Leading pediatricians, cardiologists, and child psychologists in the United States who belong to a network of more than 1,900 healthcare professionals have called on McDonald’s to cease marketing their products to children. The Ronald Macdonald style advertising and toys with happy meals started coming under scrutiny some years ago and the pressure is growing against the junk food behemoth.

It seems surprisingly behind the times, but 22 hospitals, including Cleveland Clinic and Children’s Memorial Hospital of Chicago have contracts with the restaurant chain to have outlets in their facilities. The doctors are joining a campaign called Corporate Accountability International and have called on the administrators of the nation’s healthcare providers and institutions to remove McDonald’s franchises from all healthcare premises.

Dr. Francine Kaufman, former president of the American Diabetes Association and professor Emeritus of pediatrics and communications at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, one of the hospitals with a McDonald’s restaurant, clarified their position:

“Kids are being treated for diet-related conditions like diabetes on one floor in the hospital and given the wrong message by being offered the world’s most recognized junk food brand on another floor in the hospital … The practice earns McDonald’s an undeserved association with healthfulness among parents and children alike… and it should be curtailed.”

It’s been six years since the journal Pediatrics made the announcement that condemned allowing a McDonald’s store to operate inside a hospital and saying that it affects hospital guests’ consumption on the day of their visit, and boosts the perception of the “healthfulness” of McDonald’s food.

It does seem a little outrageous when you think into it, and with all the information available over the last decade, it’s almost akin to hospitals allowing cigarette vending machines in their staff cafeteria areas. The doctors initiative includes a call for action in a letter sent to the 22 hospitals. The letter goes on to say that :

“It’s no surprise that McDonald’s sites stores in hospitals. After all, for decades, McDonald’s has attempted to co-opt the health community, to deflect blame for the epidemic of disease that it has helped drive, and to pose itself as part of the solution.”

The letter continues by outlining the powerful message that the administrators of the hospitals can give by laying the law down against junk food and corporate profitability and marketing being overly connected with healthcare.

They also cite examples of other hospitals that have taken action in the past including, Parkland Health & Hospital System in Dallas, Texas which succeeded in replacing a McDonald’s with a smaller chain that offers healthier food. McDonald’s had been the only chain restaurant at the site for 20 years. Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Vanderbilt Medical Center have also ended their contracts with McDonald’s in recent years.

Sara Deon, Corporate Accountability International’s Value [the] Meal campaign director and the letter’s principle signatory summarizes her position saying that :

“Simply put, the less kids are exposed to fast food and its marketing, the less likely they are to suffer from diet-related conditions like type 2 diabetes … McDonald’s has a long history of putting a healthy label on an inherently unhealthy brand. It has used healthcare providers and institutions to help promote this image for decades. Today, administrators have the opportunity to provide a healthier food environment for the children and families they care for.”

Corporate Accountability International (formerly Infact) is a membership organization that has, for the last 35 years, successfully advanced campaigns protecting health, the environment and human rights. Value [the] Meal is Corporate Accountability International’s campaign dedicated to reversing the global epidemic of diet-related disease by challenging the fast food industry to curb a range of its practices.

Written by Rupert Shepherd