In which I rant about #McDonalds.

So... I'm trying to figure out the interwebz, blogging, and Twitter. And in an effort to do so I "attended" a "Twitter Party." This means that you and whoever else is interested #hashtag your tweets with the agreed upon #hashtag(s) at the agreed upon time. The "host" poses a series of questions and everybody discusses them while being careful to include the agreed upon #hashtag(s). The group hosting the party has a #group and if there's a sponsor then there's also a #sponsor.

I'm interested in learning about Twitter as well as family oriented cooking and nutrition so when I stumbled across a Twitter party about nutrition hosted by a group with an otherwise good reputation I thought I'd check it out. 

In this case the host was #gno and the sponsor was... and I'm totally serious here... #McDonalds. So every tweet had to have #McDonalds #gno in it if you wanted to be involved in the Twitter party's conversation. As in, "Farm to table cooking is really important. #McDonalds #gno." "My family is growing a garden because we value organic local food #McDonalds #gno."

Or in my case, "#gno I'm new. I don't get this. How is #McDonalds or your favorite item there about nutrition? They're food is not healthy *at all* #Srsly?"

"Cooking at home is important to my family b/c otherwise we'd have to eat stuff from #McDonalds all the time & that's a really bad idea. #gno"

"#McDonalds and #gno are having a Twitter party about *healthy eating.* Interesting to watch. Much like #NewtGingrich preaching family values"

(Side note: you should totally follow me on Twitter @LarksNotesThis because  #PimpingYourselfIsApparentlyWhatYouDoOnTwitter)

So the whole "Twitter conversation" or "Twit-sation" (I feel like that should be a thing, especially in this case.) is like this:

"OMG U Guys! So good to see you! Nutriton is awesome! #McDonalds #gno! I would so love a shamrock shake!"

"Giveaway question! What is your favorite #McDonalds item? Pls RT!"

"Here is a picture of my kid doing cute stuff b/c cooking at home is really important #McDonalds #gno!"

"I love #McDonalds #Coke #gno!"

"Q: HOW DO YOU ENCOURAGE HEALTHY EATING?"

"We use healthy ingredients. I love gardening. Also McNuggets. #McDonalds #gno."

So, you know, YAY NUTRITION!

I take my kid to McDonalds on occasion and really don't see a problem with that. But I don't think I - or anyone else (hopefully?) - is going to tell you that that's a nutrition oriented choice any more than going to the movies and eating my weight in popcorn is an exercise oriented choice.

Obviously, McDonalds likes nutrition in that it doesn't like lawsuits or bad PR for how terrible its food is from a nutritional perspective. This is about as transparent as "Nothing is more important than respiratory health. #MalboroLights."

I'm all for partnering with businesses and especially supporting small businesses but, ::: shakes head :::, really? I mean, really? There's got to be a point where you just say, "No."

What say you? What are the hallmarks of a responsible corporate sponsorship?