Why McDonald's Happy Meal Will Survive Call for Ban on Superheroes in Ads
The more McDonald's (MCD)'s critics rail against its promotion of the Happy Meal, the more convinced I become that it will survive the onslaught. The Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood wants McDonald's to pull a Happy Meal promotion because it features Marvel Comics' The Thing and the Human Torch:
One action figure, The Thing, menacingly roars "IT'S CLOBBERIN' TIME!" each time a child presses a button on its back. Another, The Human Torch, is a man on fire.Really, CCFC, is this the best you can do? Perhaps if McD's had presented a kinder, gentler Thing alongside The Human Fire Extinguisher it would have been acceptable? Have you met a preschool boy? They're going to lap this up!"It's bad enough to use junk toys to sell children on junk food," said CCFC's Director Dr. Susan Linn. "But now, for preschool boys, a so-called happy meal at McDonald's features the horrifying spectacle of a man engulfed in flames and a menacing figure that explicitly spurs them to violence."
The United States Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency of 1954 and the creation of the Comics Code Authority to protect America's youth from -- I kid you not -- this edition of Crime SuspensStories is part of our laughably quaint history, not a modern campaign tactic.
And the images accompanying the CCFC release are the least shocking pictures of Thing and the Human Torch available.
There are lots of reasons to criticize the Happy Meal. The best one is that although McDonald's may use healthier food choices in its Happy Meal advertising, the fact is that kids get fries with those meals 93 percent of the time. The Happy meal is basically early training for a life of obesity.
But even if McD's was banned from advertising food to kids the company would probably be quite happy with that. Take a look at its most recent Happy meal TV spot -- the food in it barely makes an appearance.
Until McDonald's enemies come up with better ammo, the only thing getting clobbered round here will be the CCFC.
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