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Olympic Swimmer Rips McDonald’s “Eat Like An Olympian” Campaign To Promote Healthy Eating Website

Mar 18, 2010, 4:40 PM UTC

Garrett Weber-Gale is an Olympic champion. He’s also the co-founder of AthleticFoodie, which is a company that helps teach a healthy lifestyle through good food. So, on his blog Food & Water with Garrett Weber-Gale, the swimmer took a few shots at one major Olympic sponsor who he feels is trying to trick patrons into thinking their food is healthy.â†µ

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â†µâ†µMcDonald’s built their Olympics ad campaign around the slogan “now you don’t have to be an Olympic athlete to eat like one,” which was in reference to the immense amount of Chicken McNuggets that were consumed during the Beijing Olympics. It’s actually pretty shrewd marketing for McDonald’s to suggest that you can “eat like” an Olympic athlete, thus tricking millions of little tikes – and their fast-food loving parents – into thinking that McNuggets are the fuel to Olympic glory.â†µ

â†µâ†µBut would anyone actually think that? According to Weber-Gale, yes, they would (emphasis added):â†µ

â†µâ†µâ‡¥Social responsibility. The ‘appropriate’ phrase which came to mind when I saw McDonald’s Olympic commercial. Is it socially responsible to link healthy Olympic athletes to unhealthy, yet tasty food...and imply that by eating it you too can be like an Olympian? Obesity in America continues to break historic records. Companies like McDonalds continue to try and align themselves with health through special meal programs, and commercials like the one discussed here. In this case, McDonalds should be ashamed. Do they not realize the negative effect they’re having on society? Just like some of you, there were some other thoughts that went through my mind when I saw their commercial...explicit ones!â†µâ†µ

I don’t know much about the health benefits of McDonald’s and I surely can’t attest to whether or not eating Chicken McNuggets can turn you into an Olympian. I do know in recent years they’ve moved to an all white-meat variety of McNugget, so that’s probably more healthy than whatever mechanically-separated chicken parts they were breading and frying for our enjoyment before. Right?â†µâ†µTo say the company should be ashamed really isn’t fair at all. As Weber-Gale told the New York Times, “the commercials [are] ‘technically correct,’ adding, ‘They’re not specifically saying Olympians are eating it to fuel themselves.’”â†µ

â†µâ†µWeber-Gale even admitted in his blog post that he’s indulged in a McNugget or two in his day – always after his events, less the trans fats slow him down in the pool – but got another shot in at “Mickey D’s” for good measure, telling NYT:â†µ

â†µâ†µâ‡¥“The fact of the matter is, everyone knows McDonald’s is not healthy for you.”â†µâ†µSo where, Garrett, should we go to find tips on food that is healthy for us? Oh yes: AthleticFoodie.com. It looks like shrewd marketing begat shrewd marketing on this one.â†µ

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.

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