McDonald Case study Essay

Comparing with other competitors in the catering industry, McDonald’s has developed into one the giant and most famous fast food restaurants in the world. At present time, McDonald’s is the world’s largest food service retailers offering services to customers, in the same time they are keeping opening new shops all over the world every day. However, even though their business is keeping increasing, but they also met some negative messages from consumers or other parties, such as their products is not unhealthy, food they provided will cause obesity to the childhood. From relative estimation, it shows that obesity condition and the qty of those overweight children have been increasing rapidly throughout the world. More seriously, childhood obesity rate in the country of Australia is the highest in the world. From this consideration, it is much necessary to analysis relationship between the fast food and the obesity. Here, I will take the example of McDonald’s to research in detail 2.0 Analysis of case (McDonald fast food) There are lots of people will be consumed in McDonald’s., roughly, there are more than 30 million customers will be served in McDonald’s restaurants around the world. Accordingly, McDonald also achieved great success, especially comparing with other not so famous similar competitors. But due to fast food’s unique style of business, such as: their unique food ingredients, material used and cooking method, people think fast food will be the main cause for the obesity, typically for children, because they like the taste of such fast food a lot and consumed a lot too. In Australia, according to the study, there are about 25% of children in Australia are obese or overweight nowadays, while that was just 5% in the 1960s. The study from Australia’s Child Youth Help shows that the overweight preschoolers aged four years rose from 3.2% for boys and 3.5% for girls, to 4.1% for boys and 5.8% for girls in 2002. Also according to many scholars and nutritionist’s reflection, it is not hard to know that the fast food provided will be the main reason for causing childhood obesity. Since obesity has lots of negative effect to the health of the people, and especially for childhood, comparing with normal adults, childhood will be the focus for parents or relative health institute to pay attention on. As relative research shows that fast food will generate relative higher fats etc, so becomes one of the main causes of getting child fat. For McDonald, due to their significant achievement, together with their multi-advertisement, makes people, child is more familiar with them, on the contrary, this type of condition also makes McDonald become the target of complaints of childhood obesity. 2.1 Questions 1: McDonald relationship with childhood obesity Due to the cause of the obesity, McDonald’s relationship with child and parents becomes much tight. There are lots of people complain this giant food seller, because they have provided to many fast food to children, which cause them failed to be healthfully growing. In which, their variety type advertisement also become the target for people to blame. Because advertisement will bring good feeling and positive to the consumer, especially when child get to know the advertisement, they will be much easily to be attracted by the contents, therefore, they will be much easily tend to take such advertising food. In the meantime, since they are short of the knowledge to judge and get to know more detail of the products, is it  good, or will it bring bad effect to health once eats. So in the way, McDonald’s advertisement becomes the target of people’s blaming. As far as I am concerned, it is not doubt that McDonald will hold the direct responsibility, because they are the food providers, and they are the persuader to make children like their food by advertisement. But in the meantime, children’s parents shall also have the responsibility. Normally when the child go in to the McDonald’s shop, they will accompanied by their parents or elder person, at this point, when the children do not have the knowledge and the ability to tell the negative of the fast food, their older accompanier shall point out in time, also shall provide necessary guide in selecting the food. 2.2 Questions 2. The impact of McDonald’s marketing Advertisement will bring lots of effect to consumers, and for McDonald’s marketing because most of their advertisement contents will be designed by professional, who will be able to make the contents of the advertisement will be much attracting to their consumer, and when they target children, normally, the effect of the advertisement will work. Also they will design relative program to present their products to consumers. 2.2.1 Impact of McDonald’s marketing on individual consumers It is well-known the principle of the treatment to the people in McDonald’s that people are the key to the success of McDonald’s. To individual consumers, McDonald’s celebrate the children’s birthday with them. The parties are fun, Hassie-free and make for great memories to give an impressive and unforgettable experience for each of the individual customers in it. Customers can choose from two great-value packages, each offering games, entertainment and meals, and with more than 200 committed birthday party restaurants Australia-wide, there are plenty of nearby locations to choose from. Additionally, there is online booking for the convenience of the customers, which is even easier to give the little customers a party they’ll love. 2.2.2 Impact of McDonald’s marketing on other business and society Apart from the great favorable impact of McDonald’s to the individual consumers, McDonald’s itself also shed indispensable impact on other business and society as a whole. There are 267 franchisees and 9,000 suppliers serving as business partners in McDonald’s Australia alone (McDonald’s Australia Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability Report 2010). Therefore, the great sales in McDonald’s will no doubt generate vast increase to the sales of those business partners to a large extent. 