2008 Woodie Awards
When big is no longer what's in
By: Anna Mavromati
Issue date: 3/25/04 Section: OP/ED
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McDonald's is going to stop selling supersized fries and sodas. There's nothing wrong with that, but at the same time there's nothing great about it either.
The large McDonald's portions have been blamed for causing obesity, and the chain recently had to deal with a lawsuit. The lawsuit was thrown out of court, but now McDonald's is trying to save its image by serving smaller portions of its food.
This could improve the fast-food chain's image for the moment and assure that it will keep plenty of its customers. But this will not help people diet or make McDonald's any healthier a restaurant, because not everything's perfect.
The entire situation is selfish and unreasonable. The people who sued McDonald's were only trying to bank off of the popular franchise's profits. This is so obvious that it's sad. It's amazing how greedy people can be. If that wasn't bad enough, now McDonald's is attempting to look like the good guys again.
Getting rid of supersizes is a small and unnecessary movement, but it may be enough for the company to show that it has consideration for its customers' diets.
There is an argument that getting rid of the supersizes forces people to eat smaller portions, thereby making people eat more healthy. This is not necessarily true. We could still eat five small orders of fries and we could still refill our medium sodas as often as we want. When you view it from that perspective, taking away supersizes could practically go unnoticed.
McDonald's is not a health food restaurant. That's OK, it shouldn't have to be. Not every restaurant must serve healthy food. Besides, those fries are good. Also, if customers are so health conscious, they shouldn't be eating at McDonald's in the first place.
Supersizing an order is an option, just as it is an option to choose to eat at McDonald's. It is up to the individual to decide where to eat and what to order. It has always been this way, whether the supersized soda sizes existed or not. We cannot deny these facts, but it seems like people try to when there are lawsuits like this followed by cheap, small improvements for the public image.
The large McDonald's portions have been blamed for causing obesity, and the chain recently had to deal with a lawsuit. The lawsuit was thrown out of court, but now McDonald's is trying to save its image by serving smaller portions of its food.
This could improve the fast-food chain's image for the moment and assure that it will keep plenty of its customers. But this will not help people diet or make McDonald's any healthier a restaurant, because not everything's perfect.
The entire situation is selfish and unreasonable. The people who sued McDonald's were only trying to bank off of the popular franchise's profits. This is so obvious that it's sad. It's amazing how greedy people can be. If that wasn't bad enough, now McDonald's is attempting to look like the good guys again.
Getting rid of supersizes is a small and unnecessary movement, but it may be enough for the company to show that it has consideration for its customers' diets.
There is an argument that getting rid of the supersizes forces people to eat smaller portions, thereby making people eat more healthy. This is not necessarily true. We could still eat five small orders of fries and we could still refill our medium sodas as often as we want. When you view it from that perspective, taking away supersizes could practically go unnoticed.
McDonald's is not a health food restaurant. That's OK, it shouldn't have to be. Not every restaurant must serve healthy food. Besides, those fries are good. Also, if customers are so health conscious, they shouldn't be eating at McDonald's in the first place.
Supersizing an order is an option, just as it is an option to choose to eat at McDonald's. It is up to the individual to decide where to eat and what to order. It has always been this way, whether the supersized soda sizes existed or not. We cannot deny these facts, but it seems like people try to when there are lawsuits like this followed by cheap, small improvements for the public image.