Who is more responsible for obesity, mcdonald's CEO or the fat people who eat too much mcdonald's?

I firmly believe the consumer is solely responsible for obesity, because of following points; 1. A consumer always has a choice about what to eat and what not to. He/she is free to pick healthy foods.

2. McDonald's CEO did not force anybody to eat their stuff. 3.

McDonald's sells healthy, low or zero fat foods too, like baked, grilled stuff, salads etc. 4. McDonald's did not launch their range of products with a view to make people obese. It is just an option and anybody can opt otherwise.

What about those lean and thin people eating at McDonald's and still not gaining weight? McDonald's does not restrict lean & thin people from eating at their restaurants and neither do they sell their products exclusively to obese people. 5.

What about the people who eat rubber solution (you might not have heard about it). It serves as an intoxicant to them and they sleep for hours. But you cannot blame Rubber Solution producers for this because they did not produce it for this purpose.

This is misuse of a product and the producer cannot be blamed for this. 6. The consumer who is not aware of his health and dangers of eating fatty foods, is the only person to be blamed.

Here, I must add that eating fats is not always harmful and it is an integral part of nutrition. It is just over intake of fat and not burning it that makes it bad for health. 7.

This sounds like blaming a rape-victim for being very beautiful and not blaming the rapist. 8. I am a staunch supporter of self-discipline and believe that anybody who is not mentally strong enough to observe discipline and then suffering due to that, is the only one to blame.

Tobacco and opium grew naturally and were not meant for human consumption. They are not very tasty either. At least, Mother Nature did not intend so.

But we; weak, sick and greedy human beings, did not spare even them and ultimately ended up consuming them to destroy this beautiful body that God has blessed us with. Who to blame here? No one but us.

9. Aren't there more people who are becoming obese without even seeing a McDonald's restaurant in their whole life, than those who become obese eating at McDonald's? There are billions of obese people who have never seen a McDonald's outlet in their whole life.

10. I am sure that even if McDonald's were not there, people would have surely found out a way to sell and consume fats (may be with a different name) and become obese. What about the natural fat found in red meat, pork, eggs, butter, cheese etc.etc.? What about our lifestyle with need for physical labour reducing day by day?

What about those who are jogging, cycling, working out, swimming etc. to keep in shape? The choice had always been, is always and will always be yours. Nobody else to blame.

Hope I made myself clear. Thanks.

The answer is not so simple. I wish it were. The food supply today is much different than it was a few decades ago.

So is the amount of leisure time the average person has; so is how we spend it. The food supply: in the 70's, there weren't the big national distribution systems for many things. I lived about an hour away from two fairly major cities, and about 20 minutes away from two larger regional cities.

In our local grocery, the meat was from local farmers--usually grassfed by default, because it's less expensive to just let your cows eat what's already growing than to spend money on fuel to plough it up, and more money on seed to plant corn to feed to the cows. The grassfed was cheaper meat then. And in the summer, much of the produce was from local farmers.

Foods were simply more nutrient-dense back then--there were more minerals in the soil. It had only been a couple of decades since the advent of non-organic farming methods. Now that it's been closer to 70 years, the soil is much more depleted.

When the nutrients aren't in your food, you get hungry on the cellular level, which means you have an appetite even when your stomach is full. You get cravings. You eat more calories and get less nutrition out of it.

The majority of the American public either doesn't have access to good-quality organic food, or can't afford it. There is a reason Whole Foods has earned the name "whole paycheck". Another key in this: not only are our foods more depleted as they come off the vine, food manufacturers add fillers and all kinds of chemicals to try to convince customers that the food is "just like Mom used to make.

" Look at the ingredient label of just about any manufactured food, and it looks more like a shopping list for a chemistry teacher than food. Anyone care for a piping hot bowl of propylene glycol monostearate? So it starts on the farm.

It's continued by the food manufacturers. And it's continued in lifestyle choices. Many people, and families, eat on the run.

As Jamie Oliver said in his spot on TED, people don't know how to cook. So they buy fast food and prepared food, all of which is nutritionally bereft. Being overweight is a very good sign of having an endocrine system problem, according to Dr. Michael Eades (among many others).

