McDonald's Expands Quality Correspondent Program Which Taps Mothers In Washington Region

Chicago, IL (AHN) - To battle the growing public perception that McDonald's offerings are not healthy, the fast food chain is tapping more mothers as its frontline warriors under the firm's Quality Correspondents program.

McDonald's launched the program in 2007 and recently tapped five mothers in the Washington region to be part of the program. The five are among the thousands who responded to a TV ad seeking volunteers to help explain the nutritional value of McDonald meals to the public.

"What to Eat" author Marion Nestle, a nutritionist at the New York University, said because of McDonald's size as a conglomerate, it is an easy target for critics. "They sell junk food and they market it to kids at a time when public obesity is a major public concern," Nestle wrote.

The new McDonald's defenders are expected to bring credibility to McDonald's campaign to convince the public its meals are healthy. According to a recent study, ordinary people and not journalists or academics are the most credible when it comes to providing company information.

McDonald's will feature the five new endorsers and the rest of the mommies in a video to be shown on its Website.

Meanwhile, a City University Of New York study released Wednesday said prohibiting fast food commercials would cut the number of young obese Americans by 18 percent and older overweight children by 14 percent.

The study, to be published in November at the Journal of Law & Economics, is based on years of government survey statistics beginning from the late 1990s and personal interviews with thousands of U.S. families.