It is a staple of fast food business: the children’s kids meal toy. From cheap pieces of cardboard that make up annoying games parents will be forced to clean, to equally cheap pieces of plastic, the kids meal toys are a major attraction for the little ones.
But is that attraction a particularly unfair or unethical one?
San Francisco has been considering adding these toys to a growing list of bans, which are meant to begin battling the growing obesity problem in America.
McDonald’s has, understandably, been trying to fight this tooth and nail, knowing that losing the toy will make them vulnerable to other companies offering their own. But if the happy meal loses their kid magnet, other fast food chains will follow, right?
The biggest argument against the ban seems to be that it should be parents, not government, deciding what it best for their children, and what their children can eat.
“Our customer websites and phone lines at McDonald’s are also busy, with more than nine out of ten customers disagreeing with your agenda. Parents, in particular, strongly believe they have the right and responsibility to decide what’s best for their children, not CSPI [Center for Science in the Public Interest],” CEO Jim Skinner said.
But at the heart of the issue, this has nothing to do with the ban. They are not eliminating happy meals, or what is in the food content. They are just banning the toys.
If they choose to go through with the ban, it will join one already enacted in Santa Clara, California.