McDonald’s is arguing that a lawsuit filed against the company in December, by an unhappy mom demanding they remove the toys from Happy Meals, must be thrown out of court because parents can always CHOOSE not to buy the meals for their children.
Say what?!
How DARE McDonald’s think that parents have a choice in the food they purchase their children! That’s so…that’s so, that’s SO — completely logical and we couldn’t agree more.
The plaintiff, Monet Parham, is represented by a nutritional advocacy group, The Center for Science in the Public Interest, who claimed:
“Because of McDonald├óΓé¼Γäós marketing, [her daughter] Maya has frequently pestered Parham into purchasing Happy Meals, thereby spending money on a product she would not otherwise have purchased.├óΓé¼┬¥
It sounds more like this woman was bullied by her own child and forced to give into her demands in fear of saying, “No.”
In response to the woman’s claims that McDonald’s malevolent advertising made her do it, the company said in court Monday:
“Advertising to children any product that a child asks for but the parent does not want to buy would constitute an unfair trade practice.”
Soon we’ll be hearing about parents suing Sesame Street around the holidays because their children FORCED them to buy a Tickle Me Elmo because of sinister advertising.
We totally agree that McDonald’s ANY fast food is generally bad for your health, especially in frequent and large amounts, however, in our capitalistic society we can’t blame a company for advertising a product!
It is up to YOU to educate your child about healthy food choices and limit their intake of unhealthy food.
If your child won’t stop pestering for a Happy Meal, make it a treat or a reward once every couple of weeks so your child learns not to expect it on a regular basis and to eat it in small quantities.