New York City May Ditch Toys from Unhealthy Kids' Meals

Kids flock to McDonald's and other fast food joints like enthusiastic moths to the flame. While salty, fattening treats like chicken nuggets and french fries are certainly part of the draw, many children come for more desirable prizes — shiny, new toys.

Indeed, as market researcher NPD Group reported, more than one-third of tots under the age of six say that what they like best about fast food kids' meals is the "free" toy found inside. It's a predatory marketing strategy that allows McDonald's to sell about $5 billion worth of Happy Meals every, single year — to the detriment of children's health.

New York City is one location that just may put an end to the free-toys-with-fries policy. Last week, the City Council introduced legislation that would set nutritional standards for kids' meals sold with toys. In other words, restaurants won't legally be allowed to provide plastic figurines, tiny race cars, Barbie dolls, or any other play thing with kids' meals unless those entrees meet certain health requirements.

The proposed legislation may seem like the City Council is trying to rob the happy from Happy Meals, but it comes not a moment too soon: Obesity rates in New York have doubled since 1990. About 28 percent of the city's high school kids now weigh in as overweight or obese, a health risk that makes them more likely to develop cancers, heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and other disorders. Disincentivizing eating fattening, salty meals — like by taking away these foods' accompanying free toys — is one way to get New York kids' health back on track.

While New York's toy ordinance is certainly controversial, there's reason to hope that citizens and lawmakers will embrace this type of public health proposal. San Francisco passed its Healthy Meals Incentive in late 2010. Under the legislation, all restaurants — from fast food joints to the Four Seasons — are not allowed to offer toys with meals that are too high in fat, calories, or sodium or that fail to feature fruits and/or vegetables. By limiting what kinds of meals can come with a free toy, lawmakers hope to incentivize healthy foods and deter kids from developing poor eating habits.

While San Francisco's approval of the Healthy Meals Incentive is encouraging for New Yorkers, toy ordinances have a troubled history: Lawmakers in Arizona and Florida are talking about banning officials from ever even proposing legislation that would limit toys in kids' meals, and San Francisco's former Mayor Gavin Newsom was vocally opposed to the city's Healthy Meals Incentive. You can bet that New York's legislation will face similar opposition and some hard-core lobbying from the fast food industry.

That's why it's important that we generate support for this proposed legislation as quickly as possible. Tell New York's lawmakers that the city's children deserve protection from predatory marketing schemes. Sign Corporate Accountability International's petition asking Mayor Michael Bloomberg to vote in favor of legislation that would ban restaurants from including toys in unhealthy kids' meals.

Photo credit: EvelynGiggles via Flickr