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Banned! No More Happy Meals Toys in Silicon Valley
Yesterday, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors voted in favor of killing the Happy Meal.
The five-member board in Silicon Valley voted 3 to 2 in favor of prohibiting fast food restaurants from offering prizes and toys that lure children into ordering high-calorie, high-sodium, high-fat meals. After a contentious meeting, where parents argued against parents, and health officials argued against restaurant owners, the board agreed to the ban.
Once the ordinance gets final approval at a meeting in May, businesses will have 90 days to come up with alternative meals that meet the board’s guidelines. Or they can quit offering toys.
We wrote about the proposed ban yesterday and the nutritional standards kids’ meals must meet and only a handful of commenters agreed with the radical action. Most thought parents should know better than to buy the meals. Some even thought the leaders should spend more time fixing school lunches.
What’s interesting is how protective people feel toward fast-food restaurants, food manufacturers, and mostly unregulated advertisers of products aimed at children. I think few parents argued against banning cute cartoons of Joe Camel, back when we realized tobacco companies were building brand identity with our Kindergartners. (Let’s remember, the fact that kids were attracted to those images had to be pointed out to the grown-ups.) RJR wasn’t shoving cigarettes in the kids’ mouths, but we all understand the connection between cute drawings and a softening of the parents’ message that cigarettes are bad for you.
I see the argument that the county’s ban appears to overreach. But it is a start in telling corporations that if they’re going to have unfettered access to kids, which they do, there has to be a trade-off: better options.
The ban’s an interesting test case. There’s no way the companies will give up the cross-promotional toys. Now we get to see what they come up with for less than 500 calories, only 10 percent from sugar (including drink!), and 600 mg of salt.
Kids! There’s a Littlest Pet Shop in your salad!
Oh, and check out who’s likely not sweating the ban: Subway.
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Photos: LA Times
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29 Comments
[...] as odd that even as local governments across the country wage war on cigarettes, drinking, tanning, fast food, and lap dances, marijuana smoking is increasingly tolerated. (I know that I used to be baffled by [...]
Marijuana Legalization and Tobacco Demonization Are The Latest Salvos In The War On The Working Class - Ethan Epstein - epstein's razor - True/Slant commented on Apr 28 10 at 1:52 pm[...] as odd that even as local governments across the country wage war on cigarettes, drinking, tanning, fast food, and lap dances, marijuana smoking is increasingly tolerated. (I know that I used to be baffled by [...]
Marijuana Legalization and Tobacco Demonization Are The Latest Salvos In The War On The Working Class - Ethan Epstein - epstein's razor - True/Slant commented on Apr 28 10 at 1:52 pm[...] as odd that even as local governments across the country wage war on cigarettes, drinking, tanning, fast food, and lap dances, marijuana smoking is increasingly tolerated. (I know that I used to be baffled by [...]
Marijuana Legalization and Tobacco Demonization Are The Latest Salvos In The War On The Working Class - Ethan Epstein - epstein's razor - True/Slant commented on Apr 28 10 at 1:52 pm[...] [UPDATE: They passed the ban!] [...]
Beginning of the End for Happy Meals? | Strollerderby commented on Apr 28 10 at 1:59 pm[...] Banned! No More Happy Meals Toys in Silicon Valley [...]
Stop Overpraising. Now. | Strollerderby commented on Apr 28 10 at 2:46 pm[...] you buying Bloomberg’s strategy? Are we feeling kumbaya/it takes a village about legislating better health [...]
16 Companies Cave In, Cut Salt | Strollerderby commented on Apr 28 10 at 5:54 pm[...] danger in a plain cheese sandwich? Next up, they’ll be banning sandwiches with mayo. Making certain foods verboten isn’t a productive tactic for encouraging healthy eating. All it serves to do is limit food [...]
Preschool Bans Cheese Sandwich | Strollerderby commented on Apr 30 10 at 3:00 pm[...] is to say curbing ads aimed at young kids would be difficult and controversial and take balls (like these guys’). Instead, we get the 86th best thing, Admongo, a website and video game which aims to give kids an [...]
Instead of Games About Ads, Let's Just Ban Them | Strollerderby commented on May 12 10 at 3:46 pm[...] Maybe it’s time we stop rewarding kids for eating junk food. [...]
Wendy's Pulls Disco CD from Kids' Meals | Strollerderby commented on Jun 13 10 at 12:41 pm[...] Clara County, Calif., Board of Supervisors voted in favor of killing the Happy Meal because it lured children into ordering high-calorie, high-sodium, high-fat meals. The ordinance prevents McDonald’s and other restaurants from including toys or other [...]
Group Threatens to Sue McDonald's Over Happy Meal Toys | Strollerderby commented on Jun 22 10 at 5:20 pm[...] In April, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors in Silicon Valley voted in favor of effectively banning Happy Meals. [...]
Happy Meal: What About Kids Nutrition? | Strollerderby commented on Aug 12 10 at 9:31 amMiki Speed commented on Apr 28 10 at 10:31 amWhat makes burgers, dogs and nuggets healthier in the school lunchroom than Mickey D’s? California’s hypocrisy is a marvel to behold!
John Quinn commented on Apr 28 10 at 10:58 amThis is sad. What is a happy meal without the toys? At leasat I’ll have http://www.McServed.com for my laughs! ROFL!
