Happy Meals banned in San Francisco!

Greyfox wrote: »

Well if Mcdonalds sold only healty food and a toy their profits would plummit, and that would not be fair on any business! Instead of blaming Mcdonalds we should be blaming the parents who bring them their too often!

Why not blame both? Why does McDonald's get a free pass? They spend far more than parents can or do on persuading kids they should eat filth.

My heart bleeds for a corporation that will lose money if it only sells stuff that isn't actually harmful to children, with a corporate presence in hospitals and schools.

Snakeblood wrote: »

Why not blame both? Why does McDonald's get a free pass? They spend far more than parents can or do on persuading kids they should eat filth.

My heart bleeds for a corporation that will lose money if it only sells stuff that isn't actually harmful to children, with a corporate presence in hospitals and schools.

Because McDonalds aren't trying to pretend their food is healthy so I can't see what their doing wrong, everyone already knows it's junk food including the parents who buy happy meals, next we'll be blaming mcdonalds for the fact that so many adults are overweight.

But eating Mcdonalds occasionally is NOT harmfull to kids, I ate their quite a bit as a kid and I've never had any health problems! I also know parents who never bring their kids to McDonalds, it's called bringing your kids somewhere else for food!

syklops wrote: »

McDonalds sell things that people choose to buy. They should not be blamed for childhood obesity.

When I was a kid I went to McDonalds for my birthday and that was it. Anytime I asked if we were in Dublin the answer was no. Pester power was just as strong in those days. My sister and I could pester for hours on end. The answer was always a firm no. In those days there was one McDonalds in all of Ireland. How many are there now?

Feckin hell. I just looked up how many there are in Ireland now. 79! :eek:

So what has changed in society? Why have parents stopped saying no?

You went to one mcdonald's a year when there was one in the country. now they permeate it and people constantly go to it. You're asking me what has changed?

McDonald's advertise more to kids, have better P.R. about their nutrition or lack thereof, and parents are more hassled than they used to be. They expand so they're in most areas, and they're bright and colourful and kids want the food and toys, and their parents think 'Oh, it's a treat'.

So the next time they are around, and their kids are misbehaving, they bribe them with a treat to shut them up. And the next time. And the next time. And then the kid learns that McDonald's is the treat place, so that's where they always want to go if given a choice, or even if not given a choice.

Yep! I have turned off sky kids tv because of toy based brainwashing also.
Well done san francisco!who says smoking hapes of waccy baccy makes you stupid?

stovelid wrote: »

Bring them up.

In an ideal world maybe.

Snakeblood wrote: »

Actually, they are trying to pretend their food is healthy. If you don't know that, then go read their nutritional information.
And this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McLibel_case

Yes, it is harmful to kids. It makes them fat. It teaches them that eating junk food is a treat to be enjoyed. It makes them want too much salt and sugar in their diet that they don't need. McDonald's is directly competing with what is good for children to eat. It doesn't want people eating carrots or healthy food. It wants children eating its food. It spends hundreds of millions of dollars getting kids to eat its food.

It's feeding kids muck and it's a bad thing to do.

Their nutritional information far from paints a picture of healthy food.

And eating junk is a treat to be enjoyed. Much like some Ben & Jerry's, a pint or two, etc. If people think of McDonald's as a treat to be enjoyed, but not part of a regular diet, what is your gripe?

KungPao wrote: »

I wonder if Ronald McDonald will be banned some time soon. Joe Camel http://www.bambootrading.com/1300/1385.jpg was given the heave ho because the character was attractive to children and was promoting a very damaging product.

Ron McD is promoting a damaging product too, obviously targeted towards kids and even dressed in colours that make people feel hungry.

And he's creepy too.

He always reminds me of the dude from IT by stephen King. Pennywise.

I should also say in the interests of full disclosure, I've eaten in McD's and will do so again. I just dislike that they aim at kids. I won't bring my kid there though. She doesn't deserve it.

