Fast-food giant McDonald’s “has ended a controversial practice of giving nutrition advice to students in schools, pulling back on a program that critics said was a subtle form of fast-food marketing that could imperil kids’ health and understanding of nutrition,” reports the Washington Post.
The company stopped sending Iowa teacher John Cisna to middle and high schools to talk about how he lost almost 60 pounds in six months by limiting himself to 2,000 calories a day from McDonald’s menu and adding 45 minutes of walking to his daily routine. The company had made Cisna a brand manager, and sent him around the country to talk at schools about his diet.
Nor is McDonald’s supplying related materials that went with Cisna’s appearances, including a video about the diet. In it, Cisna ate every meal at McDonald’s for 180 days. He said “this experiment is about teaching kids to use critical skills in making proper choices,” and noted that his students selected his menu one week at a time while heeding the calorie limit and tracking 15 nutrients. Last October, the blog The Lunch Tray said the overall package “is hardly a neutral lesson in calorie balancing.”
“John’s currently focused on the opportunities that make the most sense for our brand at this time. Specifically, as our brand ambassador, John is currently focused on internal and local community events, and he is not appearing at schools,” a McDonald’s spokeswoman told the Post. The school visits ended last Nov. 13, said McDonald’s. Bettina Elias Siegel, who writes The Lunch Tray, said on her blog, “In other words: Victory.”