Last fall, during my (ultimately successful) petition campaign against a misleading McDonald’s “nutrition education” video intended for classroom use, I also told you about another protest going on against the company’s in-school marketing.
In October, 2015, the National Educators Association and more than 50 state and local teachers unions wrote an open letter challenging McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook to end McTeacher’s Nights – a widespread marketing campaign which requires teachers to “work” behind a McDonald’s counter and serve fast food to their students and their students’ families. In return, McDonald’s donates only a small portion of the event’s proceeds to schools.
Now, according to a new story by Mother Jones food policy writer Tom Philpott, the labor union United Teachers Los Angeles has added its voice to the protest with its own open letter.
Of particular note in this case: the Los Angeles Unified School District’s own guidelines on sponsorships would seem to expressly prohibit McTeacher’s Nights, as L.A. schools are not supposed to “accept donations from or promote organizations that market, sell or produce products that may be harmful to children including but not limited to, tobacco, alcohol, firearms, gambling, or high fat and calorie foods and drinks.”
Sounds like a slam-dunk to me. I’ll let you know if there are any further developments.
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