Snakeblood wrote: »

So the next time they are around, and their kids are misbehaving, they bribe them with a treat to shut them up. And the next time. And the next time. And then the kid learns that McDonald's is the treat place, so that's where they always want to go if given a choice, or even if not given a choice.

In this case the problem is the fact that the parent felt the need to bribe their child rather then telling them that if they don't stop misbehaving they will get a punishment. This is a very clear case of bad parenting and to blame mcdonalds on this would be just like blaming the tv for the fact that your kid didn't do their homework

Snakeblood wrote: »

Actually, they are trying to pretend their food is healthy. If you don't know that, then go read their nutritional information.
And this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McLibel_case

Yes, it is harmful to kids. It makes them fat. It teaches them that eating junk food is a treat to be enjoyed. It makes them want too much salt and sugar in their diet that they don't need. McDonald's is directly competing with what is good for children to eat. It doesn't want people eating carrots or healthy food. It wants children eating its food. It spends hundreds of millions of dollars getting kids to eat its food.

It's feeding kids muck and it's a bad thing to do.

Well in fairness they can say things like theirs protien in this or that etc but only a complete and utter idiot would believe it's healthy as everyone knows the amount of salt etc that's added to their food

That's only if they eat too much junk food and in this case that's bad parenting, theirs absolutely nothing wrong with a little bit of junk food. You only get fat if you eat a lot of junk food and if a parent see's their kid is getting fat they should then get then to cut down

Of course eating junk food is a treat to be enjoyed, for me every normal human being would agree with this as it's a fact of life, in most cases unhealty food tastes better then healty food and this will never change. Should we bad kids from eating chocolate, watching tv or playing computer games on the grounds that their unhealthy? It's not Mcdonalds fault that some people don't have the ability make sure they and their kids only eat junk food in moderation

one way or another kids shouldn't be eating so much of this crap!
it starts with parenting but also involves making a society that cares

I don't know any child who enjoys going to McDonalds simply because of the crappy toy they give away with the meal. Children simply enjoy the taste of burgers, nuggets, fries and ice cream! In most cases, the toys are either left in the restaurant, or binned as soon as they get home.

Sure, if you bring a child anywhere to eat, most places will have chips/sausages/nuggets on the childrens menu. My children will always go for the mashed potatoes rather than fries, but that's just personal taste. Mashed potato is full of butter and milk, gravy is full of salt - where do you draw the line?

There is a place for all kinds of food in a childrens diet. The key is to provide a balanced diet for them. If they get their 5 a day and keep fatty foods to a minimum, I don't see a problem with the occasional trip to McDonalds.

Lack of exercise is also a factor - kids tend to be a lot more sedentrary than they used to be. Instead of sitting in playing video games endlessly, perhaps taking up a sport or dance classes. It's not rocket science really....

pickarooney wrote: »

This, to me is a huge problem with Irish restaurants. Everything on the kids' menus is crap, and it's always the same crap - chips, nuggets, 'sausages'...

You're right, but do you think if their kids menus consisted of salad, penne with pesto or boiled chicken with brown rice it would have the same uptake?

Besides, like I said, as long as the child is getting a healthy, balanced diet at home, the odd less than nutritionally perfect meal really shouldn't harm them in any way.

dark crystal wrote: »

You're right, but do you think if their kids menus consisted of salad, penne with pesto or boiled chicken with brown rice it would have the same uptake?

Besides, like I said, as long as the child is getting a healthy, balanced diet at home, the odd less than nutritionally perfect meal really shouldn't harm them in any way.

Unfortunately many parents think that Spagetti Bolognse is healthy and pretty low in fat, so is Lasange, Chicken Goujons, 2 slices of batch toast with lashings of butter.

So if food like that is the usual dinner or lunch, and then sausages and chips for are treat, soon enough little Timmy will be roly poly Timmy with health problems.