British Silver Medal-winning boxer Amir Khan has criticized LOCOG “for allowing McDonald’s to open their largest-ever restaurant in the Olympic Park" for the '12 London Games, according to Kelso & Davies of the London TELEGRAPH. McDonald’s plans to open its "biggest and busiest restaurant in the heart of the park, a 3,000 square metres, two-story building in the Olympic Park with 1,500 seats that will be one of four McDonald’s outlets on the main site, including one in the athletes village and one in the media centre.” Khan contends that the outlets send the "wrong message about healthy lifestyles to young people.” Khan: “If we want them to be healthy and educate them to eat healthily, we need to think about approaching them in a different way, especially around sport.” McDonald’s has been an Olympic sponsor since ’76, and as the Games' official restaurant “has exclusivity as the only branded restaurant at 2012 venues." But LOCOG defended McDonald's "presence in the Olympic Park and at other venues," and insisted that the QSR "will not be the only food provider." Kelso & Davies note LOCOG has “bowed to public and political pressure on the food issue and a number of unbranded outlets offering domestically-sourced food will be also opened in the Olympic Park and at other venues” (London TELEGRAPH, 7/21). In N.Y., Stuart Elliott noted McDonald’s officials yesterday while unveiling their marketing plans for the '12 Games “often repeated the phrase ‘balanced eating and fun play’ in describing the focus." McDonald’s officials said that “for the first time,” the Olympic restaurants “will also serve Happy Meals in addition to their other menu fare.” McDonald’s “has been aggressive in fighting back against efforts by activists to limit or ban Happy Meals on the grounds that they provide children with too many calories and too much fat, salt and sugar.” McDonald’s Senior VP & Global Brand Business Officer Dean Barrett said that the QSR “would promote its sponsorship in 117 markets around the world and also with its 1.7 million employees.” McDonald’s also "intends to use the Olympic sponsorship to talk up its efforts in areas like the environment and sustainability” (NYTIMES.com, 7/20).
AMID THE FALLOUT: News Corp.’s News International is “set to lose exclusive access to British athletes ahead of the 2012 London Olympics after the phone hacking scandal that led to the News of the World's closure.” Team 2012, the Visa-backed project "supporting potential British Olympians, had signed up News International as its official partner.” But Team 2012 in a statement said, "As a result of the closure of News of the World the contract can no longer be fulfilled as originally envisaged" (AP, 7/21).
