Depends who you talk to:

"To neutralise the junk-food misconceptions about McD's good food"
- McD's internal memo, USA, 1986

"To brainwash youngsters into doing wrong"
- Geoff Guiliano, original Ronald McDonald actor, in a statement he made apologising for going against "everything I ever believed in by selling out to the McDonald's corporate juggernaut by playing Ronald McDonald to thousands of innocent, trusting children". He has now been vegetarian for 15 years.

"To dominate the communications area... and compete for a share of the customers mind"
- Alistair Fairgreaves, McD's UK Marketing Services Manager, in the witness box in the Mclibel case.