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Unhappy times are ahead for those who love Happy Meals in Santa Clara, California. The Los Angeles Times reports that Santa Clara County has approved a ban on the promotional toys that often accompany kids' meals at fast-food spots like McDonald's, Burger King and Taco Bell. The toys must be discontinued unless the restaurants can institute a voluntary program in the next 90 days that improves the nutritional offerings.
According to ordinance sponsor Ken Yeager, "This ordinance prevents restaurants from preying on children's love of toys. This ordinance breaks the link between unhealthy food and prizes."
Childhood obesity and diabetes is certainly on the rise in the U.S., and Santa Clara is taking a route that goes above parental roles in healthy eating and targets the food itself. The ban will undoubtedly create havoc for franchise owners in Santa Clara; fast-food establishments are fairly rigid in terms of their menus and can't add new, specialty offerings on demand -- it just doesn't work that way.
Also, promotional toys are typically nationwide roll-outs. So Santa Clara kids and parents alike might have a hard time understanding why they can't get a toy for their child when advertisements and their Iowa cousins tell them they should be able to. We suspect this might lead to the inevitable: families driving across county lines just for some plastic.
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6-11-2010 @1:32PM Valerie Jennings said... Michael, you make a good point that families may drive across county lines now to get the happy meal toy for their child. It raises the notion that this ban is only going to frustrate parents who are willing to get the toy for their child. This ban takes away the rights and responsibilities of parents to make the correct choices for their children. This matter should not be taken over by the government and the parenting duties should be left where they belong. According to a survey conducted by the California Restaurant Association, 87% of Santa Clara County residents feel lawmakers are not better informed to make decisions about what kind of food sold in restaurants is healthy and nutritious. We need to let the government know about our views against this legislation before it gets passed elsewhere.
Eric Mar, member of the Board of Supervisors for the City and County of San Francisco, is asking for legislation similar to Santa Clara County’s happy meal toy ban. Call and tell him NO.
Eric Mar
415-554-7410
Eric.l.mar@sfgov.org
Mar’s request to ban kids meal toys can be found in this article from the San Francisco Chronicle: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/28/MNLA1D5QFV.DTL
A leading kid-focused marketing agency for the restaurant industry, Creative Consumer Concepts (C3), has taken a stand on this issue. Bob Cutler, CEO, states that “unfortunately, banning kids meal toys from restaurants will not resolve childhood obesity. C3 has been educating, advocating and executing healthy food options for kids and parents and will continue to commit to supporting this issue.”Read more in their position paper on the toy ban: http://jenningssocialmedia.com/downloads/C3.SANTACLARA_Final.pdf
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6-22-2010 @7:58PM Jim said... My children, all over 30 now and not overweight, loved their happy meals and toys. They didn't have them every day but on ocassions. Moderation and control are in order.
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6-23-2010 @3:25PM ELIZABETH ARMSTRONG said... THE PROBLEM WITH CHILD OBESITY IS NOT THE TOYS IN THE HAPPY MEALS, IT IS THAT NOW DAYS KIDS SIT AROUND AND DON'T MOVE!!!!. I AM FROM COLOMBIA AND WE HAVE FAST FOODS MEALS WITH TOYS ALSO, BUT YOU NEVER SEE FAT PEOPLE OVER THERE, WHY? BECAUSE EVERYBODY WALKS, DANCE, MOVE AROUND, THEY DON'T WASTE TIME AND LIFE SITTING AROUND PLAYING WITH ELECTRONICS LIKE HERE IN THE GOOD OLD U.S.A, SO LET'S GET MOVING!!!!
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