The time of great changes has come for McDonald’s. Despite of the +$1 billion overhaul that the company plans to complete by 2015 to ultimately change the face of its restoraunts, the brand is under pressure to discard its other iconic face, Ronald McDonald.

The campaign against McDonald’s symbol and point of communication with young consumers is gaining momentum as a group of activist physicians and health conscious people are pursuading McDonald’s to give a boot to its 43-year-old mascot.

Aside from the public protests,  the social initiative has got into the press as Corporate Accountability International placed ads in high-profile US news-papers including the text of an open letter to McDonald’s CEO Jim Skinner entitled, ‘Doctors’ Orders: Stop Marketing Junk Food to Kids.’

The group of activists plan to make appearance at the annual shareholder meeting of McDonald’s and protest side-by-side with Philadelphia nuns who will stand up against Ronald McDonald.

McDonald’s couldn’t ignore the public attention of these proportions and  has reacted with a statement published in Wall Street Journal where the brand declared, «We understand the importance of children’s health and nutrition, and are committed to being a part of the dialogue and solution. We serve high quality food, and our Happy Meals offer choice and variety in portions just for kids.»

Although Ronald McDonald is still the face of the Ronald McDonald House charity, committed to providing shelters to families when they need to stay close to a hospital while their children are undergoing treatment of serious disease, McDonald’s is stepping aside and explores new ways to reach kids without featuring the notorious mascot.

How do they do this? According to www.dexigner.com, McDonald’s has commissioned DUCK studios to produce cartoon ads for Happy Meal, and for the first time the ads bear no reference to the spooky mascot. So, apart from Ronald McDonald, there are plenty of ways and characters that make marketing to kids more effective than ever.