McDonald´s Lawsuit

In a true case of David and Goliath, two British conservationists have won a court case in the European Court of Human Rights against the British government’s libel laws. Helen Steel, 39 & Dave Morris, 50, also known as the McLibel 2, campaigned in the early 1990s against what they saw as McDonald’s’ immoral operating practices. They distributed leaflets in the streets of London entitled “What’s wrong with McDonald’s – Everything they don’t want you to know”. They were also awarded 35,000 euros ($45,000) between them.

The hamburger chain sued the pair for libel, spending $10 million on lawyers. The McLibel 2 had no money for legal representation, and the British legal system did not at that time allow legal aid in libel cases. McDonald’s won the case and were awarded $70,000 in damages. The pair never paid a penny of it. It was a huge public relations disaster for McDonald’s. The presiding judge damningly stated, “McDonald's marketing has “pretended to have a positive nutritional benefit which their food (high in fat & salt etc) did not match”; that McDonald's “exploit children” with their advertising strategy; are “culpably responsible for animal cruelty”; and “pay low wages, helping to depress wages in the catering trade.”

A McLibel 2 media release declared that “the notorious and long running McLibel case was in breach of the right to a fair trial and right to freedom of expression. The two conservationists had launched legal proceedings against the UK government arguing that the marathon 'McLibel trial' which lasted 313 days - the longest trial of any kind in English legal history - and UK libel laws, breached the European Convention on Human Rights Article 6 (right to a fair trial) and Article 10 (right to freedom of expression).” The McLibel 2 stated, “We hope that this will result in greater public scrutiny and criticism of powerful organizations whose practices have a detrimental effect on society and the environment.

1. WHAT’S WRONG WITH McDONALD’S? Choose a word to summarize each of the following statements.

1. McDonald’s try to cultivate an image of being a 'caring' and 'green' company.
2. Children are lured in (dragging their parents behind them) with the promise of toys and other gimmicks.
3. McDonald's promote their food as 'nutritious', but the reality is that it is junk food.
4. Workers in the fast food industry are paid low wages. McDonald's do not pay overtime rates even when employees work very long hours.
5. Every year McDonald's use thousands of tons of unnecessary packaging, most of which ends up littering our streets.
6. The menus of the burger chains are based on the torture and murder of millions of animals.
7. Staff turnover at McDonald's is high, making it virtually impossible for workers to unionize and fight for a better deal, which suits McDonald's who have always been opposed to Unions.
8. Methane emitted by cattle from the beef industry is a major contributor to the 'global warming'  crisis.
9. McDonald's only interest is money, making profits from whoever and whatever they can.

2. DEFINITIONS: Students match the following words with the most likely definitions (Please think about the headline!):

(a) David and Goliath (n)
(i) a hamburger restaurant chain
(ii) a story about a small person defeating a giant

(b) libel laws (n)
(i) laws that prevent one person / company saying damaging lies against another
(ii) laws that require restaurants to sell healthy food

(c) immoral (adj)
(i) something that everyone knows is bad and unethical
(ii) the ability to live or be remembered forever

(d) sued (v)
(i) a way of frying old burgers quickly to kill all bacteria
(ii) took someone to court to wi n damages, compensation or recover a reputation

(e) damningly (adv)
(i) to block a river’s natural course to create more land for cows to graze
(ii) very very very strongly condemned someone or something

(f) nutritional (adj)
(i) having a positive number of elements which are good for our health
(ii) to describe something you are 100% sure something will happen

(g) exploit (v)
(i) to campaign against something in the streets, usually with leaflets
(ii) take advantage of people weaker than yourself and use them to make money for yourself

(h) notorious (adj)
(i) something that is very well known, but for negative or bad reasons.
(ii) the style of speaking in a courtroom

(i) scrutiny (n)
(i) a disease that originates from eating too many hamburgers
(ii) very very close examination of something or someone

(j) detrimental (adj)
(i) something that causes harm or injury to someone or something
(ii) something that creates benefits to someone or something

3. SYNONYM MATCH: Students match the following synonyms from the article:

(a)	conservationists	prosecuted
(b)	campaigned	infamous
(c)	distributed	financial assistance
(d)	sued	circulated
(e)	legal aid	condemn
(f)	damages	examination
(g)	damn	compensation
(h)	notorious	crusaded
(i)	proceedings	activists
(j)	scrutiny	action

4.DISCUSSION

1. Do you like McDonald’s?
2. What do you want to know about McDonald’s?
3. Is McDonald’s a good or bad company?
4. Do big companies ever lie? Give the best examples of this. 
5. What other David and Goliath cases do you know?
6. What do you think of the McLibel 2?
7. Do you believe the stories that often circulate about McDonald’s burgers being made of dog meat, or horses feet…?
8. Does the McDonald’s Happy Set and free toy exploit children / parents?
9. Which multi-national companies do you dislike / hate and why?
10. Are there any huge companies you respect?
11. Do you think McDonald’s is a good employer?
12. McDonald’s likes to think of itself as a caring company. Can you think of any good things it has done for the world (except pay its shareholders and executives lots and lots and lots of money)? (What could you replace the repetitive lots and lots and lots with ?)
13. Do people have the right to hand out leaflets criticizing a big (or small) company?
14. If you became an activist, what company would you target and why?
15. Have you seen the movie Supersize Me – the one about the guy who eats McDonald’s three times a day for a month and then has many health problems?