McMojo?

My brow is furrowing while I try to wrestle to the ground one of the tougher questions I have posed to myself today; that of whether McDonalds is a brand with mojo.

I mean, let's be honest and say that on the surface you have to give the company credit for all the amazing mojo like things the brand has done.

It has stayed relevant to a wide cross section of the population in good economic times and in bad. It has given teenagers, truckers and tired moms an equal seat at the table. It has introduced McCafe which has proved popular in its own right and not been seen as a knock off or a 'me too' to Starbucks. I also personally love their new fruit smoothies - they are delicious and really do seem to be fairly healthy.

The one area where I struggle to 'get on board' is agreeing that McDonalds has mojo in helping to find a solution to America's obesity epidemic by including healthier items on the menu such as 1% milk and apple wedges. I mean I do recognize that it is better than nothing, but at the end of the day we all know that the thing that McDonalds does best is its super yummy, super high calorie Big Macs, large fries and its milk shakes. Nothing quite compares. I also realize that McDonalds would be well within its rights to point out that whenever they have tried to make substantial changes to their menu to make it healthier, that the lower calorie, lower fat items have always met with consumer resistence. After all, it does seem to be human nature to love the things that are bad for us.

However, unfortunately, it really is hard not to see McDonalds and its near cousins as being a central part of the obesity problem, rather than a serious part of the solution. As long as people are willing to sit in the drive thru lines for 10-15 minutes to get their daily dose of hamburger meat with special sauce, I don't think that America's waistline is going to be shrinking any time soon.

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