McDonald’s Ill-Advised Beef Video

I’m stunned almost to the point of being speechless.

McDonald’s has a video on their website that I think is probably a better vegan advocacy tool than “Meet Your Meat.” This, folks, is as good as meat-processing gets, and despite the homey guitar intro and the folksy plant managers, the details just aren’t what a normal person ever wants to witness.

Beyond that, you’ll notice that Lopez Foods, the company being profiled, takes delivery of unprocessed meat from the slaughterhouse — so there’s no brutish cattle killing anywhere in this video. It’s interesting that McDonald’s calls Lopez Foods their “beef supplier,” as if the supply of beef starts, not at the slaughterhouse, but at a company that grinds up and freezes hamburgers. I call B.S.

McDonald’s doesn’t seem to have any slaughterhouse video on their site, and they’re obviously expecting that consumers are too dumb to notice.

Technology site Gizmodo has a fantastic write-up of this ill-advised PR video. When it comes to meat production, being open and transparent might not be the best idea — even if you’re selectively choosing the things to be transparent about. Link.

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