The author of the best-selling expose Fast Food Nation has accused McDonald's of behaving "like the Taliban" in its pre-emptive efforts to discredit his new book and a film on the subject.
Internal McDonald's documents reportedly show that the company is shifting into "crisis management" mode in advance of Chew On This, a young people's version of Eric Schlosser's book along with a forthcoming film adaptation of Fast Food Nation. The plans speak of mobilising a "truth squad" to attack both works, and of initiatives to "discredit the message and the messenger."
Plans sent to McDonald's franchisees, originally obtained by the Wall Street Journal, seek to reassure restaurant managers that "a lot of work is going on behind the scenes ... from a crisis management standpoint" -- part of a "full-scale media campaign" to tell "the real story" about the world's largest restaurant chain.
"The book is not out yet, and they clearly haven't read it," Schlosser said.
"And they have not seen this film. And yet their instinctive reaction is to attack. You know what they did to the McLibel duo," he said.
He was referring to McDonald's seven-year court battle with two British environmental activists, which was a major public relations embarrassment for the firm.
"A truth squad? That sounds like the Taliban or something. Aside from it bothering my free-speech instincts, I don't think those tactics serve McDonald's very well. They work hard to cultivate this image of a friendly company -- and then they get out the brass knuckles if you disagree with them," he said.
Co-written with Charles Wilson, Chew On This promises to tell younger readers the "sometimes frightening truth about what lurks behind those sesame-seed buns," including "the grisly conditions in a chicken slaughterhouse" and "how those delicious fast-food smells are manufactured off a highway in New Jersey."
Meanwhile, McDonald's seems panicked that the movie -- expected to be released in the US in the autumn -- could unleash bad publicity unlike anything it has seen.
Directed by Richard Linklater, it stars Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke and the Canadian singer Avril Lavigne.
According to the leaked documents, Lavigne stars as a worker for a chain called Mickey's who "`sees the light' and then works to reverse the ills of fast food."
Walter Riker, McDonald's vice-president for communications, denied any plans to discredit the author, saying in a statement that "the McDonald's family" would "vigorously communicate the facts about McDonald's."
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last