No More Toys For Happy Meals

So, for San Francisco residents, it is the end of an era. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors have recently voted to ban McDonald's Happy Meals, at least in the traditional form. The new ordinance will ban restaurants from offering toys along with meals that contain over 600 calories, and more that 35% of the calories coming from fat. Additionally, the meals must include a fruit or vegetable.

This new ordinance is especially problematic for McDonalds, because a typical Happy Meal (cheeseburger, small fries and a Sprite) contains about 640 calories. According to a spokesperson for McDonald”s:

"We are extremely disappointed with this decision," company spokeswoman Danya Proud said in a statement. "It's not what our customers want, nor is it something they asked for."

McDonald's is concerned because the type of meal that would be required in order to comply with the ordinance is not the sort of meal that most kids want or expect from a fast food restaurant. But to the city, that is the point. Their goal is to encourage healthy eating habits and to prevent rewarding children for bad habits.

While I can understand the intention behind such a ruling, I don't think that it is going to accomplish anything more that lessening children's joy. Most children I know would opt to forgo the toy in order to have their chicken nuggets and french fries. Many fast food restaurants have started offering healthier side options to replace the french fries in their kids meals , even though most kids still want the fries.

What do you think about this attempt to encourage healthier eating habits? Let me know in the comments.

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