"Happy Meal" news and stories

Yes, the nuggets taste fine, but let's face it: Most kids beg their parents for Happy Meals because they regard fast-food drive-throughs as drive-by toy stores. The city of San Francisco has already banned toys in fast-food meals, and now it looks as though New York City may follow suit.

Councilman Leroy Comrie, a coucilman from Queens, said "Prohibiting fast food restaurants from giving out toys with highly unhealthy meals will reduce the allure of such establishments for children while hopefully incentivizing the fast food industry to provide their customers with healthier and more nutritious options," reports the New York Post.

Two weeks ago, we reported that the Center for Science in the Public Interest declared that if McDonald's didn't stop including toys in their kid-targeted Happy Meals -- and thus "encouraging a lifelong cycle of unhealthy eating habits" -- they'd sue.

Now, McDonald's CEO Jim Skinner has gone public with his defense of the beloved food-and-gift combo. Head over to AOL News to read Skinner's rebuttal and more about how this debate ties in to the ongoing issue of childhood obesity.

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.

Photo: Breakmould, Flickr.

Fast food restaurants know where their bread is buttered -- with the kids! The chains have been using toys as little-kid bait for decades, and it's an effective tactic: Children have an adorable propensity for confusing junk for treasure, which is why kiddie meals can be the highlight of their day.

Most of these meals fall into two categories: interactive advertisements for recent blockbusters or beloved television shows, and lame.

We're focusing on the latter, those toys over the years that were uninspired, nonsensical, or just plain disappointing. Each of these so-called "collectibles" currently languishes in the corners of garages, the bottoms of landfills and in the remote, digital wastelands of eBay.

Are you a franchise fanatic? A connoisseur of combo meals? Take our fast food quiz and test your knowledge of burgers and beyond.