Group Will Sue McDonald's Over Happy Meal Toys

WASHINGTON — Are the toys in your child's Happy Meal making him fat?

The Center for Science in the Public Interest says they are. The Washington-based consumer advocacy group threatened to file a lawsuit against McDonald's Tuesday, charging that the fast food chain "unfairly and deceptively" markets the toys to children.

"McDonald's marketing has the effect of conscripting America's children into an unpaid drone army of word-of-mouth marketers, causing them to nag their parents to bring them to McDonald's," CSPI's Stephen Gardner wrote to the heads of the chain in a letter announcing the lawsuit.

The center, which has filed dozens of lawsuits against food companies in recent years, is hoping the publicity and the threat of a lawsuit will force McDonald's to negotiate with them on the issue. The group announced the lawsuit in the letter to McDonald's 30 days before filing it with the hope that the company will agree to stop selling the toys before a suit is filed.

McDonald's Vice President of Communications, William Whitman, said in a statement that the company "couldn't disagree more" with CSPI's assertion that their toys violate any laws. He said McDonald's restaurants offer more variety than they ever have and Happy Meals are made smaller for kids.

"We are proud of our Happy Meal which gives our customers wholesome food and toys of the highest quality and safety," Whitman said. "Getting a toy is just one part of a fun, family experience at McDonald's."

CSPI says the suit would be filed in state court. The center has not settled on a state yet, but the group believes the toys in Happy Meals violate state consumer protection laws in Massachusetts, Texas, the District of Columbia, New Jersey and California.

California's Santa Clara County voted earlier this year to ban restaurants from giving away the toys and other freebies that often come with high-calorie meals aimed at kids.

McDonald's has fought such criticism for years, and the company made a pledge in 2007 to advertise only two types of Happy Meals to children younger than 12: one with four Chicken McNuggets, apple dippers with caramel dip and low-fat white milk, or one with a hamburger, apple dippers and milk. They both meet the company-set requirement of less than 600 calories, and no more than 35 percent of calories from fat, 10 percent of calories from saturated fat or 35 percent total sugar by weight.

CSPI argues that even if those Happy Meals appear in advertisements, kids order the unhealthier meals most of the time.

The group is hoping its first lawsuit against the mega-chain will have a similar effect as its 2006 lawsuit against Kellogg that prompted the company to agree to a settlement raising the nutritional value of cereals and snacks it markets to children.

Still, some may accuse the group of extremism, arguing that it's the parents' responsibility to monitor what their children eat, not the restaurant's.

Michael Jacobson, executive director of CSPI, says it's the parents responsibility too, but he equates the toy giveaways to a door to door salesman coming to a family's house every day and asking to privately speak with the children.

"At some point parents get worn down," Jacobson says. "They don't always want to be saying no to their children. We feel like an awful lot of parents would be relieved if this one pressure was removed from them."

McDonald's also came under fire over Happy Meals earlier this year when it recalled 12 million "Shrek" drinking glasses sold with the meals. The Consumer Product Safety Commission said the levels of the carcinogen cadmium in the glasses was too high.

Comments

[AbeMartin]

10:50 AM on 08/12/2010

Another gratuitous lawsuit filed with only one purpose: to keep the Center for Science in the Public Interest in the news. This will have about as much chance of making it to court as one of Gloria Allred's celebrity cases.

[Atd1964]

08:55 AM on 07/02/2010

Cadmium is toxic EVERYTHING with cadmium should be banned.
I went to Target with my daughter and she wanted to buy her friend who was moving a locket . When she asked for it they told her they could only sell it to people 18 and older...made in China with cadmium!
Also I bought myself the other day a baclet at TJ Maxx. brought it home and it actually had a warning label "not for use for children under age 12". Well them I read about Cadmium more carefully. Apparently it doesn't escriminate it can be very toxic to adults as well!
Why isn't our government doing anything?? Why is the consumer protection agency sitting on their butts! Just ban this jewelry from China, and take it off the shelves of our retail stores. This is very serious!

[Joseph J Schuler]

06:29 PM on 06/28/2010

The Center for Science in the Public Interest are not scientists and do nothing in the public interest. They exist to produce sensational headlines to hawk their nutrition newsletters. Frauds and chartalans, the lot of them.

[Kathleen Cor]

08:45 AM on 07/07/2010

Seriously, why doesn't the government in the USA (irrelevant, as to which party) work well?

