Online Public Relations Thoughts

It is a curious PR and investor headache to be taken to task for pigs.  Yet, that is what McDonald's is facing.  Carl Icahn, the billionaire investor, is seeking two board seats because the company has not yet stopped using gestation crates for pregnant sows.  The crates are considered unnecessary and harmful.  Of course, McDonald's doesn't raise pigs itself but purchases pork from farmers, some of whom continue to use the confinement method.  Icahn wants it stopped, but it might not be that easy for McDonald's to do.  The company can halt purchases from farms using the contraption, but that could damage the supply chain.  So, McDonald's is caught for the moment and is facing a reputation and boardroom battle -- over pigs.