2.3 Question 3: Social marketing’s influence to children Social marketing will contribute and affect a lot to the consumer through variety type of approaches, and it can be clearly known from the example of McDonald. The great success of McDonald’s is basically because of its establishment and implication of its responsibility to do what’s right. To better carry out this responsibility, McDonald’s takes several measures as the societal marketing listing below: (1) Productive strategy of high quality products. The quality of the products is the life thread of an enterprise. From this consideration, McDonald’s places this to the first of the other four criteria. (2) Price strategy of reasonable price. To be successful in the furious competition of fast food industry, McDonald’s implicates the marketing strategy of low price and national uniform price. (3) Service strategy of clean and speedy service. The cleaning of the food in McDonald’s has closed connection with the health of the customers, especially that of the children’s. While clean and speedy service provides convenience for the necessity of busy customers. Promotional strategy oriented with ads. The promotional strategy in McDonald’s is rather simple but quite effective, mainly with the strategy of ads publicity to create sensational effects. (5) Cultural strategy of accustoming to the local culture. McDonald’s maintains its own style of diet and also adapts to the local culture to invent food of the traditional distinguishing features (Nestle & Jacobson, 2000). Through the measures above, McDonald try to widely present their products as top as possible to the consumers, also their products will be accompanied with good service which will greatly influence the consumption intendance and habit of their customer, in which children are also the most part, therefore children will naturally like to eating in McDonald. 2.4 Question 4. Opinion of advertising for kids and other solutions for childhood obesity in Australia 2.4.1 Problems of advertising for kids The advertisements of McDonald’s are always aimed at interesting more customers, especially to the little children. McDonald’s enticing their children customers to want its food by applying free toy giveaways. The ads of McDonald’s are both in TV or other publications produce various attractive pictures and images to entice the children to it from their visual to their gustatory sense. 2.4.2 Other solutions to solve childhood obesity To solve childhood obesity, several strategies are decided as followed: – More focus must be placed on the group prevention rather than the individual treatment and instruction. In order to change the diet and behavior in the family, it is critical whether to depend on the family and the society. The effect of the individual instruction such as the fat farm and summer camps will be very limit without the long term support from the society and school (Allison & Webe, 2003). – School must be the major part of the prevention of childhood obesity. – The government must make no efforts to control childhood obesity. – How to cooperate with the food industry is one of the parts of the strategies (Berg,Buechner& Parham,2003). 2.5 Trend of the fast food industry in Australia The fast food industry in Australia has achieved its great success in recent years. The social and industrial status of fast food industry has been gradually established and become more important. The scales of both the industry and the enterprises are increasingly broadening, and the quality and standard are improving evidently. In a word, the development of fast food industry is limitless in the long run. All around Australia, fast food is not simply a commodity; it is also a representation of â€Å"the West† or â€Å"American†. If it wants to help explain its attraction, McDonald’s should innovate its quality as well as the foods themselves to match the advance  demand of the society. Australian business environment was so complicated that foreigners could not hope to survive on their own, in such circumstance, only those enterprise matching with the consumer requirement will be survive. On the whole, Australian consumers treat â€Å"fast food† restaurants as leisure centers and tend to stay longer than do most Americans. In the meantime, other type food, like rice is more than a simple grain; it is imbued with symbolic meanings and is perceived as sacred by many Australians. The style of food does not fit easily into the existing Australian food system, so McDonald’s, if can operated in a more healthy way for their food by improving step by step in innovation, it can be easier to be accepted. 3.0 Conclusion In conclusion, McDonald’s is believed the giant of the fast food industry. It has achieved great success in its sales and the fame all over the world. However, together with its great success, McDonald’s also creates serious problems to the society, in specific the childhood obesity. It is estimated that the prevalence of obesity and overweight children has been increasing rapidly throughout the world. And the rates of the childhood obesity in the country of Australia are the highest in the world. Its beginning relates to the starts of a new political era, on in which local interests challenge the authoritarian rule of the Nationalist Parethy, in this way, the Golden Arches arrive just as Australia reaches takeoff as a major player in the global electronics and computer markets. To many consumers in Australia, McDonald’s meant something the leisure and easy, and people prefer it. So in order to advance their business, but in the same time, not to bring the negative side to the consumer, especially children, it is part of McDonald’s responsibility to take care of their products, trying best to find good method or innovation to catch the problem of causing serious state of childhood obesity, that is certain measures are in great need to be taken to solve or affiliate the situation. It is also believed that with better responsibility taken, and with correct marketing, trying to stick the principle of â€Å"right goods is the base of good marketing†, then the fast food industry will be successful forever. References: Allison,D.B. & Weber,M.T(2003). Treatment and prevention of obesity: what works, what doesn’t work, and what might work. Lipids Berg,F., Buechner J. & Parham E. (2003). Guidelines for childhood obesity prevention programs: promoting healthy weight in children. Nutr Educ Ebhav McDonald’s Australia Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability Report 2010 Nestle,M.& Jacobson,M.F(2000). Halting the obesity epidemic: a public health policy approach. Public Health Rep