McDonald's a "Resource" for Childhood Obesity Awareness Month

McDonald's foods boast some pretty astronomical calorie counts. The Golden Arches' Big Mac weighs in at 29 grams of fat and 540 calories, while its Crispy Chicken Classic Sandwich holds 20 grams of fat and 530 calories. Even a cheeseburger and small order of french fries, a combo offered as a Happy Meal, contain a combined 23 grams of fat and 530 calories. Yowzah, that's a lot of digits for a child's single meal.

So given Mickey D's high-fat offerings, one would expect to find the fast food chain listed as one of the causes of childhood obesity, not cited as a resource to beat the epidemic. Yet, sadly, McDonald's is listed as an "external resource" on the Web site for America's National Childhood Obesity Awareness month.

According to the Appetite for Profit blog, McDonald's "Stage M" online game joins organizations like the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Let's Move initiative as an "external resource" to help folks combat childhood obesity. Stage M is a video game featuring cartoon characters in the form of a milk jug, apple, and what is presumably a corn niblet. Supposedly, the trio — which consistently appears beneath the fast food chain's trademarked Golden Arches — teaches kids about nutrition and the joys of eating fruits, veggies, and dairy.

According to Appetite for Profit, McDonald's advertises Stage M as "an exciting and entertaining place for kids, where they can watch music videos all about the fun and great taste of fruits and vegetables. The whole family will want to sing along! Kids can even put themselves in a music video!"

They can also put themselves in doctors' appointment books if kids continue to scarf down McDonald's and other unhealthy meals at their current rates. Over the past 40 years, the incidence of childhood obesity has increased more than four-fold in children ages six-to-11, setting kids up for heart disease, cancer, diabetes, asthma, and other health maladies.

While I'm naturally skeptical of all events that fall under the "Awareness Month" title, I was hopeful that Childhood Obesity Awareness Month would actually spark real reform. For the first time, an Administration is actually taking this epidemic seriously, with First Lady Michelle Obama leading the charge through her Let's Move campaig. This official awareness month could have helped draw more attention to the health problems associated with obesity and provided Americans with the tools and knowledge to stay healthy. Instead, it directs folks to the food manufacturers who are causing the problem in the first place. The Obama Administration may be serious about combating childhood obesity, but it's hard to take its awareness campaign seriously when it boasts McDonald's as a resource.

Photo credit: Eddie~S via Flickr