McDonald's ESL debate topic for Intermediate/Advanced

Debate with upper-level ESL students about advertising and health

1. McDonald´s and obesity
•Some years ago, Bronx teenagers
Ashley Pelman and Jazlyn Bradley
sued McDonald's, claiming that it had
caused them to become obese and
unhealthy.
www.cnn.com

2. McDonald´s and obesity
•The judge ruled that the girls must allege
(and be prepared to prove) that
McDonald's has successfully fooled its
customers into a state of ignorance about
the health risks of eating its product and
that in the absence of McDonald's
deception, they would not have become
overweight.

3. Let´s talk.
•Do you think the American Law should
forbid people from suing Food
Companies? Why or why not?

4. McDonalds Made Me Fat!
•Gregory Rhymes,15, of the Bronx, is taking
McDonald's to court, claiming that the burger
giant made him fat.
•Super-sized at 400-plus pounds and standing
only 5-foot-6, Rhymes says he ate at
McDonald's nearly every day, sometimes
several times a day, ever since he started first
grade ---about 3,300 days straight.

5. McDonalds Made Me Fat!
•Gregory's mother, Ruth Rhymes, thinks it's
only fair that her kid should now try sinking
his teeth into McDonalds. "I had no idea
that he was destroying himself," she said
in papers filed in Manhattan federal court.
"I had no idea."

6. McDonalds Made Me Fat!
•The lawyer acting on behalf of these
outsized teens is Samuel Hirsch. He says
people are too dumb to know what's good
for them and that McDonald's has an
obligation to make known that their food is
unhealthy.

7. McDonalds Made Me Fat!
•"Nobody thinks that going to McDonald's
can be unhealthy because McDonald's
promotes their food as healthy," says
Hirsch. "Young people are not in a position
to make a choice after the onslaught of
advertising and promotions."

8. GROUP A GROUP B
•You´re going to
defend the
cheeseburger bill.
•You´re going to
defend the
consumer´s right to
sue food companies.
Get together and
create as many
arguments as you can!
Convince the other
group you’re right!

9. Let´s talk more.
•Do you think young people are prepared to
make their own decisions about the food
they eat?
•Do you think that Advertising is really
deceiving?