BS: Eco-Friendly Corporate Action

Subject: BS: Eco-Friendly Corporate Action
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 08:38 PM

McDonalds Saves The Hedgehogs

MCDONALD'S CHANGES LIDS TO SAVE GERMAN HEDGEHOGS

Posted: Thursday, March 06, 2008 12:56 PM
Filed Under: Mainz, Germany
By Andy Eckardt, NBC News Producer

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the zeal of the recycling-conscious German public. Little did I know at the time that one waste product was potentially life threatening – at least for German hedgehogs.

Hedgehogs, spiny creatures which are native to Africa, Asia and Europe, are so beloved in Germany that they led McDonald's Germany to introduce a new, hedgehog-friendly design for its McFlurry ice cream treat containers.

Two years ago, McDonald's Germany was contacted by BUND, one of Germany's largest environmental groups, which reported that up to 100 hedgehogs had been killed as a result of being caught in the lid holes of the popular McFlurry treat.

Don't Miss it!

VIDEO: A hedgehog interacts with the new McDonald's McFlurry container

"There were no solid statistics on hedgehog deaths caused by McFlurry lids," said Alexander Schramm, a McDonald's spokesman in Munich. "But, because our company had confronted the same problem in the U.K. in 2006 and had already changed the product line, we decided to do the same in Germany."
The re-design process included several different lid-sizes and cover flaps, which could prevent hedgehogs and other small animals from getting stuck inside the containers and, as a result, starving to death.

"This was not a marketing campaign. It simply did not involve big financial and organizational measures to make the change," Schramm says.

But the conscientious move surely hasn't been lost on the German public, including Ulrike Pachzelt, who runs a small hedgehog shelter outside of Frankfurt called "Hedgehog Island" that takes in an average of 1,000 sick, underweight or injured hedgehogs per year.

"The little fellows became a passion for me 17 years ago," said Pachzelt, "but I think they are extremely popular in Germany because of Mecki, the hedgehog, a comic figure, which was introduced by a popular German magazine back in 1949."

Thanks to the new McFlurry lips, hopefully the little creatures will continue to charm Germans for generations to come.

?????

John

Subject: RE: BS: Eco-Friendly Corporate Action
From: Geoff the Duck
Date: 07 Mar 08 - 05:15 AM

But have they stopped putting hedgehogs in their burgers? Will they have to supply separate toothpicks?
Quack!
GtD.

Subject: RE: BS: Eco-Friendly Corporate Action
From: Geoff the Duck
Date: 07 Mar 08 - 06:48 AM

I clicked on the Video link and got a completely black web page.
Did it all happen on a VERY DARK night?
Quack!
GtD.

Subject: RE: BS: Eco-Friendly Corporate Action
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 07 Mar 08 - 07:23 AM

Geoff -

It's an MSNBC video, and appears to be some sort of "Flash" variant. The commercials probably are "Java linked" since they rotate to a new one each time you open the same video.

I found them unusable until I migrated from dial-up to DSL, getting just a screen full of technicolor "hash;" but haven't had any problem with them since getting a half-fast connection.

They typically open with a 30 second commercial, then go to the video you want to see, which in this case is a couple of minutes long.

It's a great show if you're infatuated with ground hogs, I suppose; but otherwise not exactly life-challenging excitement.

John

Subject: RE: BS: Eco-Friendly Corporate Action
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 07 Mar 08 - 02:02 PM

They seem to be pushing European animal rights and talents. The video now immediately following the "hedgehog interacting with McFlurry container" video is something about an artist named Tony Blair

"Tony" seems much more an activist than the anonymous professional stunt-hedgehog.

John

Subject: RE: BS: Eco-Friendly Corporate Action
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 Mar 08 - 07:46 PM

I saw a cup and a hedgehog licking its lips. No interaction between them.

Subject: RE: BS: Eco-Friendly Corporate Action
From: Peace
Date: 07 Mar 08 - 07:56 PM

The PR guy for the Golden Arches screwed up, imo. However, it's kinda neat to hear the little guys are gonna be saved from that type of death. I wish we could get Canadians to stop throwing those damned six-pack plastic things (the plastic that keeps six cans of this or that together (NO, not three bras)) all over the landscape. Ducks, geese, various other water fowl get their necks in them and the get snagged on brush or whatever, and that's that for them.

Subject: RE: BS: Eco-Friendly Corporate Action
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 08 Mar 08 - 09:04 AM

Stilly -

I think the cup was playing hard to get...

The artist seems to be doing okay though. I saw a headline that said "Tony Blair to teach at Yale next year."

But maybe I shouldn't assume that was to be in the art department. Isn't there another guy that used to use the name "Tony Blair?"

John

Subject: RE: BS: Eco-Friendly Corporate Action
From: Becca72
Date: 08 Mar 08 - 09:48 AM

I think the real question is how are these hedgehogs getting the money to go to McDonalds? Are they selling their bodies for McFlurries?


PS: I WANT ONE!! (a hedgehog, not a McFlurry).

Subject: RE: BS: Eco-Friendly Corporate Action
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Mar 08 - 12:49 PM

What's the point of showing a hedgehog avoiding a cup if the real story is what happens when they interact with them? A controlled experiment with the actual offensive lid would have been more instructive, in my opinion.

What do they do, wiggle through the cross-hatch straw hole?

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Eco-Friendly Corporate Action
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Mar 08 - 12:54 PM

Have to do everything yourself around here:

Head in cup (same one as in first link, as far as I can tell).

Here's another story.

SRS