McDonald's will violate your First Amendment Right (GMO Protest)

So, apparently McDonald's is against people exercising their First Amendment Constitutional Right to inform their customers about the harmful effects of the Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO), that they serve to their customers without telling them beforehand. Laboratory rats, that were fed a diet of GM-corn, developed tumors, became completely infertile by the third generation reproduction, and also died prematurely. The manager's claimed that all of that information was already available on the McDonald's website, which is inherently false, and also refuse to give me their nutritional booklet when I asked for it. They were like, yeah it's all on our menu, we got the calories, the carbohydrates, etc; but then I pointed out it had nothing to do with the calories or carbohydrates in the food, and he completely ignored it...He just left and said that they were going to call the cops and me, and said that I was harassing or disturbing their customers, and lied about it being because I was blasting their food....They didn't even want me to speak to customers.

They asked me to leave, or else they would call Gallatin PD on me. I declined the request, and they told me they would press charges against me for harassing their customers, although none of the customers ever said anything to me about it, never said I was disturbing them, and a few even looked genuinely interested. McDonald's however was afraid that I would scare their customers away, by being a good citizen and informing them of the dangers involved in GM-produce. After about 10 minutes of standing in the lobby, one of the girls from the kitchen came out to tell me that Gallatin PD were on their way..I was just like that's cool, I'll wait for them. She asked me nicely enough to go outside and wait, so I did, just about the time that Gallatin PD showed up.

Gallatin PD arrived, and asked what I was doing, and I told them I was spreading awareness, about the dangers of GMO, and how their McRib is contains azodicarbonamide, which is in anything from your yoga mat, to your gym shoes, and rubber products in general. I told them it was prejudice on the part of McDonald's because the only reason they didn't want me there is because I would hurt their profits. I asked why it was trespassing if I was lodging a complaint, and they refused to answer me..

Gallatin PD said they respected what I was doing, and seemed rather intelligent, but that I should pursue other venues of informing people. They asked me if I drove to the store, and I told them that no, I had actually walked from fourty-five minutes away in the cold, to help spread the awareness. Gallatin PD actually sympathized with me, and offered me a ride home, no handcuffs, no detainment.

Not to mention, I recorded all of this, and will be uploading it to YouTube shortly. I was mostly fiddling with the papers I brought with me to show them, so it is mostly audio. Just goes to show these bastards care more about their profits, than they do our health....

I honestly appreciate what you're doing. GMO is an under-reported and under-appreciated problem with the chance for disastrous long term consequences the mighty Monsanto doesn't give a hoot about if they keep a healthy profit margin for shareholders. (In fact... I didn't know that about the fallen arches....oh how far they've fallen too.. )

Having said that...You can't protest INSIDE a business. lol.... I mean really...you're literally making use of their building, lighting, heat and space to attack THEM. You can go make a one man picket a foot outside their property line as long as you don't physically impede traffic or people crossing your picket ...or even better, get some friends together and make a party out of your picket line. Make it a real scene. You might just get local media for a story on the local evening news. Then you've informed thousands in one shot.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


I figured it fell under the category of lodging a formal complaint, because I was a past customer

But thanks for the input Wrabbit; I may make some signs and apply for a solicitors license, so next time they can't accuse me of trespassing..

We changed our eating habits drastically years ago and continue to fine tune it. Every year our garden gets bigger until now it covers the entire back yard. This year we will be starting on the front yard. All non-GMO seeds. We stopped eating fast foods way back. McDonalds was the FIRST to go. Thank you for this Post!

good job but you cant be on their property at all and you shouldn't need a license, just find out where the nearest public property is and make a big sign to hold telling people that mcd has poison GMO foods DO NOT EAT - POISON!!!!

reply to post by VeritasAequitas


They have every right to boot you out of there if they so desire. You should've stayed outside.

reply to post by dc4lifeskater


The way I see it; they should technically be considered public property in the sense, that just about anybody goes there....Many people sit there all day and mooch off the Free Wi-Fi, and they don't even say a word...They only had a problem with me, because my complaint could scare away their customers.

reply to post by PsykoOps


For being a disgruntled customer who is lodging a complaint?

