10/16/08 Did Your Hamburger Have a Face?
On the occasion of World Anti-McDonald's Day and World Day of Food, Animal Friends is organizing a public event
On Thursday, October 16, on the World Anti-McDonald's Day, Animal Friends is organizing a public event against the multi-national company that has been accused of crimes against animals, huge damages to ecology, exploitation of child labour, serving unhealthy food, and sustaining global starvation.
Besides posters, activists will bring a piece of cow's carcass to the event in order to show that hamburgers do not grow on trees, but had their bodies, faces, and eyes. The event will take place on October 16 at 12 noon, in front of McDonald's restaurant on Rijeka's Korzo.
McDonald's favourite target group are children. Complaints because of manipulating children present a serious problem to the company. Numerous toys and commercials designed especially for children draw them to the restaurants as if they were hypnotized, creating a "vicious circle" for both parents and children, who grow up to become life-long visitors of McDonald's, take their own children there, who will take their own children, etc. Bombarded by movie and cartoon characters, toys, laughing clowns, balloons, and "fun," the children unwittingly sustain McDonald's business.
It is amazing that an ordinary fast-food chain, offering unhealthy meals with no educational background, is able to convince the entire public that children are "crazy" about eating there and "gorging" on low-quality food of inferior nutritional value. Even schools organize group visits to this multi-national company, which globally feeds a number of people that would equal the population of Spain.
McDonald's is responsible for the death if millions of animals each year, not to mention their poor treatment and brutal slaughtering. There is a direct link between McDonald's (acknowledged by the company itself) and the destruction of rainforest, cleared in order to make room for pastures. Deforestation leads to the extinction of numerous plant and animal species, driving away indigenous populations, while burning large quantities of wood enhances global warming. Meat industry incurs other types of damage on the environment as well, such as uncontrolled exploitation of water and oxygen resources. Therefore, it is no wonder that World Anti-McDonald's Day coincides with the World Day of Food.
On October 16, the World Day of Food, it is important that we should address the issues of global starvation and inadequate exploitation of natural resources.
All animals bred for food eat more protein that they produce – even the most "productive" ones must consume 9 kg vegetal protein in order to produce 1 kg of meat. Thus, a 25-acre field can be used to produce enough meat to sustain a single man or vegetal food to feed 20 people.
It is estimated that the decrease of meat production for 10% would leave at our disposal enough corn to feed 60 million people. Only the animals bread in the US eat enough vegetal food to feed 2 billion people. In the West, 80% of all cereals are used to feed animals.
Besides, Western countries use their power in order to force poorer countries to produce food for animals instead of producing food for their own people. As much as 50% of food needed to feed the animals in the EU comes from the Third World countries.
The solution for global starvation, confirmed by numerous world organizations that deal with the production and consumption of food, is offered by thousands of vegetarian groups and organizations. By adopting meatless nutrition, each one of us can sustain rational exploitation of natural resources. Thus, vegetarianism is not only beneficial to animals, to our health and our environment, but also directly helps alleviate the problem of global starvation.
The awarded documentary "Super Size Me," in which Morgan Spurlock eats only McDonald's meals for a month and ends up in hospital, can still be borrowed in Croatian video rentals and you should take a look at it before visiting a McDonald's restaurant. If you still wish to eat meat at fast-food chains, you should seriously ask yourself about the consequences that your decision will have for you, your family, animals, and the environment.