Are Happy Meal Toys the New Joe Camels?

A ban is very close to taking effect in parts of Santa Clara County, CA, which would keep fast-food restaurants from putting toys in their kids value meals. The reasoning behind such a seemingly cruel ban? Those pushing for it claim that the value meals use toys to prey on kids in order to sell high-calorie food. In a day when First Lady Michelle Obama has launched a national campaign against childhood obesity, a ban like this is seeing a good deal of support.

Taking matters to the court system is serious business, as it forces corporations to become more accountable for their actions. While it may be more difficult to get a company like McDonald’s to completely revamp its menu, it is easier to get individual restaurants to change their menu perks. Moving from county to county across the state, this is one initiative that may gain traction across the nation.

Or not. Many parents and other advocates are fighting the ban, claiming it’s not the toy that’s the issue. Parents are responsible for their childrens’ behavior, not McDonald’s as a corporation. Instilling certain values around making proper dietary decisions is something that parents are supposed to do early on, so that once they reach their teens and adulthood, they’ll know to avoid fast-food value meals all together, right? If only that little toy weren’t so enticing to young children, all our obesity and early-onset diabetes problems would be solved.

It’s the marketing of kids’ value meals that’s really up for debate, here. And as more initiatives towards regulating corporate products and their advertising methods amass support, the more those Happy Meal toys begin to look like cartoon characters promoting cigarettes. Unhealthy food is unhealthy no matter which way you look at it, and the long-term effects have been documented for over a decade now.

Sure, parents are supposed to rein in their kids when they beg for a Happy Meal. But those are the same parents that don’t necessarily need to frequent fast-food restaurants on a regular basis. In excess, nearly anything is unhealthy. But that argument didn’t hold up for the tobacco companies. And while fast food is a bit of a different story regarding its legal woes, the marketing around it can be just as deceiving.

Of course, the most sensible thing to do seems to be for parents to go ahead and order the Happy Meal, and replace the high-calorie items with healthier options. The cost is usually the same, and everyone wins. But tell that to the kid that got browning apple slices instead of greasy fries, and see if it’s the Happy Meal toy he really cares about.

Advertisers have known for over a century now that targeting children with advertisements is oftentimes more effective than targeting parents (mom in particular) directly. One day we may look back and see how silly our generation is for using actual kids’ toys to market unhealthy food that’s since been done away with. Considering the corporate prowess behind fast-food marketing and other ways in which processed food is most readily accessed to the people of the United States, it is an industry that needs to own up to its level of responsibility in the grand scheme of things. Until then, we’ll just battle over the Happy Meal toys.