McDonald's Happy Meal Toy Law
In San Francisco on Tuesday, the Board Of Supervisors passed a law that basically says a restaurant cannot give out free toys unless the meal is healthy. As you know, I have enjoyed a fast food meal or two in my life and know that when I eat those meals they are not good for me. That being said, this law is ridiculous. I am all for halting childhood obesity because it is going to lead to long term health problems for a generation of kids and astronomical costs to take care of them. Despite my own predilections, I do not want the entire world to turn into the characters on Wall-E.
How is this law going to change that though? So McDonald's will sell the toys for a quarter instead of giving them away for free. I guess this means restaurants will no longer be able to provide coloring books and crayons to keep a child entertained because they are free. The free toys are not the problem. The problem is that at least in the United States we make bad food cheap and healthy food expensive. We make it so families all have to work a million jobs to survive and fast food is fast and cheap and will fill your bellies when parents do not have time or money to cook because they are just trying to survive.
The other option for parents is to simply tell your child, "no," when they want fast food. Yes, McDonald's spends hundreds of millions of dollars a year in advertising, but last time I checked, 6 year old kids were not driving themselves to the stores and buying the food. Parents are.
Now, as for laws about what your kids are eating at school and able to get from the vending machines? I am all for those laws because they actually work. If you give a child no alternative but healthy, they will eat healthy.
