Citing concerns about children's health, Disney is to end its decade-long marketing pact with the McDonald's fast food chain, the Los Angeles Times reported on Monday.
The hamburger restaurant chain has paid Disney over US$1 billion over the past 10 years to tie its products to 11 Disney movies like Finding Nemo, The Incredibles and 101 Dalmatians, the newspaper said.
But family-focused Disney now wants to distance itself from fast food and its links to childhood obesity, and will end its deal with McDonald's following its two summer blockbusters, the animated movie Cars and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.
Disney declined to comment on the report. But Pixar Animation Studios chief Steve Jobs, who is now Disney's biggest shareholder, was quoted as saying recently: "There are ... some concerns as our society becomes more conscious of some of the implications of fast food."
Jack Daly, McDonald's senior vice president for corporate relations, said "The 10-year McDonald's Disney alliance is ending for sound business reasons on both sides."
"This was a mutual decision made more than a year ago -- a fact that is well known in the business world," he said.
Daly rejected a Los Angeles Times story that said Disney abandoned the pact because it does not want to be linked to junk food. The report was "based on Hollywood hearsay" and was "a misrepresentation of the truth," he said.
The report said that DreamWorks Animation SKG was also reconsidering its tie-in with McDonalds, and that for its upcoming movie Shrek III it wanted the overweight title character to be linked with McDonald's more healthy offerings, rather than its Chicken McNuggets and Big Macs.
Recent studies show that as many as 40 percent of young children in the US are overweight and that 20 percent could be categorized as obese. Fast food critics hailed the move by Disney as a potential turning point in US dietary health.
"I think it would have impact in contributing to the cultural change that is necessary," said J. Michael McGinnis, chairman of a National Academy of Sciences panel that just released a study showing how food marketing adversely affects children's diets.
"The committee thought it was important for the use of cartoon characters that appeal to children only to be used in the marketing of healthy products," said McGinnis
"It will put more pressure on McDonald's to change what they sell in Happy Meals," said Eric Schlosser, author of the bestselling book Fast Food Nation. "The obesity issue would be irrelevant if the food in the Happy Meals was healthy."
McDonald's has said it is addressing criticism raised by Schlosser and others. The companies had no immediate comment on the Los Angeles Times report.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from
RSS