Specifically, why don't the government departments and government services work well for the tax paying citizens? Instead the USA government seems to have built a reputation of working well for profit mongering corporations that take every and any advantage of a population group, even it's own young, they'll exploit them for the short term gain of more unnecessary money.

[Kathleen Cor]

05:28 AM on 06/25/2010

The push and pull ad campaigns used to target market children do not leave parents nor children in power. The decision making has been made for them, overtly and insidiously. McDonald's promotes and markets products down consumers throats long before they even realizing what they are swallowing. There is little to no conscious buying choice happening and marketing experts know that well.

Parents do not have admin staff, child expert psychologists and lawyers working around the clock, so you betcha they are being taken advantage of and their children are being used as the influential purchasers.

Until parents get organized to counter stealth buying campaigns, then McDonald's must be heavily regulated by an outside source with comparable experts, be it a parents coalition of experts or qualified government experts, who really cares, as long as it equals the playing field.

Self-regulation requires business ethics 101 adherence!

McDonald's needs to make the news for offering fair trade, organic, local, vegan, vegetarian, whole foods, non-processed, non-chemical, non-GM product offerings! Have any of their buildings and business practices met green and sustainable certification?

Green and sustainable experts can be hired to promote healthy goods and services, its a matter of having the political will and group morality to choose it.

Continuing to formulate excuses for unethical marketing to mass populations of citizens has a direct negative affect and indirectly pollutes the air, water and land that we all must share. Ironic, exploitation serves no one in the long term.

[Joseph J Schuler]

08:29 PM on 06/28/2010

If you want organic, vegan fare then shop elsewhere. The free market allows many choices. I personally don't care if my food is GM, and if I wanted non-processed food I wouldn't goto a fast food joint.

[Kathleen Cor]

08:18 AM on 07/07/2010

Mcdonalds limits food choices in all markets they enter, all over the world they have infringed their homogenious business and narrow food offerings.

A free market means freedom for choice to exist, not be infringed upon with stealth marketing, deliberately taking advantage of the young influential population base.

[Jayk4444]

12:44 AM on 07/11/2010

Few children actually purchase happy meals. It is the parent. Place the responsibility where it lies...with the parent.

[Kathleen Cor]

03:23 AM on 07/11/2010

Parents power is removed by stealth marketing campaigns, experts know this well, that's why it's happening, it is deliberate exploitation of masses of people, children as influential purchasers specifically. Obviously you and I are not in McDonalds target market we're conscious shoppers, etc. But, we are not the mas majority they expertly exploit.

There is no stone left unturned for the mass population to be used by McDonalds marketing push and pull strategies. McDonalds buys into Disney's 25 plus spin off product pushes, etc., the list is expansive. Professionals make sure that the exact target markets that can be takin advantage of, are, period. This means that the McDonalds corporation has major goodfaith issues, as the CEO's choose to take advantage of masses of people, they repeatedly choose it as a way to turn a profit! They have the choice, they're at the top of the food change, using scientific management techniques, etc. Expertise and skills well beyond the average citizen. McDonalds uses specific population bases of citizens to make unnecessary money. That's repeated deliberate and intentionally, very unethical, and immoral business choices with corporate level expertise. They know better and should be held responsible and accountable for the damage they cause to that target markets health, and environmental damage they cause to the planet.

[mgbrand]

02:10 PM on 06/24/2010

People ought to take some friggin responsibility for their own lives. If your kid is fat, DO NOT TAKE HIM TO MCDONALDS. Done. End of story. This trend in our society of asking the government to raise our kids for us and protect us from ourselves is disgusting. We are a society that needs to grow up and stop blaming everyone else for our own problems.

[Monet Reed]

12:18 PM on 06/24/2010

OMG come on then I guess well just have to take toys out of cereal to dont you think?!!Be smart n not stupid like these guys lol!!!

[Pauline Walters]

12:10 PM on 06/24/2010

Another crazy law suit. I guess McDonald's grabbed the kids kicking and screaming to their restaurant so why not add kidnapping to the law suit too? The whole thing is crazy. Why not add the candy companies to the list and the soda companies also to the list. The fact is the parent's are in charge of their children and it is their responsibility to take care of their children. Not many fast food products are healthy that is why they are called "fast." There is nothing wrong with fast food if eaten in moderation as with any food.