Sexually Exploiting Children on Television… Brought to You By McDonald’s

Recently, McDonald’s sponsored the 250^th episode of Fox Broadcasting’s “Family Guy,” which was all about one of the main characters boasting about his 1,000 ^th sexual conquest, and included jokes about date rape, pedophilia, and bestiality. McDonald’s has also been a sponsor of this program throughout the current television season. “The maker of Happy Meals is underwriting jokes about statutory rape, date rape, and other sexually exploitative content on a primetime broadcast television cartoon watched by millions of children. And McDonald’s executives are struggling to understand why their sales are dropping? Ray Kroc must be spinning in his grave. With its recent marketing changes geared toward families, it’s time for McDonald’s to take control of its brand and refuse to associate with TV programming that is harmful to children,” said PTC President Tim Winter. “McDonald’s spends countless millions of dollars every year on television advertising, the sole purpose of which is to influence the viewer to visit the Golden Arches. But that influence on viewers doesn’t end when the commercial break is over and the program comes back on. And ‘Family Guy’ poses an additional risk to children, who are inherently attracted to animated programming. More than half a million children watched ‘Family Guy’s’ 250 ^th episode. “At a time in our nation’s history when 76 colleges and universities are under federal investigation for not doing enough to protect victims of sexual violence on campus; at a time when nearly one in three women in America is sexually abused; at a time when more human beings around the world are being held in bondage than at any point in history; McDonald’s must be held publicly to account for investing its media dollars to underwrite television programming that trivializes rape, incest, pedophilia, sexual trafficking, sexual abuse and other of humanity’s most horrific crimes that are far-too-frequently perpetrated against the most innocent and vulnerable among us. McDonald’s, it is time for you to win back our trust.”

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