Micky Dee's goes granola

MCDONALD'S UNVEILS GLOBAL AD CAMPAIGN AIMED AT CHILDREN

Wow. So I guess the child obesity problem must have "tipped," if you'll pardon the pun.

As much as I want to type a bunch of cynical, smart-ass comments about this effort--which I think it ultimately deserves--another angle is far more important:

If a corporation can see profit in "the right thing," it will do it. That's the trick, though, to show them the money. I've given up wanting multi-nationals to have a conscience. It would be nice--and I'll pay more to buy from a company that has one--but I'll settle for them responding to public pressure and earnings concerns.

Maybe kids won't eat the healthy food. Maybe they will. But at least now it's available. And all the other corporate fast food sheep will have to follow McD's lead. Soon, they'll be battling for "health-conscious mind share" and "low calorie relevance scores".

Now, for smart-ass comments, check out the McD's Top Global Brand Weenie Dean Barrett taking the tough stand:

"We have a job to do in communicating this message. We are not going to back away; we are not going to stop talking to kids in ways that are relevant."

You'd think he was talking about teen pregnancy or HIV infection. Good on ya, Dean! Power to the SVPs!