McDonald’s New Zealand ties up with Weight Watchers in ‘healthy’ eating push
McDonald’s New Zealand has tied up with Weight Watchers to become the first market in the world to offer its customers meals endorsed by the weight loss brand.
The health push follows McDonald’s move in recent years to pay to have the Heart Foundation’s tick of approval on a number of its products including its burgers.
Mark Hawthorne, McDonald’s New Zealand managing director, said: “We were able to include some of our most popular items because of the many changes we have made over the years. For instance, the switch to a healthier canola blend cooking oil means menu items such as the Filet-O-Fish and Chicken McNuggets contain 60% less saturated fat than they did six years ago.
“We’ve also introduced salads, high fibre tortilla wraps, seared chicken, reduced sugar levels in buns and lower sodium levels in some dipping sauces. All these changes have made it possible for us to meet Weight Watchers requirements.”
A McDonald’s Australia spokeswoman said there were no immediate plans to extend the Weight Watchers partnership to Australia.
“There’s no commitment from McDonald’s to launch it here,” the spokeswoman said.
Emma Stirling, Weight Watchers nutrition advisor Australasia, added: “Our philosophy at Weight Watchers is that all food can be part of a healthy, balanced diet taking into account portion control and frequency. We know McDonald’s is one of New Zealand’s largest food and beverage providers and a popular choice for Kiwis, so we worked in partnership with them to help guide people when they’re eating out.”
Domino’s Pizza recently tied up with Network Ten’s The Biggest Loser to launch its Good Choice range. The unlikely partnership sees some of the pizza brand’s ads feature The Biggest Loser trainer Shannan Ponton.
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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Smart (and necessary) move as is the Dominos low cal pizza promo on Biggest Loser…
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McDonald’s have to start doing this stuff… and I sincerely applaud them for starting, ’cause this is what’s next:
http://www.ted.com/talks/jamie_oliver.html
Highly recommend that anyone who works on Fast Food watch this.
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‘Cause frankly anyone who says “I won’t work on cigarettes” but works on fast food (or booze) is a hypocrite. Both booze and fast food cost public health systems and impact real peoples’ lives waaaay more than cigarettes. (No one smokes a cigarette then loses control of a car killing people. No one smokes a cigarette then starts punching loved ones.) And nowadays, if you’re helping major corporations flog transfats to the overweight, you’re helping to kill people.
[/rant]
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Yep, good point Fleur. Updated in the story.
Cheers,
Camille – Mumbrella
Yep, this is just another way to make people feel ok about food that’s highly processed and ultimately, no good for you. It’s a cosy embrace between food companies and the ‘weight loss’ industry. Because let’s face it, if people really lost weight, forever, Weight Watchers et al. would be out of business. I’m torn between feeling sorry for those who fall for it, and thinking they are so stupid they deserve to be fat and unhealthy.
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I’m confused, since when was anything at McDonalds a healthy choice ? If you are overweight then just walking thru the door at macca’s is a very bad choice.
Who are WW and macca’s kidding…… it’s a smart business decision and nothing more.
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Tom thanks for the info on Teds what a great site
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I agree with “dragon”, it is a smart business move, and something that McDonalds had to do to be able to keep up with competition. As more and more fast food chains are offering healthy options, McDonalds would be stupid not to do the same. But, what does this attempt of repositioning do to the McDonalds brand?
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Yeah they’ve come a long way since Supersize Me. They had to and good on them. Yes, I realise a fair amount is window dressing but they’re moving in the right direction and hopefully making consumers consider their intakes more carefully.
Like most sensible folk, I avoid it all like the plague until I’m sh*tfaced and there are no other options.
It’s also interesting to see some of the other big fast food and beverage brands jumping on the ‘kindness revolution’ bandwagon – especially in light of the Soda Tax debate in New York. (Considering most recent research is pointing to overrefined carbs as the main source of the problem but I digress.)
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