McDonald - The Arthur Page Society

McDonald’s had always been adept at attracting children using a formidable
combination of child-friendly advertising showcasing the Ronald McDonald character as
well as child-focused products like the Happy Meal, which came with child-sized
portions and a free toy for the kids plus a lower price tag for parents. The ubiquitous
Ronald McDonald is not confined to television, but has made countless personal
appearances at events, school programs and restaurant openings around the glove. By
1999, Ronald McDonald had his own home video series and Internet site. 29 In Australia,
where the number of fast food restaurants roughly tripled during the 1990s, one survey
revealed that half of the nation’s nine- and ten-year-olds thought that Ronald McDonald
knew what kids should eat. 30 A study in the 1990s showed that 96% of American
children recognized Ronald McDonald. 31
As the 1990s dawned, Shelby Yastrow, a Senior Vice President at McDonald’s,
reported that McDonald’s owed its success to sticking to what it does best. 32 He reported
that top management at the corporation “tastes and discusses the sandwiches instead of
worrying about the economy, politics and demographic trends.” 33 He also advocated a
program of knowing when to leave well enough alone, saying that if you are happy with
where you are in the present, figure out how you got to that point and do the same things
to prepare for the future. Shelby did, however, acknowledge the need to embrace change
when necessary. By the early 1990s customers’ new tastes and nutritional concerns
compelled McDonald’s to expand its product range to include salads, decaffeinated
coffee, skim or two percent milk, and fish and chicken sandwiches.
All was not perfect for McDonald’s in the nineties. It had become the target of
activists and advocacy groups that criticized the fast food giant for a range of evils
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