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The Battle to Do Good
Book

The Battle to Do Good

Inside McDonald's Sustainability Journey

Emerald Publishing Limited, 2019
First Edition: 2019 more...


Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Analytical
  • Eye Opening
  • Engaging

Recommendation

Former McDonald’s executive Bob Langert details the efforts the fast food chain made to respond to a string of controversies. He addresses battles it waged – and resolved productively – with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), including Greenpeace and PETA, over issues of waste, sustainability, and more. Langert discusses the evolution of McDonald’s partnerships with NGOs, consumer demands to get rid of bulky Big Mac packaging, and non-profits’ attacks on Happy Meals for contributing to rainforest destruction and childhood obesity. With each battle, he reports, McDonald’s found a productive solution that responsibly addressed its critics’ concerns.

Take-Aways

  • Consumers and environmentalists demanded that McDonald’s get rid of the Big Mac’s container, a polystyrene foam (PSF) “clamshell.”
  • McDonald’s worked with Dr. Temple Grandin and others to transform its animal welfare programs.
  • People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) targeted McDonald’s with its “McCruelty’s Unhappy Meal” campaign.

About the Author

Bob Langert, columnist and editor-at-large for the GreenBiz Group, ran the corporate social responsibility and sustainability efforts at McDonald’s for more than 25 years.