It appears as though Ronald McDonald has been forced into early retirement at age 49 due to
ever-increasing pressure from consumer advocate groups who claim he has served as a pied piper for youngsters all over the world, enticing them to eat high-fat processed food that is contributing to obesity and poor health.
Not so, says McDonald’s CEO Jim Skinner. He insists the company has no plans to retire Ronald. That kind of corporate denial is typical, even as Ronald’s presence in McDonaldland has diminished over the past year – ever since the negative media publicity started gaining traction.
Filed under: Business Models | Tags: auto industry, customer value, public relations
More than ever before brands are built on trust, not image. Trust is an emotional state, founded not just on the products but on the integrity of companies that produce them, and the CEOs who lead them. In a consumer-driven marketplace, where public trust has been rocked by numerous incidents of corporate greed and situational ethics in a brutal economic recession, even seemingly invincible brands have become volatile.
