Unhealthy sponsors for the 2012 Olympics - thoughts?

MrDarkDays

Oh wow, McDonald's is unhealthy?! I honestly had no idea.

It is a money game, period.

Sure massive companies like McDonald's fund charities and other worldwide beneficial events, I mean, if I owned a company that was pumping out garbage, I would feel morally obligated to balance the scales.

"Hey I'm contributing to obesity, cancer, mass polution, animal abuse and a host of other ecological and economical issuses, might as well show everyone that I still care about something!"

Or maybe they just want the publicity and sales that comes from a grandscale advertisement like... say... sponsoring the Olympics?

Yes, we are entitled to our own opinions. Yes, we are all capable of making our own choices. However, if we all made smarter choices, companies like McDonald's wouldn't exist. Unfortunately, we all love the convenience of modern society and thats just how it is.

Oh... for the record, I too enjoy fast food.

superpapa16

I think some of you may be missing the point. The point that the poster is making is that the citizens now have NO CHOICE in the fries that they eat. Americans, imagine the Olympics coming to your town and all the restaurants in the area are no longer allowed to prepare their own brand of fries. After a long day of watching the Olympics in the Arena, eating McDonalds there because they are the sponsors...you and your friends go to the local restaurant, sit down and and order a nice salmon fillet and fries and the waitress says, "Sorry, you can only buy McDonalds fries during the Olympics. They are across the street, and it costs you $3.00 for a large order." This is what is happening currently. It is not sponsorship, but a monopoly. It is infringement on the rights of the restaurant owners and the citizens of the local area. We (Americans), would never accept such. Then, of course, a McDonalds can be found every three blocks in America so why bother with a restriction here.

I am sorry for you Brits who have to deal with this. It has actually set a bad precedent for future sponsorship negotiations.

The more I read about this though the less I think this is what is happening. McDonald's has the exclusive rights to sell fries at "The Olympics". This is the actual venues, not the whole of London or England. The 800 "restaurants" affected are vendors at the 40 Olympic sites nationwide. While attending a site if you just have to have fries/ chips by themselves you'll have to get them from McDonald's. Once you leave the site you can go anywhere you want. Seems like a great way to market yourself if you own a place reasonably close to a site.

I honestly have no issue with this. Every local sporting venue has contracts with food, beer, soda providers and within the venue you can only get that company's product(s).

Unless I am missing something, and it is possible since I only did a quick Google search, this is not as a big of an issue as it is being made out to be.

becon1022

You do realize Coke makes more than just soft drinks. They make Dasani Water, Vitamin Water, Nestea, AquArius, Minute Maide, V8 Splash, Powerade, & I beleive the Simply Apple, Orange, ect fruit drinks. Plus you are saying McDonalds should not be a sponsor of a sporting event because they are unhealthy, but arguing over which kind of unhealthy fries can be sold at the sporting event itself.. Its not alright for McDondalds to sponsor, but it is alright to eat a hamburger & fries while you are there watching it?? McDonalds is giving a crap load of money as a sponsor, so yes I believe they should have the right to stop vendors inside the sporting area from selling fries, esp if its that they cant just sell a order of fries by themselves makes sense to me. Its called perks. If you dont want McDonalds fries buy fish & chips or snack on something else & get your fries on your way home.

WendyTerry420

I don't think it matters. Most people don't even watch the Olympics and don't even know who the sponsors are.

neaneawy

Aren't Nike or other sporting goods companies sponsors? I understand this isn't food, but it's support from an organization that promotes an active lifestyle.

nwhitley

I think some of you may be missing the point. The point that the poster is making is that the citizens now have NO CHOICE in the fries that they eat. Americans, imagine the Olympics coming to your town and all the restaurants in the area are no longer allowed to prepare their own brand of fries. After a long day of watching the Olympics in the Arena, eating McDonalds there because they are the sponsors...you and your friends go to the local restaurant, sit down and and order a nice salmon fillet and fries and the waitress says, "Sorry, you can only buy McDonalds fries during the Olympics. They are across the street, and it costs you $3.00 for a large order." This is what is happening currently. It is not sponsorship, but a monopoly. It is infringement on the rights of the restaurant owners and the citizens of the local area. We (Americans), would never accept such. Then, of course, a McDonalds can be found every three blocks in America so why bother with a restriction here.

I am sorry for you Brits who have to deal with this. It has actually set a bad precedent for future sponsorship negotiations.

