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The 'McLibel' two outside the Royal Courts of Justice.
Photo by Karen Robinson

by Elisa Freeling
Environmental Expression Through Art Session

McLibel: Two Worlds Collide
a film by Franny Armstrong

How did a part-time bartender and a former postman cause the biggest-ever public-relations disaster for the world's biggest fast-food chain?

As the Star Wars-esque opening text scroll of the film tells us, this is the story of two people who wouldn't say sorry. Critics of McDonald's were not rare, but about a decade ago, the multinational corporation took advantage of the United Kingdom's libel laws, which notoriously favor plaintiffs. Most of the people and organizations it went after—largely newspapers and news stations—caved rather than go through a court battle that would leave them most certainly facing stiff fines.

But Helen Steel and Dave Morris were different. A gardener and part-time bartender and an ex-postal worker, the two were members of London Greenpeace, which had produced a flyer titled, "What's Wrong With McDonald's?" The paper detailed the poor nutrition of the restaurants' food and how it increases risk of cancer and heart disease; the corporation's marketing and advertising campaigns that exploit children; how the production of McDonald's food is related to the destruction of the rainforest; the corporation's antiunion stance and its poor treatment of its underpaid workers; and how its food is a product of animal cruelty.

In a bizarre cloak-and-dagger twist, McDonald's didn't just sue the group. London Greenpeace was infiltrated by spies. At one point more than half a dozen private investigators and former cops had joined the group—from two different firms, so that they sometimes spied on each other. After about a year and a half of this undercover action, members of the group were served libel writs by McDonald's. Not a cadre of the wealthy and powerful, members mostly decided to apologize. Only Helen and Dave refused.

What followed was a court drama that dragged on for more than 300 days—the longest trial in UK history. With no money for a barrister, the pair argued their own case themselves. When it ended in the summer of 1997, McDonald's won, technically, but only on about half of their libel claims, the ones that were most difficult to prove, such as the food's connection to cancer and the corporation's contribution to the destruction of the rainforest. The judge ruled that the other statements on the flyer—including that McDonald's advertising of its "nutritious" food is deceptive since it contributes to heart disease and that the company is antiunion and its workers labor in poor conditions for low wages—were actually true. This, along with the absurdity of a powerful multinational like McDonald's suing two average citizens, hugely damaged the company's reputation.

But even then, the pair wasn't through. To defend the people's right to criticize multinationals, just as free speech guarantees the right to criticize governments, they complained to the European Court of Human Rights. Earlier this year, the court ruled in their favor, that British libel law violated EU human rights law.

After the victory, a reporter asked Dave how he felt about winning this David and Goliath battle. But Dave replied that the public is the Goliath—there are billions and billions of us, and only a few of these elite multinational corporations. We need only seize the power.

-- 09/10/2005 Sat
1pm