But the standard American diet is almost guaranteed to *cause* an endocrine system problem, because of how eating patterns have changed over the years. McDonald's does offer salads and grilled chicken and unsweetened tea. It can't stock what people don't what, because it goes bad.

It's not like stocking electronics that can sit and get dusty on a shelf for a few weeks or months. McDonald's locations have to throw it out within a few hours if it doesn't sell. It really does have to carry what people want, or it would loose its shirt.

So Jamie Oliver is right: education is the key. Laying blame either of the two directions won't really help, because of market forces on the one hand and very real and widespread endocrine system problems on the other, diagnosed or not.

Neither. The entire food industry as a whole for making low grade, factory raised commodity meat cheaper to buy and more readily available for American people. McDonalds is supply and demand.

If you haven't watched Food Inc, watch it. People eat at McDonalds because it's cheaper to buy a happy meal with two hamburgers, fries, and a soda than it is to buy a head of lettuce at the grocery store. This is because we as Americans demand food that is quick, cheap, and convenient and don't care about where it comes from or what it does to our bodies.

Lower income families tend to be less healthy and more overweight because the cheaper the food is - the worse it is for you.

We have to take responsibility for our own actions. I could go out and buy a gun and ammunition and kill everyone in my neighborhood but I do not. Why?

Because I know it is wrong, it is not good for me, and will have severe consequences. The opportunity is right there, gun and ammo shop and bunches of annoying idiots who just piss me off but I choose not too because I know it is wrong and would have severe consequences. It is my choice to live better.

I could go out and buy tons of drugs, have a great time using them, selling them, profiting from the sale if them, and enjoying all the debauchery and chaos that go with that life but I do not. Why? The opportunity is on every street corner and back room social club or bar but I choose not to because I know it is wrong, harmful, bad for me and society, a ruiner of lives and families.

I would end up in jail or dead.. there would be severe consequences. It is my choice to live better. I could eat fast food every day, two, three times a day.

, it is cheap, fast, delicious, and easy but I do not. Why? The opportunity is all around me.. a Wendy's, Burger King, McDonalds, Taco Bell, Five Guys, Arbys etc etc on every city block and filling every food court in every mall but I CHOOSE not to because I know it is wrong for me, harmful to my physical health, my mental health, my overall well being, and will be more expensive in the long run for me in health care costs.

It is my choice to live better. *The one who chooses the lesser of the options available is at fault* for the consequences they receive as a result of the choices one makes, especially those who make these poor choices over and over and over, unless as a result of a health condition, some insanity, lack of actual mental capacity, etc, that prevents said individual from making the right choice or adjusting their life so they can make the right choice.

SOME* people have actual health problems. So I won't figure them into the equation. Blaming McDonalds for fat people is like blaming gun manufacturers for people getting shot.

If you are fat, it is your fault. Granted, it is difficult (read: sometimes expensive) to have a healthy meal. You can get 2 cheeseburgers and a large soda from mcdonalds for less than 3 dollars.

Find me a healthy meal that is just as filling, for the same price.

I totally agree with cuppycake by answering this leading question outside of the box. What do you mean by making us choose between two over generalizations? Sheesh!

Of course, people are responsible for their own food choices! And, likewise, how can you blame a CEO who's primary charter is to steer the corporate profits ship? Ultimately, though, if you think about it -- the modern "fast food" phenomena is but a tiny blip upon the evolutionary timeline of human beings.

Our bodies are effectively the same as hunter/gatherers from 100,000 years ago -- and our drive to eat to survive is paramount. I highly recommend "Fast Food Nation" as one of the best books to read on the Phenomena of the fast food industry. The chapters on Karl Karcher were especially informative.

amazon.com/Fast-Food-Nation-Eric-Schloss... Regarding blaming people for being fat? Go grab some Weight Watchers literature and read that. It explains all up and down why, when we don't satisfy our hunger, and force our bodies into our standard socialized "Three Meals a Day" concept, our blood sugar dips, another part of our brain takes over, and -- voila'!