The more I read about this though the less I think this is what is happening. McDonald's has the exclusive rights to sell fries at "The Olympics". This is the actual venues, not the whole of London or England. The 800 "restaurants" affected are vendors at the 40 Olympic sites nationwide. While attending a site if you just have to have fries/ chips by themselves you'll have to get them from McDonald's. Once you leave the site you can go anywhere you want. Seems like a great way to market yourself if you own a place reasonably close to a site.

I honestly have no issue with this. Every local sporting venue has contracts with food, beer, soda providers and within the venue you can only get that company's product(s).

Unless I am missing something, and it is possible since I only did a quick Google search, this is not as a big of an issue as it is being made out to be.

This is the same thing I think. Not sure what the big deal is because any time you attend professional sporting events, you are limited to what they sell. It's like this at most restaurants. They either sell Coke or Pepsi products. You don't get the choice of both. As to those who say people don't watch the Olympics, not true. Lot's of people watch it but they tend to only watch the sports they like. They just don't sit around and watch it all day.

Prahasaurus

McDonald's (or, rather, fast food in general) will ultimately shorten more lives than cigarettes ever did. One is illegal to purchase for children under a certain age, with strict limits on advertising.

The other has a clown as it's spokesperson, and promotes "Happy Meals" during kids' themed TV shows.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/03/12/still-a-fast-food-nation-eric-schlosser-reflects-on-10-years-later.html
"The typical preschooler now sees about three fast-food ads on television every day. The typical teenager sees about five. The endless barrage of ads, toys, contests, and marketing gimmicks has fueled not only fast-food sales, but also a wide range of diet-related illnesses. About two thirds of the adults in the United States are obese or overweight. The obesity rate among preschoolers has doubled in the past 30 years. The rate among children aged 6 to 11 has tripled. And by some odd coincidence, the annual cost of the nation’s obesity epidemic—about $168 billion, as calculated by researchers at Emory University—is the same as the amount of money Americans spent on fast food in 2011."



--P

Di3012

I don't think it matters. Most people don't even watch the Olympics and don't even know who the sponsors are.

Really???? LMAO not being funny, but I think you need to recap.

1 billion people yes 1 billion people, watched the last Olympics in Beijing.

That is a massive amount of the world's population.

They may not know who the Sponsors are, buy by God, they sure know what the Olypics are.

ElizabethRoad

I think some of you may be missing the point. The point that the poster is making is that the citizens now have NO CHOICE in the fries that they eat. Americans, imagine the Olympics coming to your town and all the restaurants in the area are no longer allowed to prepare their own brand of fries. After a long day of watching the Olympics in the Arena, eating McDonalds there because they are the sponsors...you and your friends go to the local restaurant, sit down and and order a nice salmon fillet and fries and the waitress says, "Sorry, you can only buy McDonalds fries during the Olympics. They are across the street, and it costs you $3.00 for a large order." This is what is happening currently. It is not sponsorship, but a monopoly. It is infringement on the rights of the restaurant owners and the citizens of the local area. We (Americans), would never accept such. Then, of course, a McDonalds can be found every three blocks in America so why bother with a restriction here.

Lol what.

Di3012

I think some of you may be missing the point. The point that the poster is making is that the citizens now have NO CHOICE in the fries that they eat. Americans, imagine the Olympics coming to your town and all the restaurants in the area are no longer allowed to prepare their own brand of fries. After a long day of watching the Olympics in the Arena, eating McDonalds there because they are the sponsors...you and your friends go to the local restaurant, sit down and and order a nice salmon fillet and fries and the waitress says, "Sorry, you can only buy McDonalds fries during the Olympics. They are across the street, and it costs you $3.00 for a large order." This is what is happening currently. It is not sponsorship, but a monopoly. It is infringement on the rights of the restaurant owners and the citizens of the local area. We (Americans), would never accept such. Then, of course, a McDonalds can be found every three blocks in America so why bother with a restriction here.

Lol what.

Dang.

I gather I am in the weird part of MFP. I could have sworn that this site catered for the whole world and not just the US.

doorki

I find it a bit ironic/humorous because there is no way these Olympic athletes are sucking down Coke and doubtful that they have recently, if ever, touched a McDonalds "food" item. However, at least there is money going to a great event, so the people ignorant enough to eat at McDonalds are giving there money to athletics.

Actually, at least for the US athletes that is completely untrue. As a former Olympic hopeful I lived at the training center in Colorado Springs for many years and our dining hall was also sponsored by McDonalds. We ate their food whenever we felt the need and otherwise we ate a regular diet. I have no issue with this sponsoring as it allowed a lot of us to train in a way that we would not have been able to do. I may not eat McDonalds every day at this point in my life but when I was training 4 hours a day, twice a day you better believe I ate hamburgers, chicken sandwiches and fries.

