I’m the first to admit that the trip to McDonald’s for a Happy Meal has been a not uncommon experience for both of my daughters. I’m very well aware that they are not the most nutritionally sound dinner options, but once in a while the little flimsy cardboard box containing McNuggets, fries, and a toy is just the way to go. The Center for Science in the Public Interest, however, is coming down hard on Happy Meals, taking the fast food giant to task for “predatory marketing practices” by using cheap plastic toys to get kids eating fatty junk.
California’s Santa Clara County has already taken the first step, actually banning toys from the Happy Meal package. This is in the name of combating childhood obesity, a cause that First Lady Michelle Obama has faced head on. As an increase in obesity rates continue, the fast food industry is facing growing pressure.
In New Hampshire, 33 percent of third-graders are overweight or obese, according to a recent state Department of Health and Human Services survey. It’s part of a rising trend of childhood obesity in the state fueled by unhealthy eating habits — including fast food — and a lack of exercise, said Lisa Bujno, bureau chief of DHHS’s Division of Public Health.
She said McDonald’s isn’t all to blame.
“An occasional Happy Meal isn’t going to be a problem,” Bujno said. “It all goes back to what you take in and what you expend for energy … It’s about choices.”
You know, I can’t help but feel that the focus is on the path of least resistance here. It’s a lot easier to point the finger at Mickey D’s or BK for foisting junk food on our children, but I very strongly believe that the bigger emphasis should be on increasing physical activity.
I offer as an example my younger daughter. She is picky to the extreme and adamantly refused to eat anything but pizza, fried chicken tenders, and cheese for the first half of her life. She’s six now and has expanded her repertoire to cookies, chips, macaroni and cheese, and tuna fish sandwiches. Oh, and Happy Meals.
Before you come down on me too hard here, please know that there are veritable tons of fruits, vegetables, protein-heavy snacks, and yogurt around. This child’s older sister would rather have blueberries than chocolate and actually seeks out broccoli. Furthermore, the strictly enforced expectation is that she has to eat a bite of everything at the dinner table. I keep hoping that her dietary horizons will broaden, but it hasn’t happened yet.
The thing is, …
… this kid is skinny. Despite her affinity for chocolate milk and cheese in any manifestation, she’s against all odds downright thin. My conclusion? She never stops moving. Ever. She runs, she jumps, she swims in the ocean, she plays soccer and softball, she hula hoops, she skis, she even bounces around the house when the television is on. In my mind, this seems to prove the point that her activity, pretty much a state of perpetual motion, balances out the French fries, chocolate bars, and extra mayonnaise she puts on her sandwiches.
I do have other concerns—making sure she brushes her teeth well, for example, and helping her realize the significance of a well-balanced diet including protein, produce, and prime rib.
Anyway, exactly how bad is a Happy Meal?
A Happy Meal comprised of a cheeseburger, French fries, and Sprite has 640 calories, 940 milligrams of sodium, and 35 grams of sugar. Those figures are half, three-fourths, and twice the recommended daily amounts, respectively, for children aged 4-8.
McDonald’s disputed the percentages, saying they are based on the diets of the “youngest and most sedentary” children.
All Happy Meals come with the choice of a toy geared for boys or girls.
At the Dover McDonald’s Monday, the boys’ toy was a Marvel superhero, while the girls’ toy was a Littlest Pet Shop animal.
It’s noteworthy that McDonald’s has added choices like juice and apple slices to their kid meals, but this is not enough for some people.
“McDonald’s is deliberately marketing directly to unsuspecting little children by offering appealing toys — usually ones related to popular movies or television shows,” the CPSI wrote in a letter to McDonald’s. “McDonald’s marketing has the effect of conscripting America’s children into an unpaid drone army of word-of-mouth marketers, causing them to nag their parents to bring them to McDonald’s.”
Okay, this letter excerpt sort of drives home what I think is the most salient point. If kids are sitting around watching television shows and movies all the time, I think maybe the people who are allowing that need to take a long look in the mirror before blaming fast food chains.
Children that play outside instead of watching television all the time absorbing McDonald’s ads are a lot less likely to experience side effects like obesity than kids that are physically active and have a Happy Meal once every couple of weeks.
