McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbeque restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948 they reorganised their business as a hamburger stand using production line principles. The businessman Ray Kroc joined the company as a franchise agent in 1955. He subsequently purchased the chain from the McDonald brothers and oversaw its worldwide growth. McDonald's revenues grew 27 percent over the three years by the end of 2007 to $22.8 billion, and 9 percent growth in operating income to $3.9 billion. McDonald's primarily sells hamburgers, cheeseburgers, chicken, french fries, breakfast items, soft drinks, shakes and desserts. In response to changing consumer tastes, the company has expanded its menu to include salads, wraps, smoothies, and fruit. McDonald's restaurants are found in 119 countries and territories around the world and serve 58 million customers each day. McDonald's operates over 31,000 restaurants worldwide, employing more than 1.5 million people. It is obtained from the marketing source that McDonald's chooses the media, especially television, for their advertisements based on strict commercial evaluation and the content of the programmes in which their advertisements would be aired. McDonald's used to associate their advertisements with entertaining, responsible programmes. The commercial wing usually previews the prime time programmes before they agree to air their advertisements. This indicates that accepting programmes for advertising, since it has a long-term strategic impact on the viewership among family members for each of their products. A lot of criticism across the globe is circling around McDonald's on their advertisement. It is estimated that McDonald's spends over two billion dollars each year on advertising. Using collectable toys, television adverts, promotional schemes in schools and figures such as Ronald McDonald, the company targets their main group: children. Many parents object strongly to the influence of this over their children. McDonald's argue that they are floating their advertisements adhering to all advertising codes in each country. In addition, McDonald's advertisement is far better than anyone else's in the same product category or even from other sectors. But others argue that McDonald's exploitation of children and related family community. It is observed that some consumer organisations are calling for a ban on advertising to children. But the question that still remains is why does McDonald's sponsor so many school events and learning programmes? Is their Children's Charities really a genuine philanthropy or does it have a

more explicit publicity and profit motive?

1) Review and analyse the case above.

2) Extract and explain several issues/conflicts in the case and identify the central issue/conflict.

3) Identify and explain solutions/actions/ideas to address the central issue/conflict identified in the case.

4) Recommend the most viable solution to the central/issue identified in the case.