-- bad craving and >zing en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phen_phen I hope this proves useful info. Thanks for readin'!

It's hard to nail down exactely who is responsible for obesity, its a complex problem which have it's roots far beyond mcdonalds and obese people. I would separate problem in 4 categories Genetic Most of obese people are carrying problematic genese from there ancestors who were also experiencing some type of addiction or emotional problems in there times and this gets carried for several generations until it gets cleaned out. When we are born we are not a clean slate, we are carrying all the problems and benefits which has been build by our ancestors.

Our job is to carry that legacy, fix the bad parts and improve even further good parts. In this case obese people are in one way victim of that legacy but on the other hand it's their lesson which will help them to improve as humans and by doing that help future generations too. Dysfunctional families We all know that when family is dysfunctional that kids will suffer too.

This suffering can be shown trough various type of behavior and obesity is just one of them. I also noticed that not only fast food companies are producing low quality food, I saw so many families cooking at home terrible stuff, using microwave all the time and lots of other unhealthy things. But this is something we don't see, we only see those fast food companies out on the street.

Lack of education As far I can see, most obese people are coming from poor background where they couldn't receive proper education. We do things from not understanding and lack of experience. A good education will provide you those elements and you will be able to apply the knowledge in real life and say no when it's needed.

Capitalism - serving the need Capitalism is currently the best model we have but it's far from being ideal. The basic of capitalism system is to fulfill demand of people for services and products and to make profit out of it. It's like this for hundred years and it's not likely to change very soon.

All these genetic problems, dysfunctional families and lack of education have produced large amount of people who are demanding products which will currently make them feel better. Capitalism, which is here to serve the need, jumped in and created solution for it so we have now mcdonalds, pizza huts, and burger kings all over the world. We could say that these companies are doing dirty business by making money on those people but this is completely another questions.

It's up to them to recognize how moral their activities are. But did those companies created a problem? If you see those first 3 points above you will realize no, they did not create the problem, fast food companies are just sitting on top of the problem with their big bottoms and are not willing to move because they will lose lots of money.

And they have right to protect their business which employs hundreds of thousands of people all over the world. If we want to solve the obesity problem we have to help those obese people but we have to also help those companies to transfer their business in less radical way so they can keep all those workers who are having families to feed too.

Read The End of Overeating. Companies spend millions to get food designers to find the right combination salt, fat, and sugar to make food irresistible so we will spend more money to buy their food. Animals are affected in much the same way as humans.

Couple that with a multi-billion dollar marketing industry to sell us this designed food. Now couple all that with the cost of eating healthy versus something quick. We don't stand a chance.

The rate of obesity started spiking in the 80's and continues at an alarming rate today while large corporations laugh all the way to the bank. The Fat Tax idea hurts the poor, and charging extra for an airline seat just encourage the airlines to make even smaller seats and charging people who do fly more money. I am not a small person but not huge either and the seats are not that comfortable for me.

We need a way to encourage people to make healthier choices and make those available to lower income individuals.

You blame the people that make themselves fat not McDonald's. But why McDonald's and not a few hundreds more places that you can get junk food? People who can't control themselves tend to blame other for their own fault and sometimes try to get something out of it by going after the big guys.

It's not like you can just walk in and pick up the meal. You have to give them money, order what you WANT. That mean you know what you are getting every time.

So, is that mean if you plan to buy oil and drink it. You can blame the company makes oil for trying make you fat too? You know for about $5 to get a big mac meal.

You can also get about 5 loaf of breads so should 5 loads of breads make you fatter?

My opinion...having been bigger and struggling but finally succeeding in dropping the poundage...I see that it is totally my own fault. Yes I blame some on my family for when I was young and not trying to feed me healthier dinners and what not, but Fast Food is quick, cheap and extremely tempting...but there is no excuse or no one else to blame.. I chose to eat fast food every other day. I chose to get more then I needed...I chose to pick the greasiest unhealthiest options on the menu.

I could of had a salad every time I went...but did I? No, not once. Fast Food companies...are there to make money, sell quick and easy food.