The CPSI is unquestionably right about one thing, though—children are a direct focus of advertising from fast food companies. Why is it that, in 2006, companies like Burger King, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and the much-maligned McDonald’s spent over $500 on ads catering to kids, with toys included in meals a huge focus?
Companies study child psychology to determine how to best sell their products, according to Josh Lauer, who teaches advertising at the University of New Hampshire.
“Their job is to persuade children to nag their parents until they buy something for them.”
Nevertheless, parents always have a choice, Lauer said.
“They can say, ‘Sorry, we’re not having McDonald’s tonight.”
And herein lies the crux of my issue here. Any parent who thinks it’s healthy to feed their kid McDonald’s daily is delusional. We all know it’s a poor choice. If parents choose to slip their children a Happy Meal once in awhile, that’s their business; however, one can hope that most parents have the sense to make moderation the key.
And a parent who allows their children to dictate whether or not they’re eating fast food by the busload has bigger potential issues on the horizon than obesity.
Sure, blame McDonald’s. I like how Burger King, Wendy’s, etc. are always forgotten even though they are pretty much the same thing.
And yes, it’s ridiculous to expect your kids to stay skinny if you feed them Happy Meals and let them sit around all day. A Happy Meal every now and then is not going to kill anyone, especially if that someone is actually mobile.
“McDonald’s is deliberately marketing directly to unsuspecting little children by offering appealing toys….causing them to nag their parents to bring them to McDonald’s.”
Fortunately for those “unsuspecting little children” they don’t have bank accounts or cars. If these kids’ parents can’t stand up to a child’s nagging, I think that obesity isn’t going to be the only problem they face.
It might not even be the biggest problem.
What she said–^
Who care’s if they’re marketing to kids. Last time I met a five year old with a vehicle and a bank account was… oh… never.
So parents buy their kids crap food and it’s the provider’s fault? Weak.
Part of the problem is that McDonald’s marketing has created an ingrained association between fatty foods and a happy sentiment. As per commercials and very targeted marketing, children have come to associate fast food places as rewards; “if you are good, we can go to McDonalds”, etc. Most parents don’t take their children to McDonalds every night- the actual fat content in a child’s annual diet is likely not largely due to meals at McDonalds. However, this association between unhealthy foods and happiness carries on through to adulthood- how many of you turn to high fat foods when you are feeling unhappy? I know I am very guilty of it- I’ve had a bad day, so I’m going to stop on my way home to get one of those brownies that has no purpose on this earth other than to clog your arteries.
In a society were fatty foods are cheaper and easier to access, people are more likely to turn to these comfort foods as opposed to healthier options. So although McDonalds is not the only party to blame here, they are a massive contributing factor to the way that American society thinks about food. I do think it is dangerous to market directly to children in any fashion- there are a number of very alarming studies out there about the growing purchasing power of children, and how their desires are influencing the financial decisions made in households.
So yes, we can point fingers and say we need better parents, better education, etc. But that does still not remove responsibility from large corporations and their marketing department. They are not marketing children with good intentions; they are only using them as a means to get at their parents pocketbooks. And that is quite distasteful in my opinion.
Marketing is all about making money. So of course they don’t have “good intentions.” Until parents started letting kids influence their financial decisions, companies did not market to that demographic.
It is completely the parents responsibility to make sure that children aren’t making bad decisions about money and their health. It’s also up to the parents to monitor how much time their kids sit in front of the tv being advertised to. My kid doesn’t see many McDonald’s commercials. In fact, he’s three and he’s never had a Happy Meal.
It’s also up to the parents to determine how their kid’s view a Happy Meal. I never told my daughter she could have one if she was good. I told her if she had one now, she wouldn’t be able to have another one for a long time because the food is crap, so she needed to decide how much she wanted it.
When parents stop taking full responsibility for their children, corporations start raising them. That’s nobody’s fault but the parents who abdicated their responsibility to begin with.
Well said, Wicked.
I work at McDonalds in Australia and was surprised both at how many happy meals were not bought and kids asking for Quarter Pounder meals and Big Macs, and how small some of the adults buying Double Quarter Pounder meals actually were!
Before work I get my routine Happy Meal with a crispy chicken snack wrap, apple slices and either an OJ, sprite or fruit fizz.
There are healthier options!
My main reasoning for McD’s rather than something healthier is that I get it half price. $2.20 for a meal? Pretty damned good.
