Last person on Earth notices that McDonalds Markets Happy Meals with Toys

It was when I was a kid that I determined the marketing aim of McDonald’s toys. The summer of 1990 coincided with the release of Super Mario Bros. 3 on the NES and McDonald’s had such themed toys. Either my Mom or our Neighbor’s took me, my sister and our neighbor sister and brother at least once a week with the aim of collecting each one. I remember being annoyed when receiving a duplicate of a toy but that didn’t stop me from heading back again and again.

While today I cannot even entertain ingesting a McDonald’s hamburger without my stomach protesting, back then I went and went and went, eventually collecting probably at least two of each Super Mario Bros. toy, eating every happy meal that contained the toy. And each one of those toys is in some land fill today, under years of rubble. Did I go for the food? Of course not. And, at the tender age of eleven I knew why I went. The food was fine for me at that age, nutritious and nourishing enough (I’m here today, aren’t I?).

Anyway, this trip down memory lane was triggered by a story about some group threatening to sue McDonald’s over their toys:

…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

When I read that I had to work to hold back the laughter. Really? Is this revelation to the so called “The Center for Science in the Public Interest” groundbreaking? How long did it take for this Orwellian named organization to come up with this?

Basically, the issue is with McDonald’s food and is just another attack on personal choice (emphasis added):

The fast food 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.

So, basically, this “CSPI” is a group of food nannies. And they will not stop unless their lawsuit is dismissed with prejudice as the baseless claptrap that it is. Well, they’ll never stop. Too bad. If they don’t like it, fine. Don’t let your kids eat Happy Meals but it is not appropriate for these nannies to limit the choice that my son has.