"I'm with ya! We'll pin it on the other clown!!!
Posted on 09/14/2010 9:44:21 AM PDT by Qbert
McDonald's Corp. is the target of a new television commercial set to air in Washington, D.C., Thursday that blames the burger giant for heart disease.
In the commercial, produced by the nonprofit Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a woman weeps over a dead man lying in a morgue. In his hand is a hamburger. At the end, the golden arches appear over his feet, followed by the words, "I was lovin' it," a play on McDonald's longtime ad slogan, "I'm lovin' it." A voiceover says, "High cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart attacks. Tonight, make it vegetarian."
PCRM's president, Neal Barnard, was once on the board of the Foundation to Support Animal Protection, now known as the PETA Foundation, which provides accounting, legal and other services to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and other animal-protection groups. A PCRM spokeswoman says the organization has no link to PETA.
"McDonald's is committed to providing balanced menu choices and a variety of options to meet our customers' needs and preferences," said Cindy Goody, director of nutrition for McDonald's.
Scott DeFife, an executive vice president at industry group the National Restaurant Association, called the ad "irresponsible" and said it "attempts to scare consumers into making choices and promotes a limited view of good nutrition."
[Snip]
The group also plans to write to Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty to seek a moratorium on the construction of new fast-food restaurants in the city. In 2008, the Los Angeles City Council passed an ordinance imposing a moratorium that wound up lasting two years on the opening of new fast-food chains in a 32-square-mile area that includes some of the city's lowest-income neighborhoods.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
“Are the Golden Arches a registered trademark?
—If so, this would constitute infringement.”
This site says the Golden Arches have trademark/trade dress protection (last sentence):
“...In the U.S., trademark protection arises in one of two ways: (1) by actual use of the mark in connection with the product or service in commerce; or (2) by filing an “intent-to-use” or “use based” trademark application in the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (”PTO”). Some trademarks are not as distinctive as others, and therefore require a period of actual use in commerce before the courts will recognize any exclusive right to use them. On the other hand, some trademarks are so distinctive (e.g., Kodak® for cameras) that trademark rights attach immediately upon their adoption and use.
Trade dress of a product design is treated like a non-distinctive trademark. That is, protection comes into being only when the public has come to associate the features of the design with a particular source of the product.
When this happens, it is said that the trademark/ trade dress has acquired “secondary meaning.” Generally, this kind of distinctiveness requires long, widespread use of the design, such as the Haig & Haig scotch pinch bottle, the round Honeywell thermostat, and the McDonald’s golden arches.”
http://c348.teamholistic.net/tools_trademark
Should be interesting to see what happens with this...
> Reminder to Complainant: Jim Fixx! Author of great read” A Complete Book of Running”. Or how to stay healthy.
.
Fixx died of a massive coronary.
His arteries were clogged shut.
"I'm with ya! We'll pin it on the other clown!!!
““seek a moratorium on the construction of new fast-food restaurants in the city”
...take MAC Donalds out of the hood and there will be trouble.”
It would also kill a lot of jobs for young blacks and others in D.C. at a time when there already is record-breaking unemployment. (I guess that’s part of the intent of course...)
I eat an Angus Deluxe for lunch when I am on the high side of my calorie cycling. So far, I’ve lost 28 lbs. They can’t say that isn’t heart healthy ; )
“Heart disease, high blood pressure and all those types of things were around A LONG TIME before anyone ever heard of McDonalds.”
Exactly. I mean, go back and look at old portraits, daguerreotypes and early photos...fair number of pudgy individuals back in the olden days.
> “stupid liberal”
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Redundant!
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More of the same from the Democrat Liberals who claim to be for freedom and choice but who desire nothing less than to be in total control of your life.
Da way I sees it is that fats grease da blood corpsicles, so they can slide through da capillaries easier, reducing da blood pressure.
If I recall correctly, Rush Limbaugh predicted this food nazi movement years ago.
He said once they were done with demonizing and suing the tobacco companies, then they would go after fast food for allegedly killing us all with junk food.
There’s something in the nature of liberalism which leads liberals to think that they are right and everyone else is wrong. And not just that they are wrong, but that they are evil and should be destroyed.
Conservatives tend to think that liberals are wrong on the issues, and will engage in the debate on those issues.
But liberals tend to think that conservatives are evil, don’t see nuances of issues, and that no debate can be engaged with such lesser classes of people such as conservatives. The liberals just want to shut down debate on the liberal cause of the day.
You have a great point. This could be a great business opportunity for someone on the left. Open a vegan/vegetarian fast food place, where everything on the menu is approved of by the left. And let the market determine how much business these places get. They will get a certain level of business.
Personally I don’t care for McDonald’s, and haven’t been there in years. But the market has determined that there is demand for tens of thousands of thses places. Let the market set the demand for healthy fast food places.
“It would also kill a lot of jobs for young blacks”
...of course it would. But taking a restaurant that features a $1 menu out of an area where a good portion rely on McDonalds for food will cause a degree of anarchy.
I remember when I lost my job in Portland, Maine as a radio disc jockey in 1984. My boss felt bad because I was broke so he gave me a stack of coupons for free Big Macs! They were like gold to me. I had 30 of them. I ate at McD’s everyday at 2pm. I got one free Big Mac and a courtesy cup of water. It kept me going until I found another job. Lost 15 lbs too!
That's a pretty fair synopsis: I would only add that in the liberal moral universe, corporations are especially evil. Sure sounds like some kind of cult, don't you think?
McDonalds recently opened a new store near me. From the decor you would think that they were running a farmers market that sold lowfat frozen yogurt. Not a burger, french fry or drop of fat to be seen anyplace but the menu boards. (oh, yeah....and no McDonaldland Playland......Lawyahs, you know....)
And then they all should gang up on "the nonprofit Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine", and make them prove what is healthy food and what is not, and whether or not any member of this organization partakes of any of this food. Their credit card purchases, the works. Did they buy any of this food they advocate against?
Worthless frauds.
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