They are not there to fatten up America, or whatever country just for pure amusement. Everyone has the ability to say no....to anything that comes in front of them...including food. But that's just my opinion.... :).

No doubt the person eating the food and becoming obese is their chose. Junk food is sold at grocery stores, if some individuals could or would have self control then weight issues wouldn't be such an epidemic.

It's the person eating it 100%. YOU KNOW it's bad for you when you eat it - too much of anything is bad! I mean, you don't see people suing Duncan Hines or Blue Bell for makign them fat by eating cake and ice cream all day because YOU KNOW that kind of food will make you fat.

It's the same with McDonalds - you cram your face with crappy food, you're going to be unhealthy! It's not the company's fault for a person being irresponsible with what they put in their body - and frankly the thought is insulting. That would be like me suing Old Navy because Ican't find jeans that fit me!

Lol its the fat people who go in there and order 3 big macs, 3 xl large fries, 6 of those dollar cheeseburgers and a diet coke Then they drive across the street to KFC and sit alone to eat their Mc'd's. For dessert its a few tubs of mashed potatoes and gravy or the chocolate cake.

Craving is based on an individual lust or decision. We cannot make companies responsible for that part. Of course they need to provide us with safe, clean food.

But abuse of nutrition is something we persons can decide to. We do not have to become fat per se. Of course, any company is free to adopt a smart pr-strategy in which they stimulate a healthier lifestyle.

If you eat too much calories, if you exercise less then you should do, why blame McDonald’s?

The food industry knows exactly what it is doing -- increasing consumption to increase profits. Commercial processed foods are intentionally not nutritious, this is done to increase consumption. Obese people are actually malnourished.

They are large because of the volume of junk they consume in their body's attempt to acquire nutrition. But the food industry doesn't provide nutrition, so unless you are independently educated about nutrition, you eat what is popular and advertised. Obesity is now affecting children and even infants!

If you want to understand the politics of obesity, you MUST see this video presentation: Jamie Oliver at TED 2010 "Teach every child about food" zhami.posterous.com/jamie-olivers-ted-pr... If you want to understand the biochemistry of obesity, you MUST see this video presention: Dr. Robert Lustig, M.D. Professor at UCSF, Division of Endocrinology http://zhami.posterous.com/the-truth-about-fructose.

The people who eat it, not only are they getting fat, but they are enabling the company big wigs wallets to fatten more and more with each bite.

To a certain extent: both are. People making the choice to eat unhealthy food are indeed making a choice. However, companies, especially, but not only, those like McDonald's, in this business do game the system, from the USDA down to individual "farmers," to ensure that unhealthy food (i.e.

These companies' food) wins by being cheapest in the marketplace.

Who is more responsible for obesity, of course it's the person involved. Even it's because the person has a sort of illness that makes him/her fat, it's not right to blame someone else for a certain person's size. Why blame Mc Donalds if you're the one ordering too much and finishing everything in just one sitting?

If you have a certain illness that makes you fat or can easily make you fat, why don't you do something to keep yourself from being healthy? If you have slow metabolism, then why not exercise so you would burn what you eat easily? If you can't stay away from fastfoods since it saves you more money cause it's cheap, then do something for you to stay fit.

You can jog few times a week if you can't afford the gym or do so sit-ups at home. Mere walking helps. If there's a will, there's a way, so it's really impossible that there's nothing you can do so you won't become fat.

In life, whatever we become is because of our choices. Maybe Mc Donalds isn't serving you healthy stuff, so why not moderate what you eat at any fastfood chain and better opt for the healthy choices?

The fat people. They are not forced to eat there, they make the choice, they are responsible for the results. The McDonald's CEO is 0% responsible for the fatness of people, he just runs an extremely successful business.

Some people feel it is easier to blame others, and that is generally what happens when it comes to fat people and McDonald's, the people can never take responsibility for their actions.

Both. The former's sin is greed, the latter's gluttony (unless overweight due to prior health issues). The former can utilize and apply today's technology and resources to introduce healthier products while still sustain a healthy profitability, while the latter can spend a little more money and cook healthy foods at home and be financially (no doctors' fees) and physically healthy for duration of his/her life.

