So . . . toys are making kids fat. Or so says Eric Mar, a city supervisor in San Francisco who sponsored a now-passed city law preventing quick-service restaurants (read: McDonalds) from giving out toys with (happy) meals unless said meals meet nutritional guidelines. Taking toys away from kids, that's horrible, and right around Christmas, too. Worst of all, it won't even work. Fat kids and crappy toys after the jump.
Unless you have been living under a rock (does anyone actually do that? I have my doubts), you know that there is an obesity epidemic in North America. This is of particular concern because if it continues this way, we are going to run out space as everyone will eventually take up several square meters. But seriously, obesity leads to other health problems, poor self-esteem, Eddie Murphy movies, etc. And of the two main causes of obesity (our sedentary lifestyles, and delicious, pleasurable junk food), the latter tends to get the bulk (ha ha) of the blame.
I mean, who hasn't seen several 300-pound kids each day? And we all know who is to blame. McDonalds. That damn clown. There is really no way that a kid can get through childhood without consuming hundreds of Big Macs, McNuggets and Filets-of-Fish (okay, maybe not that one) per month. If only we had some way to counter the hypnotically persuasive arches and stop our children from eating that crap.
Of course, I'm being facetious. There is a way we can stop our kids from being sucked in by Dirty Ron (okay, that didn't come out the way I planned it). Don't take them to McDonalds! Lucky for us most toddlers don't have a job or income source, and therefore can't buy the burgers themselves. They rely on parents to pay for them. And so really it's up to the parents to buy or not buy. And if this is the case, why do we need a municipal government to regulate what we can buy or not?
I know what you're saying. It's tough, when the kid is whining, and wanting something, and you don't want a tantrum. And there aren't always options. And you just want to make the kid happy. I'm fine with all of that. Make the kid happy. But don't also complain that they are not eating healthy food. While at Burger Kind you can Have It Your Way, you can't have it both ways.
This half-assed legislation is not only unnecessary, it lacks teeth (unlike Wendy's chili, where there's always the chance you'll find a body part). McDonalds and its ilk is not banned; they just can't give out free toys with happy meals. As though it is the three cents' worth of plastic that is driving most of Mickey D's sales. I could come up with a reasonable conjecture regarding the influence of the toy on purchase, but luckily I don't have to. A market research firm (CFI) found that while kids influence about 32% of McD's purchases, only 8% of those purchases are made because of the toy.
And remember - not only are Happy Meals not banned, even the toys aren't banned. They just can't be free. So if we remember our whiny, needy, tantrum-ready kid, and put him in McDonalds where he gets the meal and not the toy, what happens? He starts up about the toy. And so we buy it, and all that this legislation has done is allow McDonalds to charge us something that was once free. What's up for a ban next - the free smiles?
Changing behaviour is hard, and banning Megamind tie-ins is not going to do it. All it does is show that the politicians are "doing something," whether it achieves anything or not. So fast-food lovers, keep your eyes on your fries, because they're next.
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