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food / travel

McDonald's Provides Nutrition Advice In German Schools

SÜDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG (Germany)

Worldcrunch

BERLIN - What better way to help educate kids on healthy eating than with some Big-Mac-And-Large-Fries-sponsored lessons!?

This special sauce comes courtesy of a German non-profit, that has called on McDonald's to be one of the sponsors for a new government-sanctioned program to provide nutrition education in schools, writes Süddeutsche Zeitung.

The "Alliance for Consumer Education" is the brainchild of the German Consumer Protection Foundation, and was presented to the public this week in Berlin by the Minister for Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection, Ilse Aigner.

"The nutrition education of young children cannot be left to the food industry,” said German consumer activist group Foodwatch.

Are they serious? Julian Fischer, the Alliance’s CEO, said it was clear to him that associating McDonald’s with an initiative to improve kids’ diets would spark immediate criticism. But that was part of the point: tired of campaigning in vain for media coverage or public interest for the organization's nutritional initiatives, Fischer said this idea was to bring in heavyweight partners who carry real clout -- and maybe even court controversy.

McDonald's brings some publicity to the foundation, some money (although Fischer described its contribution as “relatively modest”) as well as some influence. It, in turn, benefits from being associated with a health promotion effort, Suddeutsche reports.

A McDonald’s spokesman, Philipp Wachholz, described its commitment to healthy nutrition for children as “a contribution, as a responsible company in the food industry, to society.” The company would not be involved in the hands-on education programs in schools, he said.

Foodwatch, however, said that industry players like McDonald’s can't be allowed to sponsor initiatives of social responsibility while maintaining their core business that are “making huge profits pushing junk food at kids,” Fischer said.

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Ideas

Look At This Crap! The "Enshittification" Theory Of Why The Internet Is Broken

The term was coined by journalist Cory Doctorow to explain the fatal drift of major Internet platforms: if they were ever useful and user-friendly, they will inevitably end up being odious.

A photo of hands holding onto a smartphone

A person holding their smartphone

Gilles Lambert/ZUMA
Manuel Ligero

-Analysis-

The universe tends toward chaos. Ultimately, everything degenerates. These immutable laws are even more true of the Internet.

In the case of media platforms, everything you once thought was a good service will, sooner or later, disgust you. This trend has been given a name: enshittification. The term was coined by Canadian blogger and journalist Cory Doctorow to explain the inevitable drift of technological giants toward... well.

The explanation is in line with the most basic tenets of Marxism. All digital companies have investors (essentially the bourgeoisie, people who don't perform any work and take the lion's share of the profits), and these investors want to see the percentage of their gains grow year after year. This pushes companies to make decisions that affect the service they provide to their customers. Although they don't do it unwillingly, quite the opposite.

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Annoying customers is just another part of the business plan. Look at Netflix, for example. The streaming giant has long been riddling how to monetize shared Netflix accounts. Option 1: adding a premium option to its regular price. Next, it asked for verification through text messages. After that, it considered raising the total subscription price. It also mulled adding advertising to the mix, and so on. These endless maneuvers irritated its audience, even as the company has been unable to decide which way it wants to go. So, slowly but surely, we see it drifting toward enshittification.

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