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Thursday
April 29, 2010 Poll: Should Prizes Be Banned From Kids’ MealsFiled under: Poll, Uncategorized
Santa Clara County, CA, supervisors have passed an ordinance this week that bans restaurants from giving away toys and other promotional products with high-calorie kids’ meals. The ordinance won’t be enforced for three months, but after that there will be fines of up to $1,000. According to Supervisor Ken Yeager, “This ordinance breaks the link between unhealthy food and prizes.” Sure, it’s a nice idea, but is the Happy Meal prize really the reason our kids are so fat and unhealthy? Hardly. It’s the parents who allow their kids to eat these foods five times a week that are the problem. But that’s just my opinion. What do you think? Take the poll now!
5 CommentsLeave a Comment |
OK, maybe it’s me, but I just think this is ridiculous.
I agree. Eating should not be associated with prizes. Kids should be eating because they’re hungry and need the nutrition - Not to get something. I love promotional products but I care about kids and their health more.
Promotional items aside, this is silly. Sure kids will be more inclined to go to places where there are toys, but what will it really change? Restaurants will tweak what they serve just enough to fit the new letter of the law and still give out the toys. Even if that doesn’t happen, do you think kids care what they eat? Parents go to fast food because it’s fast and cheap.
It is a nice gesture, but parents will still buy the meals for their kids out of convenience. If they really want to inflict change, they should levy a tax on kids meals that are over 500 calories. This will hurt the companies enough for them to change.
It’s the same as smoking. Jack the cost of cigarettes through the roof, and people are still smoking. Ban prizes with happy meals, and people will still eating poorly. Makes no sense.
These kids can’t drive themselves to the restaurants. Parents take them. It’s not the toys that are causing the unhealthy eating for kids. Parents need to step up and regulate what they feed their kids. This is just another way we need to put the blame on someone else rather than ourselves. “that’s why our kids are fat. It’s the toys in the happy meals”. Give me a break. Get the apples instead of fries. There’s plenty of alternatives.