Happy Meal Ban (POLL): Food Police or Protector?

By: Aina Hunter
Topics: News ,; Kids and family ,; Food and Drink

McDonald's Happy Meal (AP)

(CBS) Is San Francisco's Board of Supervisors acting like the food Grinch depriving children of their Happy Meals or acting like a golden shield protecting kids from dangerous food?

The city's Board of Supervisors' decision to ban restaurants from handing out toys with meals that fail to meet basic nutritional standards for fat, calories, and sodium has triggered robust debate among our readers.

Some say it is a move against civil liberties - others think government has a role in protecting citizens' health against the multi-billion dollar food industry.

"Marketing to kids is the food industry's Achilles heel," Dr. Marion Nestle, professor of nutrition at New York University and author of "Food Politics," tells CBS News. "They know it's unethical. It is courageous of the supervisors to put the health of the city's children above food company profits."

But McDonald's spokesperson Danya Proud said that a Happy Meal ban is "not what our customers want, nor is it something they asked for."

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by tpcpjc November 10, 2010 12:02 AM EST: I believe there are some "parts" of the country that should secede from these United States! After they secede they can be led by the losing incumbent in the 2012 Election.; Reply to this comment


by pat34lee November 8, 2010 7:08 AM EST: I think McDonald's has an easy lawsuit here. The law was made specifically to harm them, and I don't think a city can target individual businesses like that.; Reply to this comment


by GreggoryShaw November 8, 2010 2:00 AM EST: ?"Perhaps we should have the government check in on our school lunch programs. Thank god they aren't being held up to the standards of being Healthy "enough" to be sold WITH TOYS. All these parents preaching proud about not feeding their children McDonald's food, or feeding them foods with higher nutritional content even. I'm not so sure all of the school lunch meals classify as complete meals....." - comment from yahoo user Kc; Reply to this comment

by Void-Master November 6, 2010 5:54 PM EDT

by Qnir November 6, 2010 10:06 AM EDT

Opposing that is my second thought, the cost of health care for all those bloated, diabetic children is going to come out of MY pocket.

***

With thinking like that, it's only a matter of time before the government regulates all dietary intake and requires all citizens to submit to random drug testing.

The *real* solution is to stop allowing the government to pay for other people's responsibilities using your money.

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by Qnir November 9, 2010 3:07 PM EST: Agreed.

by aivilon November 6, 2010 3:55 PM EDT

I am not usually a big fan but I think I will go to McDonald?s for dinner tonight for three reasons:

#1 The McRib is back with all of its disgusting deliciousness?

#2 It is the only fast food restaurant that is less than a 30 minute drive from my house? you really learn to appreciate businesses that provide any kind of service when you live in the middle of nowhere.

#3 I recently watched the movie Food Inc. and have also done some recent reads about the Irish Potato Famine. So in my opinion an obesity epidemic is almost a win compared to some of the major problems throughout history that have been created by bad government policy? like say mass starvations.

Bonus: As usual I won?t even buy my son a happy meal. We don?t need the food Nazis creating a law against happy meals, it?s called personal responsibility.

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by aivilon November 6, 2010 3:56 PM EDT: ... and I am not sure why all of the question marks showed up in my comment


by aivilon November 6, 2010 4:10 PM EDT: One more thing... did I mention that my kid will climb across the table to eat a salad and one of his favorite foods is beets. He licked his plate clean the other night when I made a chicken pangang curry stir fry. Our occasional trip to a fast food restaurant has not caused him bad eating habits. Once in a while we all just want a junkfood treat.

by barbaram99 November 6, 2010 1:08 PM EDT

Snd the wars we the people did not ask for,,I don't live in CA..I think it is the toys the kids want..The parents buy the meals their kids eat..

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by 4TimesAYear November 8, 2010 4:15 AM EST: You just hit the nail on the head - kids don't eat what they don't like. Something else SF's council is presuming is that all fat kids eat McDonald's happy meals. Lunacy. I was heavy as a teen, but it wasn't because we had access to any fast food.


by Mr_BigT073 November 6, 2010 10:51 AM EDT: Will this move cut down on the obesity... not likely. They won't get a toy with their meals but they'll still buy them and honestly the quickest way for mcDonalds and any company to side step the issue is to just append the phrase "ADD 5c FOR TOY!". YOu see since that technically changes the situation. They are no longer giving away the toys they are giveing children the choice of purchasing the toys for a nickel.