Our portionings are smaller than the USA’s, which is an easy and very good way to cut down the calories in children’s diets.
Your youngest has excellent taste,she must be a very smart little girl.
This group is particularly loathsome, in my opinion.
They hate everything that isn’t found in a strictly vegan, macrobiotic diet.
I have to second the remark about the portion sizes. I had dinner last night at The Cheesecake Factory. I ordered the Spicy Cashew Chicken – I absolutely could NOT eat all of the food that I was served. I ended up bringing a huge portion home with me. I nuked it for lunch today, and I still couldn’t finish it. It ended up being more than enough for my 18 year old daughter and myself for lunch.
In what alternate reality does that make sense? I tend to eat slowly, especially when with friends , because we talk a lot during dinner. Because of this, I am usually aware of when I am full and seldom overeat. I truly detest that over-fed feeling. However, most people tend to eat quickly and are unaware until they are way past the satiety point. If you routinely give people double or even triple serving sizes, it is a quick path to obesity.
You cannot blame any one corporation for childhood obesity. Is it not time for individuals to take responsibility for their own actions, be it eating too much or driving with a hot cup of coffee between their legs?
I love McDonald’s. Do I go there to eat every day? Of course not. And guess what, people – if you order a cheeseburger, small fries and a cup of coffee, it isn’t a diet buster. If you take your time and eat everything one bite at a time – actually TASTE your food – you will be surprised at how full you will be. You don’t need the gigantic size of everything.
I also have to agree on the exercise portion of Katie’s post. Quit wrapping your kids in protective packaging, throw their asses outside and let them play, let them be kids. Ban all video and computer games from your house for 6 months and just watch them slim down.
If they are really good? Take them to McDonald’s and get them a Happy Meal.
“I also have to agree on the exercise portion of Katie’s post.”
Me too. I saw the saddest fucking thing yesterday and it brought to mind this whole issue.
We were at Knott’s and my son was in the bounce house jumping and having a great time with all the other kids. There was a fat little kid in there jumping around for a couple minutes, then she sat down and said,
“I’m tired. I need to rest.”
I wanted to go slap her mother so hard. Three minutes of jumping should not make a 4 year old so tired that she needs to sit down. That’s such bullshit.
I see nothing wrong with McDonald’s once or twice a month for kids. But it shouldn’t be a reward. Tying bad food to good behavior trains kids to use it as a stress reliever and reward later in life. The instant gratification can be addicting, which is why the toy is problematic. Not only are you tying the bad food to good behavior, but you’re tying the toy to the bad food too. Conditioning kids to associate the bad food to all these good, fun things is not a healthy way to frame fast food. You have to think of these things in terms of a child’s psychology. The kid isn’t media savvy. He/she cannot see the gimmick here at all, and has no idea how to separate advertising ploys from his/her own thoughts. The advertising slogan *becomes* the child’s thoughts. That’s why the toy is dangerous. And it’s why I will probably just avoid taking my children to McDonald’s. If there’s a really cool toy they want and it’s on commercials all the time, I might reward them. But I will buy the Happy Meal, throw away the food, and give the toy to my kids without associating it with food. It might be wasteful and sound strange, but it removes the bad food from the equation. All of this people I know who never got to eat McDonald’s as children have much healthier dietary and exercise habits than the kids who did get McDonald’s. And they have much healthier views on food and their own body images. Granted, this might be because they really are healthier and more fit.
You can but the toy separately at most McDonald’s. That what I always did with my daughter. We’ve had a lot of toys from McDonald’s and very little of the food.
My parents brought me to McDonald’s probably a couple times a month when I was younger, and it was probably the result of me being good. I still don’t associate fast food with stress relief or good feelings; usually it gives me a stomachache anymore. However, I can see how fast food being consistently or always used as a reward for good behavior can be problematic. I think if it happens infrequently it’s not such a big deal, especially if other rewards for good behavior are visits to the roller rink or something physical.
Uhh, when I go to McDonalds (which is maybe once a month) I get a supersized BigMac meal and a Happy Meal with 6 McNuggets. I also go to Whataburger probably twice a week, getting a Whataburger w/ large fries. But I eat a lot to begin with. My parents seem pretty okay with how much I eat, but I think if I were to be obese, they would curb my fast food diet.
I’m going to note that I’m 5′ 7″, 120 pounds, and 15 years old.
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