Who's to blame here? Fast food industry? Society? Individual responsiblity? Everyone wants to blame someone. Even though I can't stand the fast food industry, I do agree with the judge's dismissal of the case involving two overweight girls under 20 - one of whom said that a McMuffin for breakfast and a Big Mac meal for dinner was her regular daily diet. I'm immediately thinking, "Hmmm, if I'm 19 years old and weigh 270 pounds, eating this way every day might cause a bell to go off somewhere in my head that it's probably not good for me." Then there's the father, who believed McDonald's was "healthy for my children." While I agree with the issues in the story regarding billion-dollar advertising which targets mostly children, what the hell kind of dream world is he living in?
The judge ruled, ""Where should the line be drawn between an individual's own responsibility to take care of herself and society's responsibility to ensure others shield her? The complaint fails to allege the McDonald's products consumed by the plaintiffs were dangerous in any way other than that which was open and obvious to a reasonable consumer." Gotta go with the judge on this one.
Why can't we be like the French? This summer, McDonald's in France placed an advertisement in the popular magazine Femme Actuelle that said, "There is no reason to eat excessive amounts of junk food, nor go more than once a week to McDonald's." C'est bon.