They could do it for Penny too. The real issue is and it's sad to say, parents start parenting. But even beyond that you can't regulate what people eat. Health care costs be damned, there's an issue that when the government starts telling you what to eat... well lets just say I don't even think the Sovietrs went *that* far.

Really it's about one thing, people hearing a problem and shifting to blame to an entity that isn't them. parents seeing their fatteningkids want someone to blame so obviously it's the company's fault.; Reply to this comment

by Qnir November 6, 2010 10:06 AM EDT

I'm torn between two things... First, the Libertarian in me hates the idea of government telling people what to do. If parents want to feed their children garbage, that's the way it goes. Stupid people do stupid things, and they are very clever about continuing to be stupid.

Opposing that is my second thought, the cost of health care for all those bloated, diabetic children is going to come out of MY pocket. If I have to bear the financial burden of their idiot parents' dietary choices, then it's only fair that I have a say in what they eat.

As for the previous poster who wrote, "If that's not socialism, I don't know what is," I guess it's accurate to conclude that you don't know what socialism is. You can Google "socialism" any time you want and find a multitude of good, crisp, clear definitions, along with many examples.

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by 4TimesAYear November 8, 2010 4:26 AM EST: The council made the presumption that happy meals are to blame for all kids being fat. I think before the city council is allowed to be judge and jury, they need to have their proof that happy meals are directly responsible for childhood obesity (or maybe they should have to prove the toy is directly responsible for childhood obesity, lol!) Frankly, I don't think the city has a lawful right to do what they did, and I think McDonalds should ignore it.

by oneStarman November 5, 2010 1:12 PM EDT

I UNDERSTAND the desire to reduce the quantity of POISON that stupid people feed their children. There are 8 years olds with coronary disease and other illnesses and the nutritional content of this crap is so poor that children are growing up malnourished AND obese. But this is a really STUPID way to implement this - it will only cause McDonald's to leave out the Toy and continue to sell the crap to children.

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by Void-Master November 5, 2010 3:16 PM EDT: Or offer the toy in any adult meal when a Happy Meal is also purchased.

by lawyerose November 5, 2010 12:57 PM EDT

The law doesn't deprive kids of their happy meals, so the premise of this article is false. The law prevents predatory corporations from enticing kids to eat crap that leads to society picking up the cost of the obese adults that result from fat kids. The only complaints are from McDonalds and stupid people who don't understand preventive health care. Why should a corporation reap profits from ruining children's health and then make taxpayers foot the bill of providing healthcare to the obese customers?

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by thatavkguy November 5, 2010 2:39 PM EDT: "Predatory companies"? How many children get in their car and drive to go get a happy meal? It takes a parent. How many ?predators? are forcing kids to buy their food? Companies make what sells. If the healthy choice sold, then they would make that. THEY DONT sell! Freedom means I choose, not Uncle Sam, or you. Who gave these people the "moral authority" to tell me what I can feed MY kids? Education, I'm all for it. Illegal? If that's not socialism, I don?t know what is. Nanny attitude create situations where taxpayers must pay. Free society requires some individual responsibility. Just because YOU don?t want it, fine, but outlawing it? THATS NOT FREDOM! That's condescending "I?m smarter than you and will FORCE you to fallow my lead". I hope McDonalds moves all of its stores out of the area (one block out of their jurisdiction) and puts up their middle finger. What's next? 7-11 slurpies? Halloween candy? I bet you have some habit that cost society money in some way, its called CIVILIZATION. Smokers, alcohol users, auto drivers, all use federal support, are they next? Why don?t we make fire illegal. How many lives, and tax payers money would that save? "Any government big enough to give you everything you want (healthy kids in this case) is big enough to take it all away" Benjamin Franklin. And that's exactly what's going on, big government sticking it nose in my kids lunch box. If I want to treat my kids, ITS MY RIGHT how and what I want. Want to save taxpayers money? Reform welfare, get out of my life. Keep up the fight, and us conservatives will revolt making it impossible for real reform like gay marriage, healthcare, and other important issues. In the end we all must get along. This junk does not help.


by 4TimesAYear November 8, 2010 4:28 AM EST: It's the premise of the law that's false; they presume that happy meals are responsible for all childhood obesity. My weight gain as a kid certainly had nothing to do with fast food.