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petegz28
06-23-2010, 12:57 PM
Is the Happy Meal toy a 'creepy and predatory' item? One nutrition group says 'yes.'

The Center for Science in the Public Interest plans to sue McDonald’s if it doesn’t stop offering toys to entice children to buy Happy Meals, CNN Money reports.

McDonald’s practices unfair and deceptive marketing, CSPI said, claiming that it is illegal under various state consumer protection laws. On Tuesday, CSPI served the fast-food giant notice that it intends to sue.

“McDonald’s is the stranger in the playground handing out candy to children,” said Stephen Gardner, the firm’s litigation director, in a press release. “It’s a creepy and predatory practice that warrants an injunction.”

CSPI told McDonald’s that the Happy Meal promotions violate state consumer protection laws in four states and the District of Columbia. The notice allows the company 30 days to cease the practice before it files suit.

The advocacy group says that McDonald’s use of toys to lure children creates bad eating habits, putting them at risk for developing obesity and diabetes -- and sending them down a path of diet-related illnesses for the rest of their lives.

McDonald’s refuted the claim, saying that its U.S. advertising is geared toward low-calorie Happy Meals.

In a prepared statement, McDonald’s spokesman William Whitman said, “We couldn’t disagree more with the misrepresentation of our food and marketing practices.”

“McDonald’s is committed to a responsible approach to our menu, and our Happy Meal offerings,” he said. “We have added more choice and variety than ever before, a fact that has been widely reported and recognized.”

Michael Jacobson, CSPI director, told the site that parents, too, must take responsibility for their children’s diet. “But multibillion-dollar corporations make parents’ job nearly impossible by giving away toys and bombarding kids with slick advertising,” he told the site.



Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/money/2010/06/23/2010-06-23_mcdonalds_warned_drop_the_happy_meal_toys_or_get_sued.html#ixzz0rhiSvQhr

Hydrae
06-23-2010, 01:01 PM
Maybe they should have thought about this about 30 years ago when McDonald's started this practice. Whether they have a leg to stand on (they do not IMO) or not, it seems like the time to complain about this is long, long past.

petegz28
06-23-2010, 01:04 PM
Maybe they should have thought about this about 30 years ago when McDonald's started this practice. Whether they have a leg to stand on (they do not IMO) or not, it seems like the time to complain about this is long, long past.

My favorite part is where they claim it is impossible for the parent to control the child because of toys and advertising. ROFL

These people would literally have you believe kids control the parents and there is nothing the parents can do about it.

Buehler445
06-23-2010, 01:08 PM
I read that article yesterday and made my wife read it because it is so fucking absurd.

How about the fucking parents make their kids eat something besides pure fat or pure sugar and you wouldn't have fat worthless kids.

FFS what a fucking joke.
Posted via Mobile Device

petegz28
06-23-2010, 01:13 PM
I read that article yesterday and made my wife read it because it is so ****ing absurd.

How about the ****ing parents make their kids eat something besides pure fat or pure sugar and you wouldn't have fat worthless kids.

FFS what a ****ing joke.
Posted via Mobile Device

It's the toys man!!! They give kids a special power to control the parents.

|Zach|
06-23-2010, 01:15 PM
Nah.

Slayer Diablo
06-23-2010, 01:16 PM
Bullshit. I've even gone up to the counter and asked for an extra toy--with success--for my little brother/sister/cousin/etc.

BIG_DADDY
06-23-2010, 01:18 PM
You can get just get the toy if you want. I don't let my kid eat that shit.

CosmicPal
06-23-2010, 01:19 PM
This comes up every year. They just had an article about this very thing a few months ago.

Bugeater
06-23-2010, 01:31 PM
Good grief.

gblowfish
06-23-2010, 01:36 PM
That Ronald McDonald is kind of a pervo.
I'd get rid of his ass too, before he hurts somebody...

CoMoChief
06-23-2010, 01:44 PM
Is the Happy Meal toy a 'creepy and predatory' item? One nutrition group says 'yes.'

The Center for Science in the Public Interest plans to sue McDonald’s if it doesn’t stop offering toys to entice children to buy Happy Meals, CNN Money reports.

McDonald’s practices unfair and deceptive marketing, CSPI said, claiming that it is illegal under various state consumer protection laws. On Tuesday, CSPI served the fast-food giant notice that it intends to sue.

“McDonald’s is the stranger in the playground handing out candy to children,” said Stephen Gardner, the firm’s litigation director, in a press release. “It’s a creepy and predatory practice that warrants an injunction.”

CSPI told McDonald’s that the Happy Meal promotions violate state consumer protection laws in four states and the District of Columbia. The notice allows the company 30 days to cease the practice before it files suit.

The advocacy group says that McDonald’s use of toys to lure children creates bad eating habits, putting them at risk for developing obesity and diabetes -- and sending them down a path of diet-related illnesses for the rest of their lives.

McDonald’s refuted the claim, saying that its U.S. advertising is geared toward low-calorie Happy Meals.

In a prepared statement, McDonald’s spokesman William Whitman said, “We couldn’t disagree more with the misrepresentation of our food and marketing practices.”

“McDonald’s is committed to a responsible approach to our menu, and our Happy Meal offerings,” he said. “We have added more choice and variety than ever before, a fact that has been widely reported and recognized.”

