McDonald's CEO Don Thompson made a super-sized error when he told a girl, age 9, that his fast-food chain doesn't sell "junk food." He also said he has lost a whopping 20 pounds by eating McDonald's, in a bid to squash the ongoing relationship between McDonald's and obesity.
At the company's annual shareholders' meeting last week in Oak Brook, Ill., Hannah Robertson, 9, attended the meeting with her mother and gave Thompson an earful, asking why there weren't healthier options on the menu for kids, Business Insider reports.
"Something that I don't think is fair is when big companies try to trick kids into eating food that isn't good for them by using toys and cartoon characters," Hannah said, whose mother is a nutrition blogger and creator of "Today I at a rainbow" children's game which promotes healthy eating.
"It would be nice if you stopped trying to trick kids into wanting to eat your food all the time. I make cooking videos with my mom that show kids that eating healthy can be fun and yummy. We teach them that eating a rainbow of fruits and veggies makes kids healthier, smarter and happier because that is the truth...Mr. Thompson, don't you want kids to be healthy so they can live a long and happy life?"
What did Thompson respond to the sweet sounding 9-year-old girl who brought up a valid point? "We don't sell junk food, Hannah," said Thompson, adding that his own children enjoy eating McDonald's.
"My kids also eat McDonald's. When they were about your size, to my son who is with us today, who was a little bit bigger, he was a football player, and also they cook with me at home," he said. "I love to cook. We cook a lot of fruits and veggies at home."
He went on to say that the company provides high quality food with "real" beef, chicken, dairy and eggs.
Thompson later revealed at an analyst conference this week that he shed about 20 pounds in the past year by getting his "butt up" and "working out again." But he said he hasn't changed his habit of eating at McDonald's "every, single day."
