WHY WAS McDONALDS SINGLED OUT?
McDonald’s was ‘singled out’ because, despite an annual global advertising budget of around $2 billion dollars, they have made every effort to stifle public criticism – from campaigners to trade unions, disgruntled workers to customers, and from the media. Over the years McDonald’s has bullied their critics with threats of legal action and nobody has stood up to them. Please see Other McLibels for details of other organisations they have sued in the past. So when Helen and Dave (the McLibel defendants) refused to be intimidated, McDonald’s made a major mistake in taking the case to court. Once at court, huge amounts of information about McDonald’s business practices became available to the public for the first time. It is because of the availability of this information that the creation of McSpotlight was possible and it is the reason why the site in centred on McDonald’s.
McDonald’s was ‘singled out’ because, despite an annual global advertising budget of around $2 billion dollars, they have made every effort to stifle public criticism – from campaigners to trade unions, disgruntled workers to customers, and from the media. Over the years McDonald’s has bullied their critics with threats of legal action and nobody has stood up to them. Please see Other McLibels for details of other organisations they have sued in the past. So when Helen and Dave (the McLibel defendants) refused to be intimidated, McDonald’s made a major mistake in taking the case to court. Once at court, huge amounts of information about McDonald’s business practices became available to the public for the first time. It is because of the availability of this information that the creation of McSpotlight was possible and it is the reason why the site in centred on McDonald’s. Another key reason that McDonald’s has been singled out is that, because of the nature of the food industry, they
