If McDonald's thinks selling salads constitutes social responsibility, they must figure clean bathrooms deserve the Nobel Prize.

I noted earlier how Wal-Mart is playing to the so-called “corporate social responsibility” movement by repackaging its external corporate affairs functions under a newly concocted position called “Director of Stakeholder Engagement.”   All "non profits, non-governmental organizations, academics and government agencies" with a potentially leveragable interest in Wal-Mart’s practices will now be called stakeholders -- not necessarily because they are, but because they want to be thought of as such. 

Granted, Wal-Mart is beefing up and centralizing its efforts, but it is simultaneously hoping to mitigate the influence of social critics by semantically co-opting their rhetoric.  As such, what used to be public relations or community affairs becomes stakeholder engagement.

Same mule.  Different saddle.

Now McDonald’s is also repackaging its product marketing and flackery to sound like corporate social responsibility initiatives on its blog, “Open for Discussion.”

When asked why McDonald’s isn’t doing more about a number of issues -- including buying organically-grown food, building more energy-efficient restaurants, paying employees better and reducing environmental impact – the company’s answer included a perky assertion that Mickey-D’s food choices prove its commitment to being a responsible corporation:

   

“Over the last three years, we have introduced many new food items that offer more choices for everyone. The salads are terrific! New grilled premium chicken sandwiches. Apple dippers. ... we are putting nutritional information on our packaging to help educate our customers.... So we think we are leading our industry in offering a range of products that can fit into our customers' dietary needs and helping them make informed choices.”

I certainly give McDonald’s big kudos for facilitating an interactive dialogue with its customers and detractors.  But answering a direct question about social and environmental concerns with a marketing brochure defeats the purpose. 

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Tags: McDonald's, CSR, blogs, corporate social responsibility, Wal-Mart