McDonald's chief: Ronald's not going anywhere

Despite some critics, McDonald's CEO Jim Skinner Thursday adamantly told shareholders: the clown stays.

Boston-based Corporate Accountability International has been staging protests on Wednesday in downtown Chicago and Thursday in Oak Brook seeking to retire the longtime fast-food icon, saying he leads children into diet-related illnesses. The group's protesting clowns mocked Ronald and touted a website, www.RetireRonald.org, devoted to Ronald's marketing evils.

"Ronald McDonald is not retiring," Skinner said. "He is the time-tested face behind Ronald McDonald House. He is a face for good. He does not hawk food."

Shareholders, who have profited from successful marketing campaigns that included Ronald, booed the protesters and cheered Skinner. Critics said Ronald McDonald was the epitome encouraging children to eat unhealthy foods, while Skinner said the icon means support and comfort to sick children and their parents, who rely on Ronald McDonald House.

"It's a poor idea to get rid of Ronald McDonald," said shareholder James Whelton of Naperville. "McDonald's has shown that he's been an advantage to children, and they've taken a very positive view with him, What children eat is determined by their parents."

Ronald also has helped to boost the restaurant chain's image worldwide, said shareholder Chuck Plock of Mount Prospect. "I'd hate to see him go," Plock said of Ronald. "McDonald's is doing everything they can to improve the menu."

Improved menu items, including the increasingly popular McCafe coffee drinks and dollar menu items have helped boost McDonald's sales to $22.7 billion worldwide in 2009. Global sales grew by 3.8 percent, despite the tough economy, Skinner told shareholders.

In fact, shareholders benefited greatly. McDonald's paid $5.1 billion to shareholders through share repurchases and dividends in 2009, or about $16.6 billion over the last three years. Total shareholder return for the 3-year period ending in 2009 was 15.5 percent, Skinner said.

Skinner said the company will keep the momentum going by devoting about $1 billion to remodeling restaurants to keep them fresh and modern. They'll also continue to introduce new food products, like their Big Tasty in France, the McWrap in Austria and the McItaly burgers in Italy. Also the restaurants in the United States this summer will introduce wild berry and strawberry banana smoothies

The popularity of such new products has shareholders' lovin' it. But that didn't stop social responsibility groups from continuing their attacks on how that food is processed.

One shareholder proposal, submitted by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which owns 79 McDonald's shares, campaigned to have the company require its suppliers to switch to controlled-atmosphere stunning to kill, a less cruel method of slaughter, within the next five years. Another shareholder proposal, submitted by The Humane Society of the United States, which owns 101 McDonald's shares, sought to encourage the company to switch at least 5 percent of the eggs it purchases for its U.S. locations to cage-free by January 2011.

Both proposals lost with about 95 percent of the shareholders voting against each of them. Final tallies will be posted on www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/investors.html