San Francisco To Ban Happy Meal Toys

Because if kids can't get toys, they won't eat fattening fast food.

From the SF Examiner's City Hall Watch blog.

Quote :

“Childhood obesity in this country is making our kids sick, particularly kids from low-income neighborhoods, at staggering rates,” said Supervisor Eric Mar, who introduced the legislation.

The law prohibits the use of toys to entice children to eat food, such as Happy Meals, among other measures. But toys might still be included if the meals meet certain nutritional guidelines spelled out in the legislation, such as no more than 640 milligrams of sodium and at least a half-cup of fruits or vegetables. The law will take effect in December 2011.

McDonald's has fought this proposed ban every step of the way and I can only imagine they'll file an appeal if/when it survives the veto Mayor Gavin Newsom has promised.

This is "Look like you're doing something" lawmaking at it's worst. Time and resources wasted fighting a non-issue and offering laws that won't actually fix the "problem": Does anyone really think parents will stop going to McDonald's just because Little Billy can't get the newest plastic gegaw anymore? Most likely, they'll just order a la carte from the dollar menu every burger joint now has (and probably come out better, cost wise).

I can't imagine this surviving a court challenge, but stranger things have happened (See: last Tuesday's elections).

If it does go through, I can imagine a mass exodus of toy collectors from the area (Happy Meal toy collecting is serious business!).

It would be nice if the "What about the children" crowd would ever wonder might happen if people were taught to be better parents and/or to not have kids they don't want, as opposed to thinking about how to adjust society into some sort of bizarre existence where parenting would somehow be foolproof.

Because, y'know, it's just too hard to, y'know, not take your kid to McDonalds.

That's disturbingly true for many parents. Cooking is work. Who needs work when McDonalds has a dollar menu?

Why don't they just go all the way and ban McDonald's instead?
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Oh, yeah, right. Cause they'd never get away with it.

I love how little thought was put into this. Sure am loving these extremely short term "solutions" to long term problems! [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
Most little kids I know don't give two shits about the Happy Meal itself and most of the time don't even bother eating it. They want the toy.

I'm suddenly reminded of that whole incident where they started firing teachers at this one school because the kids there were failing. No sort of research went into the decision (aside from the angry mob of parents), just fired 'em and got new ones. Lo and behold, the kids are still dumb as fuck. Time keeps on slipping.

Alhazred wrote:

That's disturbingly true for many parents. Cooking is work. Who needs work when McDonalds has a dollar menu?

Still, you could go to Chik-Fil-A or Subway, where while the food isn't exactly healthy, it isn't McDonald's.

This a ridiculous micromanaging and elimination of economic freedoms. Let McDonald's package whatever they want and let kids get fat.

It'll be their problem when I conquer the globe and make being a fatty a capital crime.

Alhazred wrote:

That's disturbingly true for many parents. Cooking is work. Who needs work when McDonalds has a dollar menu?

And banning the toys will clearly solve this problem!

Lembech wrote:

Most little kids I know don't give two shits about the Happy Meal itself and most of the time don't even bother eating it. They want the toy.

Exactly - and most McDonalds will be happy to sell you the toy for a buck fifty without making you buy the happy meal. And even if you live in a place where they won't, there's no reason why you can't just pitch the food in the trash and make your kid eat something healthy once they've got their plastic piece of crap. Taking away the toy won't stop parents who can't be arsed to give their child real food from taking them to McDonald's, and the only thing it'll accomplish is pissing off a bunch of kids.

Are you people really stupid enough to believe that people everywhere are feeding their children McDonald's every fucking day? Or that if they are cooking home cooked meals they would be healthy? Or that your average inter city family doesn't live in a neighborhood where one orange costs a dollar while Hamburger Helper is on sell for two for three dollars?

It always tickles me when childless people police parents.

XLT-100852.0 wrote:

Are you people really stupid enough to believe that people everywhere are feeding their children McDonald's every fucking day?

Uh, quite a lot do.

Quote :

Or that if they are cooking home cooked meals they would be healthy?

According to McDonalds' own nutritional information, a single double cheesburger had 440 calories. A small fry has 330. Not even getting into fat and salt content, even a shitty homecooked meal or, hell, a TV dinner would at the very least be less unhealthy.

Quote :

Or that your average inter city family doesn't live in a neighborhood where one orange costs a dollar while Hamburger Helper is on sell for two for three dollars?

But again, convenience. You have to go to the store and go inside for an orange. You have to cook Hamburger Helper. McDonalds has a drive-through and isn't much more expensive for the convenience it affords.

XLT-100852.0 wrote:

Or that your average inter city family doesn't live in a neighborhood where one orange costs a dollar while Hamburger Helper is on sell for two for three dollars?

XLT! Are you seriously suggesting that there might actually be more to this than just BAD PARENT, BAD? That maybe greater social and political forces are in play here? I never heard of such a thing! Take out that brain and flush it down the toilet!

First and foremost...

Why are people so stupid?