NoVa Mommy commented on Apr 28 10 at 11:03 amWe can’t tackle fast food offerings AND school lunches?
jenny tries too hard commented on Apr 28 10 at 11:24 amThe difference is that the government has clear control over one, but is insinuating itself into other people’s business with the other.
Alex B commented on Apr 28 10 at 12:15 pmLast time I checked, the 5 year olds weren’t driving to McDonalds for a happy meal. It’s the lazy parents.
Laure68 commented on Apr 28 10 at 12:55 pmI’m with Jenny. It is easier to tell someone else to change rather than do it yourself.
One argument I have heard is that McD’s preys on poorer people, so this law is helping them. However, it would make more sense to me to have better access to good food in lower-income neighborhoods, and then put this kind of ban in place.
Huh? commented on Apr 28 10 at 1:08 pmOh, I’m for protecting the right of McDonald’s to advertise directly to my child! Corporations are people too, didn’t you know? Parents should know better than to feed their kids this crap. But that doesn’t change the fact that corporations are targeting millions in advertising dollars to get to the “whine factor”. Maybe some regulation isn’t the worst thing in the world.
Maureen commented on Apr 28 10 at 1:08 pmI don’t feel protective over fast food restaurants, but I do feel protective over our rights. While businesses and people quickly adapt to many of the changes our government forces upon us, it doesn’t make it right. Look, there are cartoon characters peddling packages of cavity-causing fruit snacks, there are prizes in boxes of sugary cereal and Mr. Twinkie looks like a cute cowboy with a lasso. What will the next ban be?
Tsnyder commented on Apr 28 10 at 1:09 pm“Unfettered access to our kids”???? Are you kidding? I’m trying to remember the last time I saw a 7 year old driving himself to McD’s… If I want my kid to enjoy a Happy Meal now and then it is none of the government’s damned business. I’m perfectly capable of monitoring their diet without our government nannies sticking their noses in. Don’t they have more important issues to concern themselves with? I think so…
Anonimon commented on Apr 28 10 at 1:24 pmWelcome to the new America. Check your brain at the door. The government is now here to tell you what to think, feel, and do.
GtothemfckinP commented on Apr 28 10 at 1:31 pmTotal B.S. I hate McDonald’s and would never let my kid eat there, but I make that choice. As a company in a (supposedly) free-market economy, they should be allowed to sell whatever safe, legal things they want to sell and package it as they see fit. What about Chuck E. Cheese’s and amusement parks, etc. The deadly combination of fun, play and food MUST be stopped!!!!
jenny tries too hard commented on Apr 28 10 at 1:38 pmYou do realize McDonalds is a franchise chain, and that this in no way harms the big bad corporate headquarters, right? Or, if there is harm, it is marginal to them. It harms primarily the individual small-business owners who operate the MickeyD’s franchises in Santa Clara. And if you take a look at restaurant franchise operators, they contribute a ton of taxes, support their local communities through team sponsorships, charity night fundraisers, etc. and provide jobs, too. But who cares about them and their rights, darn it, we have the right to walk past a place without our child asking for something…
Sarcasm off
jenny tries too hard commented on Apr 28 10 at 1:41 pmlast comment was meant for Huh?….happy to see so many of y’all here support McDonald’s rights, without supporting their business. Awesome.
Lisa commented on Apr 28 10 at 1:48 pmThe whole thing confuses me. There are tons of commercials out there for things kids want obviously they can’t possible getting all of it. SO yeah a commercial for a toy may make my kid ask me to go to mcD’s but they ask for LOTS of other stuff. If I REALLY want to stop the whining McD’s will sell you just the toy, no one’s holding a gun making me buy the Nuggets. They have apples and milk available…it’s not like they’re peddling heroine.
Manjari commented on Apr 28 10 at 1:52 pmI’m another one who doesn’t give McD’s my business (my kids have never heard of it and don’t know what it is. When they do, I am ok with saying NO), but I support the right of any company to market their product. I really think the ban is ridiculous, and it DOES seem extra obnoxious that the government has time to interfere with this but not to fix school lunches.
Huh? commented on Apr 28 10 at 3:29 pmI have to admit I feel like an idiot after reading all of the responses to my knee-jerk anti-corporate comment. But I’m getting really freaked out by the knee-jerk antinannystatesocialismgoteamcapitalism that I’m seeing absolutely everywhere. But let’s think about this. Restaurants are going to have to come up with healthier children’s meals or *gasp* not provide a toy. So let’s not get our fire engine red fright wigs all in a bunch. And yes, there are more important things to worry about, and yes it’s kind of silly, but at least someone’s making an effort and there’s an active dialogue.
Heidi commented on Apr 29 10 at 9:49 amI just have to put in my two cents, while I think it is a step in the right direction. I do think there needs to be healthier options and I hate the crappy toys that come with kids meals. I am a little uneasy about government stepping in and telling companies what to to, I think it would be more effective for parents just to demand it or stop buying the crap.
Common Sense Test commented on May 03 10 at 5:52 amDon’t the people who passed this stupid law realize parents can already buy the toy without buying the meal itself? Why not just make a statement encouraging parents to do THAT instead of passing this ridiculous ban? Who do these people think they are anyways?
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