Tell McDonald's: Stop Using Toys to Push Junk Food on Kids

If you want to know who is making your kids fat, ask Shrek. Or Barbie. Or Yoda, Darth Vader, and R2-D2. These are all characters that McDonald's uses to entice kids into its restaurants so they can chow down on Happy Meals. But one non-profit aims to call the company out for using toys to unfairly market junk food to impressionable children.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) recently issued a challenge to McDonald's: Stop using toys to pimp out unhealthy foods to kids, or we'll sue you. CSPI claims that using toys to market unhealthy meals to children is a practice that's unfair, deceptive, and illegal under some states' consumer protection laws.

And while McDonald's responded to CSPI's demands by reiterating its commitment to stocking all Happy Meals with toys, it seems like the company might actually be running scared. In its very public demands to McDonald's, CSPI highlighted the fact that all 24 Happy Meal combos contained more than 430 calories, the recommended caloric intake for lunches eaten by kids ages four-to-eight. According to the Appetite for Profit blog, just three days after CSPI issued its request to McDonald's, the Golden Arches updated its Happy Meal nutritional content information on its Web site. The new info indicates that three Happy Meal combos contain fewer than 430 calories. McDonald's claims it simply noticed an error in its nutritional information, but the timing seems a little too coincidental.

While McDonald's is hardly the only restaurant that uses kid-friendly characters to market unhealthy foods, CSPI makes a good case against Happy Meal toys. According to CSPI, back in 2007, McDonald's agreed to only advertise kids' food that meets certain nutrition standards, an agreement reached under Council of Better Business Bureau’s Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative. But despite the fact that Shrek may only advertise Apple Dippers and low-fat milk on TV, a CSPI study showed that when kids or parents order Happy Meals, they're given French fries 93 percent of the time. Kids get lured into the restaurant through the promise of a new toy — they're rewarded with foods high in fat, sugar, calories, and salt.

From the McDonald's example — and countless others, for that matter — it's clear that using cartoon characters and other kid-friendly incentives to push junk food contributes heavily to America's childhood obesity epidemic. Kids beg parents to go to McDonald's to get Happy Meal toys. When children or parents order Happy Meals, they are
automatically given French fries 93 percent of the time, and offered soda first 78 percent of the time. These sugary and salty snacks give kids a taste for unhealthy foods, so the cycle repeats itself, setting children up for an increased risk of  obesity, diabetes, and other diet-related disorders.

And sure, it's up to parents to say no to their kids. But McDonald's and other junk food purveyors make parental duties exceedingly more difficult. "I try my best to educate my kids about healthy eating, but it's hard when I am competing against the allure of a new Shrek toy," Sheila Nesbitt, a mother of two kids, told CSPI.

A Happy Meal toy may make kids giddy in the short-term, but developing obesity and diabetes sets children up for a lifetime of health issues. Support CSPI and sign its petition demanding that McDonald's stop using toys to market unhealthy meals to children.

Photo credit: Cosmic Kitty via Flickr