A county supervisor in California wants to ban Happy Meal toys

[The Straight Story]

Should Happy Meal toys be banned from your child's fast food meal?

A county supervisor in California wants to ban Happy Meal toys and other similar treats that are given away with children's fast food meals.

So why should St. Louis moms be concerned about a county in California? This same county in Silcon Valley issued a law in 2008 that required chain restaurants to include a calorie count on their menus, which was later adopted by the state of California. And trends that start in California often spread to the rest of the nation.

Ken Yeager, the Santa Clara County Supervisor, is presenting a law at Tuesday's county board meeting to ban toys given away with unhealthy food. He believes the toys are used to encourage children to eat fatty, sugary, high-calorie meals that can lead to childhood obesity, according to the Silcon Valley Mercury News.

"They want the toy and have no idea what's in the food," Yeager said Monday to the Mercury News. "You can't expect a 3-year-old to say there are too many calories in that hamburger."

"We can't just do nothing and hope that families just find another way to avoid obesity in their kids," said Yeager, who hopes a new regulation could come up for a vote in late April. "We have to hold the fast-food chains responsible."


http://www.examiner.com/x-3599-St-Louis-Motherhood-Examiner~y2010m3d23-Should-Happy-Meal-toys-be-banned-from-your-childs-fast-food-meal

[SolidGold]

1. If you take away the toy the food is still bad.

How about calling them child fattening kits instead of happy meals?

[JackintheGreen]

2. Wasn't one of the "benefits" of feeding HFCS to cattle

that it made them fat, docile and happy (or as happy as a feed animal can be?). I'm thinking of decades ago when it was first developed. Or am I thinking of something else?

Anyway, fat, docile, and happy. Hand in hand.

[SolidGold]

4. not HFCS just corn grain.

In support of that though, I love fat cows, they make big steaks - the animals are meant to be large. Children on the other hand don't make delicious steaks and probably shouldn't be fed this garbage on a regular basis.

I have a daughter that's too young to eat this stuff but when she is old enough it will be a once every four months type of thing, only because we are in a bind on time. Introducing children to quick, unhealthy food at an early age could cause them to perpetuate it through their life. My younger sister has this problem because from the time she was a teen my mom just gave her money to run up to mcdonalds and get food cause she didn't like the exotic stuff we ate (we are german - ie, sausage/crout/etc.etc.). She's now fucking GIANT and still won't break the pattern. Never prepares food for herself, she just eats crap that takes 5 minute to get ready.

[JackintheGreen]

6. I appreciate the correction.

I hear things over the course of a day and then days/weeks later they fall out again all jumbled.

[ZombieHorde]

13. Total bullshit.

Children do make delicious steaks.

[tularetom]

5. Fat, docile and happy is no way to go through life, son.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bK-Dqj4fHmM

[Atman]

9. Misses the point...

If you've ever stood in line at Mickey D's (first, I'm sorry!), then you've seen the way kids act. They are freaked out by the toy. That's ALL they want. They don't give a shit about what they're eating, they'll compromise to the best of their limited ability and choose McNuggets over a cheeseburger, but in the end, all they're choosing is the toy. Eliminate the toy and the parent at least has a fighting chance to buy the kid a healthier meal.

Which, as I write this, sounds fucking stupid. If you're in McDonald's in the first place, finding a "healthier meal" is probably the last thing you're worried about. Fuck it...go ahead, let them eat the poison. Thin the heard.

.

[JackintheGreen]

10. Actually, you were missing my point

which I managed to bury beyond recognizability (my fault):

Toys for kids = docile and happy
+
HFCS = fat and docile

As for your "fighting chance to buy the kid a healthier meal," well, if the parents said "no" in the first place to going to McDonalds, the issue is mooted. I did it. Repeatedly. Parents making healthier choices in the first place gives them the fighting chance. You know this. Your last paragraph proves it. But removing the toy isn't going to change things that much. California needs to get the fuck out of people's personal lives and maybe put a little more money towards education.

[tjwash]

3. The toys are cheap china made crap, probably covered in lead based paint.

The only thing worse for them is the mcdonalds food in the box.

[Raschel]

12. They should be banned, just for ECO reasons. Little plastic crap that gets thrown away the next day.

You can't even give them away at garage sales.

[NeedleCast]

7. Calories on Menu/Posted on Restaurant is good

Banning toys in happy meals is stupid.

[Odin2005]

8. I approve of this

The toys are an evil gimmick designed to get kids hooked on going there.

[Riftaxe]

11. That is one County supervisor

With way to much time on his hands. Perhaps this is an indication that his position has become redundant?

[HopeHoops]

14. Same thing with breakfast cereals - "Collect all SIX!"

As a kid, I KNOW I was influenced by the toys in the cereal box. We used to pour the cereal out into a large bowl to get at the toy and then pour the cereal back into the box. After the toy was retrieved, the only incentive to eat the shit was to justify the purchase of a new box with another toy.

[Jennicut]

15. How about you have the parents just say no?

Geez. I had Happy Meals a few times as a kid and didn't die. You shouldn't have them every day or every week.

[lame54]

16. ban the food - eat the toys

[tigereye]

17. let alone whatever kind of creepy plastic they are made out of...

I don't think the toys are the problem, though...