Whoah! McDonald’s Brings Back 42 Oz. Soda in Chicago

Monster-sized soft drinks are back at McDonald’s — at least in the Chicago area.

While it’s unclear what’s happening in the rest of the country, 15 months after the fast-food company publicly announced that “super-sized” portions of drinks and fries are history, Chicago-area restaurants are rolling out extra-large sodas again, Chicago Red Streak reported.

The humongous, 42-ounce, nutrient-lacking soft drinks–which deliver a 410-calorie jolt and a whopping amount of high fructose corn syrup–are free to people who buy a Big Mac and fries as part of a month-long promotion, according to a company spokesperson.

“This is not super-sizing,” said Anna Rozenzich.

Excuse me? Am I missing something?

I find that ridiculous assertion tough to swallow.

So does legal expert John Banzhaf, a tobacco litigation veteran.

“I guess their promises don’t last very long, do they?” Banzhaf told Chicago Red Streak.

By offering the whopper drinks, “they’re back to their old tricks again,” said Banzhaf, who advised the plaintiffs’ lawyer in a 2002 brought by New York teens claiming that McDonald’s food made them obese. (The trial judge dismissed the case, but a federal appeals court reinstated it.)

So much for McDonald’s beefed-up “healthier image” that it’s been working for two years to promote by adding entree salads and fruit plates and even developed a “healthy lifestyles” theme.