Consumer group targets McDonald's Happy Meal toys

[The Straight Story]

Consumer group targets McDonald's Happy Meal toys

(Reuters) - A U.S. consumer group wants McDonald's Corp to stop using Happy Meal toys to lure children into its restaurants and has threatened to sue if the world's biggest hamburger chain does not comply within 30 days.

"Tempting kids with toys is unfair and deceptive, both to kids who don't understand the concept of advertising, and to their parents, who have to put up with their nagging children," said Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

The group, which previously took on fast-food chain KFC over artery-clogging trans fats, alleged that the practice is illegal under consumer protection laws in states including California, Texas, New Jersey and Massachusetts.

"It's a creepy and predatory practice that warrants an injunction," Stephen Gardner, CSPI's litigation director, said in a statement.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65L4RC20100622?type=domesticNews

[Auggie]

1. Study: Cartoon characters attract kids to junk food

(Health.com) -- Shrek, Dora the Explorer, and other animated TV and movie stars beloved by children have been moonlighting as junk-food pitchmen in recent years. And they're good at it.

Fifty percent of children say that food from a package decorated with a cartoon celebrity such as Shrek tastes better than the same exact food from a plain package, according to a new study.

And when given a choice, the vast majority of kids pick the food from the cartoon-adorned package as a snack, the study found.

The use of TV and movie characters on food packaging is "designed to access certain feelings, memories, and associations," says Dr. Thomas Robinson, M.D., a professor of child health at the Stanford University School of Medicine, who was not involved in the study. "If you associate certain products with things that are otherwise considered fun, it's going to make those products seem more desirable."

LINK: http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/06/21/cartoon.characters.junk.food/index.html

[flvegan]

2. "have to put up with their nagging children"

Man, my mother sure as hell raised me different.

Thanks, mom.