Put that Big Mac attack on hold

By Judie Brown

You may have taken note of the new advertising campaign McDonald's has launched. The theme is "Come As You Are." When one pro-life activist, Mark Pickup http://markpickup.org/, saw one of the ads and became concerned about the apparent focus on homosexual men as customers, he wrote to McDonalds (McDonalds.CustomerCare@us.mcd.com).

Following is the verbatim response he received:

Hello Mark:

Thank you for taking the time to contact McDonald's. We truly appreciate customer feedback and welcome this opportunity to share some information with you.

The ad you're referencing is one of a series of ads called "Come as You Are" which recognizes the diversity of McDonald's customers in France. This particular commercial was produced by McDonald's France and is running only in France.

Each of our 117 markets around the world determines their own path on advertising and marketing, which is nothing new at McDonald's. Advertising has always varied around the world.

Again, thank you for contacting McDonald's. We hope to have the opportunity to serve you again soon under the Golden Arches.

Sarah

McDonald's Customer Response Center

ref#: 6918559

This response is the sort-of Pontius Pilate explanation that has become popular among extremely large corporations. Having said that, I have to immediately point out that Mark Pickup, who is among the world's most effective defenders of life, accepted the response and, in return, made a truly inspiring proposal to McDonald's:

Okay, in keeping with the "Come as You Are" theme, as a North American advocate for Life and disability inclusion, I look forward to seeing an ad showing a family taking their terminally ill mother or father to McDonalds. Such an ad would encourage families to embrace rather than euthanize a sick family member and help them understand dying as the last phase of living in addition to selling burgers. My second suggestion is an ad showing someone taking a woman in a crisis pregnancy to McDonald's to discuss life-affirming options to abortion while they have a meal together. Now that is real inclusion.

American Life League finds in these suggestions a tremendous opportunity to turn a negative into a positive. We recognize that homosexuality has become legitimized over time due to the contraceptive mentality. It is exactly what great thinkers like John Whitehead foresaw when he wrote about the practice of contraception: http://www.ewtn.com/library/PROLIFE/contramental.htm

For, if we can indeed morally separate sexual love from possible procreation, if we tear apart the God-given natural order, we will no longer clearly understand that homosexuality and sexual perversions, for example, are still further abominations and offenses against that order. Surely we cannot say that these things are a "misuse" of sex if sex has no natural use and is nothing but self-expression, not necessarily related to any other end such as possible procreation!

Thus, each of us is compelled to press against this tide and refocus America's attention on human dignity. What better way to do this than convert a corporation as powerful as McDonald's?

We believe sincerely that it is always better to encourage a corporate review of what has already transpired in the hopes that the company will revisit core principles. It does little good to harangue if one cannot offer a positive recommendation. This is exactly what Mark Pickup has inspired.

We encourage you to share this phenomenal idea with friends, family, Church members and co-workers. Let McDonald's know that it's time for an all-around affirmation of human rights starting with the most vulnerable members of the human family.

To contact McDonald's:

phone: 1-800-244-6227

e-mail: McDonalds.CustomerCare@us.mcd.com

mail: McDonald's Corporation, 2111 McDonald's Dr., Oak Brook, IL 60523

© Judie Brown