“Retire Ronald McDonald” Press Conference Hosted by Block by Block, 5-18-2011
CHICAGO – On Wednesday 5-18, more than 550 health institutions and professionals from all 50 states challenged McDonald’s to stop marketing junk food to kids with full-page ads and events in cities across the country. The press conference was hosted by Block by Block, a diabetes information and prevention center that has partnered with the Puerto Rican Cultural Center in Humboldt Park, a Puerto Rican/Latino neighborhood on the northwest side of the city.
“Today, our family practice offices, pediatric clinics, and emergency rooms are filled with children suffering from conditions related to the food they eat. These health problems will likely play out over their lifetime through early onset of diabetes, heart disease and arthritis.” said Dr. Steven K. Rothschild, Associate Professor of Preventive Medicine at Rush Medical College. “Through this initiative the public health community is rallying behind a simple message to McDonald’s: stop making the next generation sick – retire Ronald and the rest of your junk food marketing to kids.”
A range of leading health institutions from the Chicago Hispanic Health Coalition to the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry have endorsed the letter featured in today’s ads.
