of the world's children as part of a new McDonald's fund-
raising initiative dubbed "World Children's Day," to be rolled out in 
the burger firm's restaurants in 121 countries on 20 November.

The promotion, which also aims to raise money for McDonald's charita-
ble arm, includes a pop concert in China to be broadcast over the 
Internet - access to which can only be obtained by buying a Big Mac 
burger. UNICEF will receive a cut of the profits from each Big Mac 
sold.

But while UNICEF claims that apart from benefiting financially the 
campaign will help raise the profile of both the charity and wider 
child health issues, critics argue that by partnering with McDon-
ald's, the UN agency is promoting the "junk food" culture.

"To continue with this particular partnership will severely and per-
manently jeopardise the good relations which the agency now has with 
people's organisations around the world," an international coalition 
of public-health professionals and activists say in a petition to 
UNICEF. The petition, in a form of a letter to UNICEF's executive di-
rector, Carol Bellamy, charged McDonald's as "a company known for its 
aggressive promotion of foods that contribute to ill health and poor 
nutrition both in industrialised and non-industrialised countries." 
Charging that the partnership could open floodgates, the petition 
also attacks UNICEF Nigeria for signing a Memorandum of Understanding 
with Coca-Cola Africa. "Surely all this is contrary to UNICEF's mis-
sion and is likely to undermine the World Health Organisation's fight 
against obesity, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes and 
other harmful conditions."

The fast-food restaurant chain, one the world's largest, serves some 
46 million people daily around the world. Speaking about partner-
ships, he said there are laid down guidelines that came out six 
months ago and was sent out to all UNICEF country offices guiding 
their discussions with the private sector.

Should the guidelines be followed, Jonsson was of the opinion that 
UNICEF would not be entering into discussions or relations with 
McDonald's, Coca-Cola, tobacco companies or companies selling alco-
hol. 
Nicodemus Odhiambo, PANA Correspondent

--
To send a message to AFRO-NETS, write to: afro-nets@usa.healthnet.org
To subscribe or unsubscribe, write to: majordomo@usa.healthnet.org
in the body of the message type: subscribe afro-nets OR unsubscribe afro-nets
To contact a person, send a message to: afro-nets-help@usa.healthnet.org
Information and archives: http://www.afronets.org