It’s the “food police” versus McDonalds’ and Ronald McDonald. McDonald’s is under fire as critics say its Happy Meals are bad for kids and that Ronald McDonald indoctrinates young children. But so far McDonald’s is sticking by its beloved symbol — and its happy meals:
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A PERSONAL NOTE: I have some stories to tell about Ronald McDonald and McDonald’s.
1. I once watched Ronald McDonald lead the Marine Corps band at Camp Pendleton. in the early 1980s, when I had just joined the San Diego Union newspaper, my first assignment was to work in the paper’s Oceanside bureau. Oceanside, in case you don’t know, is a lovely San Diego County city with a great surfing beach right next to Marine base Camp Pendleton. Part of my beat (my favorite part) was doing occasional features on the wonderful men and women who served and commanded at Camp Pendleton.
My favorite feature was the day when McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc was slated to show up to participate in a first: the first fast-food restaurant on an American military base. And so McDonald’s was opened that day with a huge flourish. A gracious Krock rode around on his motorized wheel chair talking with Marines. And the highlight was when a clown who wasn’t a member of Congress but the symbol of McDonald’s got up and conducted the Marine band’s rendition of the corporation’s theme song “You Deserve a Break Today.” Everyone from the Marines who served to those who commanded to the McD’s bigwigs felt it was a special day — and today fast-food restaurants on military bases is a “given.”
2. A decade ago I knew a juggler in Texas who had a secret: he was a Ronald McDonald. He took it very seriously and was protective of that character and RM being a role model for kids.
3. People can diss McDonald’s all they want, but the wife of founder Ray Kroc, the late Joan Kroc, was one of the most beloved figures in San Diego. At one point, she owned the San Diego Padres and was considered one its better owners. When she died she left a ton of money to help provide facilities for the homeless in San Diego — an example of a person with great corporate wealth who decided to pass her blessings on to others. Today the Ray and Joan Kroc Center is a major facility in San Diego known for helping those in need — particularly families with kids whose childhoods might otherwise be bleak.
4. A library in a desert area of California has trouble getting some entertainers to perform for kids due to the summer heat and the location. Who can it count on (besides this guy) ? Ronald McDonald visits and the kids always love him.
5. When James Huberty walked into a McDonald’s in San Ysidro near the San Diego Tijuana border on July 18, 1984 and brutally murdered 22 deaths (including kids on bikes) and injured 19 others before being killed by a police sniper, it first became the “McDonald’s Massacre.:” The corporation didn’t want that stain and it was clear it would try to eradicate that media name. It was successful since it became known as the San Ysidro Massacre. But McDonald’s did NOT leave it at that. Fearing a copy-cat, it tore down the scene-of-the-crime-restaurant and gave the former property to the city, which established the Education Center on the site as part of Southwestern Community College. It quickly built another restaurant down the street. I know about this story since I was one of many who helped cover it on the day it happened and as time went along for the San Diego Union. Wikipedia says this about the donated land that became an Education Center.
This location was built in 1988 as an expansion of its off-campus locations. In front of the school is a memorial to the massacre victims, consisting of 21 hexagonal white marble pillars ranging in height from one to six feet and each bearing the name of one of the victims, designed by Roberto Valdes. Every anniversary, the monument is decorated with flowers and on the Mexican holiday Day of the Dead candles and offerings are brought on behalf of the victims. The location of the monument and the former McDonald’s is at 484 San Ysidro Blvd., San Ysidro, CA. Designer Valdes, a former student at Southwestern, said of the sculpture “The 21 hexagons represent each person that died, and they are different heights, representing the variety of ages and races of the people involved in the massacre. They are bonded together in the hopes that the community, in a tragedy like this, will stick together, like they did.”
One memory of those dark days that stayed with me through the years was of the restaurant owner and his anguish at what happened to his beloved customers of all ages and their families and what happened to his employees that day. He only wanted to help, comfort and protect them.
McDonald’s later faced unsuccessful lawsuits from the victims and (no joke) – from Huberty’s widow who (no joke again) claimed the masscre was triggered by Huberty eating too much McDonald’s food. Which suggested that some clowns also work for lawyers.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.