It's their private property. They are free to boot anyone out.

reply to post by VeritasAequitas


Great effort!

Waiting for that youtube now

reply to post by PsykoOps


True enough; but a legitimate reason would have been nice.

If there is a sidewalk in front of it, stand on the opposite side of the sidewalk, right were customers enter. That strip of grass between sidewalk and road is typically public property and they can't do anything about it.

reply to post by VeritasAequitas

Hi, again! Didn't expect to run into you so soon. I know you're interested in legal theories, consider this one:

Interference with a Business Opportunity

by Fred Abramson

You have been nego­ti­at­ing for months with a sup­plier. A com­peti­tor becomes aware of your nego­ti­a­tions and derails the deal. Can you recover for your dam­ages? Under the Tort of Intef­er­ence with a Busi­ness Oppor­tu­nity you may.

Gen­er­ally, the types of oppor­tu­ni­ties that can be sub­ject to such a claim include:
•Sale or Pur­chase of a Business
•Sale or Pur­chase of Property
•Employ­ment Opportunities
•Sale of Goods
•Con­struc­tion Contracts
•Pro­fes­sional Relationships

In order to prove the tort of Inter­fer­ence with a Busi­ness Oppor­tu­nity, you must show:
•That there is an oppor­tu­nity in exis­tence that is defi­nate and spe­cific in scope and capa­ble of being acted upon
•The other party had knowl­edge of the opportunity
•The other party with intent intef­ered with the opportunity
•They actu­ally caused dam­age to your interests
•Actual Dam­ages

abramsonlegal.com...
Sounds like your protest would be covered. Now they might not sue because it would be bad publicity. Who knows?

By the way, claiming it is "poison" might also be a mistake. You might be able to show that eating too much of it might be bad for your health, but good luck finding serious witnesses who would look at a basic McDonald's hamburger and say there is poison in it.

Oh, and "public space?' I don't know of any individual store that has ever been labelled a public space. The courtyards of large malls have been, I understand, but not one shop, no matter how popular.

reply to post by charles1952


Only the last two really apply; but I don't think they could claim damages...As they said on recording, that it is the customer's choice to eat there or not. They can't sue me I don't think, for just helping the customer make an informed decision on whether or not they want to eat there. Appreciate the input though; however, I would look into it more if that is what they had actually claimed..They didn't though; they asked me to leave because I was a distraction/harassment to the customers, which I wasn't really, because none of them ever was like "STFU dude, and just leave..." A few did look genuinely interested in what I had to say.

reply to post by VeritasAequitas


Updated the OP with an embed of the recording; please keep in mind I had papers with me containing the information so that they could see it, and I was busy fiddling with the papers, and showing them pictures; it is mainly an audio recording, with a bit of video..

I have trained my 3 year old son to hate McDonald's. I ask him if he wants McDonald's food and he says "NO WAY DADDY... McDonald's food is poopy!" True story, I swear. Anyway, I certainly appreciate your story here and your effort. I don't think that confronting the manager was the best move only because he(she?) is a McDonald's manager and is probably ignorant to what GMO even means, or how harmful GMOs are. Your heart is certainly in the right place and I applaud you for that.

reply to post by OptimusSubprime


Unfortunately the video was too long for me to upload to Youtube, so I will have to try again..It will likely have to be done in a few hours when I wake up, because I've been up since 2:30 am...Time to crash for a bit.

/E: Verified youtube account, hopefully it allows me to upload the full video this time. *Crosses fingers*

Would the same stuff be in the McDonalds food in Australia?

awww poor guy got kicked out of mcdonalds.it is their property they can have you removed.Maybe next time you wont be so ignorant and won't be on their property.No sad feelings for you from me.I hate when people do stuff like this then get removed due to ignorance thinking they can say whatever they want whenever they want..

Originally posted by DarknStormy
Would the same stuff be in the McDonalds food in Australia?

I don't know who the suppliers are listed here but you may if you're in Australia.

McDonald’s does not own any businesses that supply to us and we have long term relationships in place with many of our suppliers, for example, we have been working with Inghams for over 20 years and Quality Bakers for close to 40 years.

McDonalds Australia Supplier page

Are those good or bad?