I often think this too. I want to go around the tube with stickers that have your "Help help if I stop grinning they will shoot me" on to all the grinning-moron adverts, and "You're beautiful just as you are" to the cosmetic surgery ones.

The ducks, however, die a painful constipated death if they eat bread instead of more unprocessed plant parts.

But why start with ducks, and not with McDonalds?

We do have public health campaigns. Perhaps the problem would be ok if there had been signs at all major ports saying "please do not feed the British people fibre-free food, it is not good for them" around the time when McDonalds imported itself here.

I guess that's fair enough. I guess I anthropomorphise them too much, but I always think "let 'em choose" or "live and let live". I guess I should think a bit more that the ducks don't actually choose, and are more automatic than that.