This amount of stupidity is infuriating.

It's like trying to ban music from the radio you don't want to listen to instead of changing the station or turning the radio off.

No, it's making a big fuss and blather about OMG DETHFAT in the hope of distracting people from the real issues, which are that shit food is cheap, healthy food is expensive, and the government doesn't give a fuck about obesity because if they did they wouldn't let food companies put high fructose corn syrup in everything.

Cyberwulf wrote:

high fructose corn syrup

Aren't they calling it "corn sugar" now?

... And the sad thing is, people will fall for that too.

Cyberwulf wrote:

XLT-100852.0 wrote:

Or that your average inter city family doesn't live in a neighborhood where one orange costs a dollar while Hamburger Helper is on sell for two for three dollars?

XLT! Are you seriously suggesting that there might actually be more to this than just BAD PARENT, BAD? That maybe greater social and political forces are in play here? I never heard of such a thing! Take out that brain and flush it down the toilet!

I grew up in an area where McDonald's was way cheaper and way easier for the bulk of the people. So many of those Moms and Dads are both working multiple jobs, local markets don't carry quality produce, and healthy supermarket food is expensive. Voila: fast food dinners.

Spoiler:

Get the parents to stop feeding kids McDonald's and you still have to deal with the social component, which goes beyond economics--in our area, these families are cooking with the same recipes they've used for generations. Lard, fatty cuts of meat, frying stuff, hollow starches, you name it. Community programs have been shown to work, but they're expensive and nowhere near as "we know better than you" as laws like this.

Cyberwulf wrote:

No, it's making a big fuss and blather about OMG DETHFAT in the hope of distracting people from the real issues, which are that shit food is cheap, healthy food is expensive, and the government doesn't give a fuck about obesity because if they did they wouldn't let food companies put high fructose corn syrup in everything.

Lower the cost of healthy food and couple it with community education on acceptable substitutes. But that would involve people with some power getting off their asses and doing something that makes some sense.

Cyberwulf wrote:

No, it's making a big fuss and blather about OMG DETHFAT in the hope of distracting people from the real issues, which are that shit food is cheap, healthy food is expensive, and the government doesn't give a fuck about obesity because if they did they wouldn't let food companies put high fructose corn syrup in everything.

Either way you cut it, the Happy Meal toys is a non-issue that politicians are using to distract from the real problem, which is a lot deeper than McDonalds marketing to kids.

Overall, there's just so much fucking wrong with this law and its purpose that finding problems is shooting fish in a barrel.

I can't say anything more about the article than what's already been said. Bigger issues here, happy meal toy bullshit distraction, etc.

All that's left is a good old

Mr.Doobie wrote:

Cyberwulf wrote:

No, it's making a big fuss and blather about OMG DETHFAT in the hope of distracting people from the real issues, which are that shit food is cheap, healthy food is expensive, and the government doesn't give a fuck about obesity because if they did they wouldn't let food companies put high fructose corn syrup in everything.

Either way you cut it, the Happy Meal toys is a non-issue that politicians are using to distract from the real problem, which is a lot deeper than McDonalds marketing to kids.

That's funny, I thought you said the problem was lazy parents.

Cyberwulf wrote:

Mr.Doobie wrote:

Cyberwulf wrote:

No, it's making a big fuss and blather about OMG DETHFAT in the hope of distracting people from the real issues, which are that shit food is cheap, healthy food is expensive, and the government doesn't give a fuck about obesity because if they did they wouldn't let food companies put high fructose corn syrup in everything.

Either way you cut it, the Happy Meal toys is a non-issue that politicians are using to distract from the real problem, which is a lot deeper than McDonalds marketing to kids.

That's funny, I thought you said the problem was lazy parents.

Yes. And you pointed out the complex social problems behind the whole McDonalds thing. You had a point. It was something I didn't think about.

The politicians are looking for a simple solution to a complex problem, and it won't work. It's like treating a cancer with a band-aid.

Cyberwulf wrote:

No, it's making a big fuss and blather about OMG DETHFAT in the hope of distracting people from the real issues, which are that shit food is cheap, healthy food is expensive, and the government doesn't give a fuck about obesity because if they did they wouldn't let food companies put high fructose corn syrup in everything.

The problem is that for every study that shows high fructose corn syrup causes all these problems, there is a study saying that the effects of HFCS are being blown way out of proportion. The American Medical Association, while calling for more independent studies, states plainly that it sees no greater risk of obesity from the use of HFCS than from ordinary sugar. The Mayo Clinic also found insufficient evidence linking HFCS to a greater risk of health effects (and also stated the primary problem is overdoing it on any form of sugar).

Add to that the strict controls on sugar production, high tariffs on sugar importation, and corn being one of the most heavily subsidized crops in the U.S. and that's how you get to where we are now.

Honestly, do they really think this will stop really fat people from eating McDonalds?

A toy worth less than 50 cents is the pure reason America's kids are getting fat? Well, who buys the meals? Most of the time it's the parents.