I understand that sponsorship is about the money and successful advertising, but its also about allowing those of us who dedicated their lives to sport and physicality to manifest our dreams on a world stage.

Well said!

Di3012

It's funny when people assume that Olympians don't ever eat fast food or drink soda or beer. The sponsors aren't necessarily representative of anything anyway. They just have a lot of money.

Exactly what I thought :laugh:

Di3012

This is why I love my music festivals, the last one I went to had fresh chickens cooking and they did pulled pork etc with salad, yeah it comes in bread but it's not processed as hell, they had a noodlebar where they cooked fresh infront of you and then a kebab stand where it was made with loads of fresh ingredients. All £5 each and filled me up so much I couldn't have a snack..compare that to McDonalds where I spend £9 the other day on just myself and I was hungry 2 hours later.. yum..

I have to admit, McDonalds leaves me feeling as hungry after eating a burger as I was before, but this is where I get confused. Their burgers are beef and should therefore be filling, it doesn't make sense why it would leave a person feeling hungry after eating one, but it damn well does lol

Di3012

It's an interesting topic though....

If we push aside the are they/aren't they "healthy" debate fro McDonalds, Coke and Heineken and for the moment take them to be un-healthy.

Who would you pick as a healthy alternative food supplier to sponsor the Olympics?

Probably Sponsors like Evian, Mountain Dew, Quorn..... perhaps companies like that are actually Sponsors of the Olympics.

FatStoatLondon

Aren't Nike or other sporting goods companies sponsors? I understand this isn't food, but it's support from an organization that promotes an active lifestyle.

Aren't Nike the ones who used child labour to make their trainers? I heard a comedian comment that "Just Do It" was the motivational phrase used by the factory managers.

I live in central London and I am paying for the Olympics. It's a disgusting waste of public money and a major imposition on the city. But what can I do? It's all about business, when it comes down to it. If business wasn't involved, the Olympics wouldn't happen. I say give it back to the Greeks; it might help out their economy and it would make sense, historically and ecologically.

paulaviki

It's less the actual sponsors I have an issue with than the censorship. No chips unless they're McD's or served as 'fish and chips'? Teh?
No beer except Heineken? What the actual? We have a glorious beer industry in this country and could properly display British brewing ingenuity in the bars for those who refuse to drink lager.

Actually becoming a farce. I live in London and tbh, it's SH1T! Absolutely. I don't like the 'security' measures - missiles on blocks of flats make me instantly more paranoid in the city that I love. The little experiment at London Bridge shows how the transport system already can't cope with just ordinary commuters if you try to 'streamline' it. Never been more glad that I work from home tbqh.
Oh, and the troops having to be called up to work for G4S because they've f**ked up something chronic. Troops on leave having to man a privately run security outfit. F F S.

Not only that, the Olympic flame thing is apparently entirely disappointing with a friend of mine saying the police bike escort was the most interesting part.

Ludicrously expensive, disappointingly mediocre and with corporate censorship and 'security' that means I've never felt more out of touch with this city or the events. I just want it to be over so we can get back to stumbling along gently.

Its amazing how many people I have heard with similar sentiments. For the average Londoner who couldn't afford tickets or didn't get them, the Olympics is going to be nothing more than a pain in the *kitten*. I'm lucky that I live in Kent so I can just avoid it all, but I know so many people who are going to face horrendous journeys trying to get to work and back while its all going on. England's transport network is terrible in normal rush hour, its going to be gridlock! Plus the Olympics is costing all the British tax payers a fortune and we have had no say in it at all. So I have to agree I'll be glad when its all over!

Back on topic, I think fast food sponsorship of sporting events is stupid, but then I don't agree with how many gambling websites sponsor football these days either. But its all about money, anyone can sponsor an event if they are willing to pay enough for it, and I expect most 'healther' brands just don't have the finances to compete.

MessyLittlePanda

As a celiac, personally I don't eat McDonalds here in the UK, there is nothing I can eat there. Ditto BK. Can't drink beer either so that rules out Heineken too! If I went to the Olympics, I'd be living on Coke, bet they don't allow you to take your own food in.

