Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 18 April 2018

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs

Tackling Childhood Obesity: Discussion

9:30 am

Professor Donal O'Shea:

I think it will be seen as such in 40 years but it is an essential facility and it is just that the people who are delivering it and the way we have set up the children's hospital is with the help of Ronald McDonald because there has been a historical connection. It is a fact that some countries are moving away from that arrangement now.

In terms of marketing, Snapchat was not mentioned in the earlier discussion but it has a massive reach. There is no age limit on Snapchat and children of every age are engaged and they are getting ads. I am on Snapchat and I see them coming through.

In terms of marketing to children, the McDonald's monopoly prize vault runs for six weeks at the moment. A child gets a sticker with a burger and two stickers with a Big Mac. He or she gets a sticker with a small drink and two stickers with a big drink. One gets no sticker with water. The more a child goes, the more chances he or she has to win. How does the child win? He or she pulls a ticket from the bottom of the cup or burger, goes online and enters the ticket number to see if he or she wins a prize.