The responsibility falls on the consumer. Until fast food outlets start dragging customers in force-feeding them, how can they be held responsible for what other people eat?

I worked at McDonald's for several years, and to be honest, I didn't see many fat adults there. Some fat kids, spoiled by their "too busy" parents. But actual adults, not so many.

But if you go to publix (supermarket) and check the aisle with the Doritos and soda. Maybe the frozen dinners (one Hungryman 1lb dinner has 1000 calories). My point, you'll see more fat people at the grocery store than at McDonald's.

Special conditions aside, it's the fault of the individual.

People who eat too much McDonalds, or the parents who are too afraid to say no to their kids when they want to go to McDonalds.

The individual has to make the choice to eat the food.

He's only been CEO since November 2004. I don't think you can possibly blame him for the problem of obesity. So, by process of elimination, I guess the answer is B) "the fat people who eat too much mcdonald's", though I don't think those people alone are responsible for the entire problem of obesity.

For me it is without a doubt the person eating to much McDonalds. People are surely aware of the medical danagers your body experiences with eating fast food. Not just McDonalds but any fast food.

I think it is a shame that parents do not show much concern for their children by taking them to their favotite fast food resturant. Parents are the suppose to be Leaders for our children to follow. Fast food needs to be stopped.

I seen the movie "Super Size Me", not to long ago and I was awed at what I learned from that movie. You need to see this movie for some proof of how one persons life not only changed but was put into a medical situation from eating only McDonalds for one month. So Yes, by all means the person that is intaking the food is to blame.

McDonalds or any other fast food resturant does not MAKE anyone eat their food. flickr.com/photos/km_2_go/1985880729/ flickr.com/photos/1773/2822608707.

The problem is not McDonalds, they're just selling what people enjoy eating at a low price. The real problem, is that humans evolved as nomadic tribes, and our taste in food is accordingly adapted around that environment. We are just an animal like any other of course.

And we are out of our natural habitat so we can get sick. In a nomadic tribe, you'll be constantly active just to acquire the food you eat. We're designed to enjoy sweet foods, to encourage consumption of healthy fruits.

And fatty foods to encourage consumption of wild bore etc and the solid protein that provides. Our taste in food is designed around what makes us healthier in a nomadic environment, it backfires in a modern civilisation environment. Of course it's not easy to overcome basic instincts and human behaviour, so you can't easily blame either McDonalds or it's customers.

We just have to be aware that it is a hard struggle to eat well when we're so far out of the habitat we evolved in and we must try harder.

Government subsidies is one of the biggest reasons that unhealthy food is cheap these days. In the 1970's, the government changed from a long standing policy of LOANING money to grain farmers in bad times, to GIVING money to farmers in bad times (that's the short version anyway). These government subsidies encourage corn farmers to overproduce corn beyond what the market would normally require.

Corn farmers actually sell corn at a loss, because the government subsidies make up the difference. This produces an abundance of corn that has to go somewhere... Cheap corn has led to most of the unhealthy food production in America. Cheap corn means that high fructose corn syrup is cheaper than sugar (Coke switched their ingredients in the 70's in response to this), processed foods are cheaper to make, and farmers can use corn to feed animals (which is often less healthy).

Its the persons fault. Im overweight and I blame myself not McDonalds.

To me, the ultimate question is (as pointed out by mahalo.com/answers/food-and-drink/jamie-... Jamie Oliver at TED) do we blame the user, the supplier or do we blame the enabler (a society/government that encourages bad ideas) To quote some of the horrid media from the US that I have managed to expose myself to: "Just askin....

Each decide for themselves what food to eat.

I'll straddle the fence and go with 80:20 McKinsey BS... yes, eating junk is a choice but that assumes "perfect" knowledge and understanding as well as the ability to resist a multi-billion dollar advertising industry whose entire purpose is to overcome natural resistance.

Not sure about who is more responsible for obesity {I tend to lean towards the people who consume the food} Just cause it's there doesn't mean you have to eat it... But I don't think groups like this really help either.... National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA) naafaonline.com/dev2.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.