I don't care about them being sponsors particularly, I don't think McDonalds is bad for you unless you have a food allergy like me, or you live on it and don't shift yourself much, but it does bother me how much of a monopoly the Olympic sponsors have created here in the UK - other local businesses are not allowed to advertise their Olympic connections (for example building and joinery firms who have done construction work) because it upsets the big sponsors, and there's been a big fight over a local brewery in Cardiff who had an advert for their beer pulled down because it was just inside the advertising zone. I would have liked to see more of a balance and more local businesses being allowed to benefit from it, for example allowing local traders to sell healthy locally produced food. The Olympics is happening in Britain but there's nowt British about it!

fiwen30

As a celiac, personally I don't eat McDonalds here in the UK, there is nothing I can eat there. Ditto BK. Can't drink beer either so that rules out Heineken too! If I went to the Olympics, I'd be living on Coke, bet they don't allow you to take your own food in.

This. For the first time, I'm actually quite pleased I didn't get tickets for any of my favourite events, if I wouldn't be allowed to bring my own gluten-free food.

kyle4jem

*smacks head against a brick wall*

Now that is unhealthy - you will hurt yourself!

But there is a difference between "not harmful" and "healthy"...

I'm sorry if you don't get it. I couldn't put it any simpler.

Why is it unhealthy to enjoy a burger and fries from time to time?

It's all about balance and anything taken to excess is unhealthy... be that fast-food or coke or exercise or water.

healthylife1010

I've noticed that too but in the end, we choose to eat what we eat. No one forces us to eat at mcdonalds or other places. I know if I walk into a mcdonalds and go crazy on their burgers and fries, thats my own fault because it was my decision. But I do find it ironic as well but it's all part of the "social responsibility" representation aspect I suppose.

Though, a lot of places have healthier options too...

grrrlface

I don't give who or what sponsers. I live up north and there isn't an awful lot going on up here, especially where I live. The Olympics was just a huge waste of public money and half of the people that wanted tickets couldn't get them/afford them.
I won't even bother watching it on TV. Really have no interest. :-\

Kara_xxx

*smacks head against a brick wall*

Now that is unhealthy - you will hurt yourself!

But there is a difference between "not harmful" and "healthy"...

I'm sorry if you don't get it. I couldn't put it any simpler.

Why is it unhealthy to enjoy a burger and fries from time to time?

It's all about balance and anything taken to excess is unhealthy... be that fast-food or coke or exercise or water.

Oh give me strength........................

The statement was made that "everything in moderation is healthy". It's a nonsense statement. Cyanide even in small quantities is quite certainly not "healthy".

The person who made that statement could not see the difference between "not harmful on occasions" versus "healthy". The two aren't opposites!

A doughnut once a week won't kill you, it's not harmful when eaten occasionally. You can have nothing but custard for dinner, it won't kill you if you don't make a habit of it. But THAT does not mean it's "healthy"!! It's still sugary gloop with no nutritional value whatsoever.

"Healthy" means more than the mere absence of harm, it means something that affects health favourably!

shutterbug282

Thought this might be of interest. (:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10819088

athensguy

McDonalds McCafe sells coffee (better than Starbucks) which is good for you.

Heineken sells beer which is good for you (though theirs isn't very tasty IMO)

Coca Cola sells Powerade which is targeted at sports. Diet Coke, Diet Sprite, and so on are also good for dieters.

mrsweasley23

I

mrsweasley23

I have tickets for the closing ceremony, as you CAN bring your own food, and take empty water bottles to fill up in there, so they are giving people the choice to go with their sponsors or not.

As a celiac, personally I don't eat McDonalds here in the UK, there is nothing I can eat there. Ditto BK. Can't drink beer either so that rules out Heineken too! If I went to the Olympics, I'd be living on Coke, bet they don't allow you to take your own food in.

This. For the first time, I'm actually quite pleased I didn't get tickets for any of my favourite events, if I wouldn't be allowed to bring my own gluten-free food.

carolinedb

I don't remember the exact numbers, but the 1984 LA games set the precedent that a company must pledge an astronomical amount (I want to say minimum $10 million, but I could very easily be wrong) in order to be an Olympic sponsor. This is because of the crazy amount of money it takes to make a host city games ready. Before, a sponsor could give a pretty small amount, and cities were being nearly bankrupted by hosting the Olympics. I studied this in a college course on sports facilities planning and management.

This all to say: it takes a lot of money to put on the games, and unfortunately, many of our less-than-healthy options have the money to pledge.

rmhand

I just discovered Chobani is an Olympic sponsor! I'd call that a healthy sponsor!

TinaSikkema

Your comment reminded me of when I lived in Japan. I loved going to the festivals and fairs there because just about every food vendor offered Edamame and rice. Now that I'm back in the States it saddens me when I have to pack snacks to go to fairs just so I can have something other than junk food to eat.

Caffeine_Addict

I don't think Lettuce can afford to sponsor anything.