Michael Jacobson, CSPI director, told the site that parents, too, must take responsibility for their children’s diet. “But multibillion-dollar corporations make parents’ job nearly impossible by giving away toys and bombarding kids with slick advertising,” he told the site.



Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/money/2010/06/23/2010-06-23_mcdonalds_warned_drop_the_happy_meal_toys_or_get_sued.html#ixzz0rhiSvQhr

The kids don't buy happy meals.......the parents do.

Just have the parents tell their kids no. Just like for anything else.

Problem solved.

But that's too easy. Dumbfucks wanna sue left and right in this current day and age.

The Franchise
06-23-2010, 01:47 PM
Last time I checked.......kids under 16 can't drive. It's called saying No.

Baby Lee
06-23-2010, 01:48 PM
The kids don't buy happy meals.......the parents do.

Just have the parents tell their kids no. Just like for anything else.

Problem solved.

But that's too easy. Dumbfucks wanna sue left and right in this current day and age.

Exhibit A: Never ever had a Happy Meal. Moms never even suggested it was possible. Never thought it was possible and saw no reason to ask. Ooh, my meal comes in a box with a toy, BFD.

seclark
06-23-2010, 01:50 PM
today mcdonalds
tomorrow cracker jacks
sec

RJ
06-23-2010, 02:06 PM
No big deal. We don't like our daughter eating McDonalds and she doesn't like it much anyway. When there's a toy she really wants we'll occasionally buy the happy meal and then throw out the food - except the fries, she'll eat those. Problem solved.

Johnny Vegas
06-23-2010, 02:27 PM
fuck its seems like every year we get more claims that kids are out of control and zero tolerance has taken over rational thinking. wtf is it gonna be next? Pixar is the devil because they target kids for their movies and the movie theaters are the sexual predator for sellin candy, soda, and popcorn before the show. Then what? ban 3-D glasses, the Gap for kids, kararoke, and country buffet???

underEJ
06-23-2010, 03:09 PM
Part of the problem with the position this group takes (and has taken for decades,) is that science advances and general knowledge of food safety changes rapidly. I see no issue with them as a lobbying group on behalf of the latest science available about health and nutrition, and some of the work they do is great, but actively suing on behalf of consumers (in this case children,) goes beyond their ability.

The passage of time has proven their claims wrong on trans fats, and they now advocate something very different than they did in the 80s. As a consumer group that is fine, but to go into court claiming definitive science when we all know it changes over time, is a failed prospect, and claiming that children and parents are helpless against the advertising is asking for what? That nothing that is currently considered bad for you can be marketed toward families?

I hate marketing and would love to see much less advertising or even none at all, but even I wouldn't go so far as to think it's my business what other people watch or respond to, much less accuse parents of being unable to make decisions for their children. Are they looking for a ratings system for advertising? What age is the cutoff? Who decides?

Lego Happy Meals were the best.

Digital Takawira
06-23-2010, 03:19 PM
http://images.wikia.com/uncyclopedia/images/1/1d/ChrisHanson.jpg

I'm Chris Hansen with Dateline NBC and we are doing a story about fast-food chains who try to entice children with toys to get them to come to their establishment.
(enters room) Have a seat over there.

'Hamas' Jenkins
06-23-2010, 03:24 PM
Those toys fucking sucked, anyways.

alpha_omega
06-23-2010, 03:26 PM
Uhhhh, how about "NO!"

Sweet Daddy Hate
06-23-2010, 04:41 PM
“McDonald’s is the stranger in the playground handing out candy to children,” said Stephen Gardner, the firm’s litigation director, in a press release. “It’s a creepy and predatory practice that warrants an injunction.”



Sue-Happy Meal?

Sweet Daddy Hate
06-23-2010, 04:41 PM
I have truly seen it all now.

LaChapelle
06-23-2010, 04:56 PM
Shape the fries like dinasaurs
have the drive through window lady wear a low cut blouse
and give BB&B coupons -solved

Pioli Zombie
06-23-2010, 05:00 PM
Good grief.
You should know about predatory behavior you gay fuck. When you aren't stalking me like a pussy you are hanging out at the McDonalds playlands looking for a kid to hustle into the bathroom.

Psyko Tek
06-23-2010, 05:08 PM
they used to have cool toys now they are shit and poisoned glasses


now jack in the box has the cooler toys
the burger king star trek glasses broke if you looked at them too hard

the shreks where nice but would kill you

I have one of those

EWOK
06-23-2010, 05:30 PM
What ever happened to "Responsibility" Nobody put a gun to the parents head and forced them to McDonald's let alone buying a happy meal for their kids. Never fear Obama's Nutrition Police is sure to save the day

Fish
06-23-2010, 05:37 PM
Please government... save these children from the evils of Happy Meals.... neither the children, nor their parents have any self control, and are so compelled by the lure of free toys that public money should be spent in an insanely expensive lawsuit which is destined to have a pointless outcome that provides no resolution.

It's the only way to save the children...

Param
06-23-2010, 05:43 PM
I had my priorities straight when I was a little kid. I just wanted the big mac with fries n drink. I didn't want no stinkin toy.