Happy Meals Are The New Joe Camel
Remember Joe Camel? He was the cartoon character used to advertise Camel cigarettes that was accused of luring children into smoking. Now, in California, some are claiming that McDonald’s “happy meals” are playing the same role in luring children into being fat.
Convinced that Happy Meals and other food promotions aimed at children could make kids fat as well as happy, county officials in Silicon Valley are poised to outlaw the little toys that often come with high-calorie offerings.
The proposed ban is the latest in a growing string of efforts to change the types of foods aimed at youngsters and the way they are cooked and sold. Across the nation, cities, states and school boards have taken aim at excessive sugar, salt and certain types of fats.
Believed to be the first of its kind in the nation, the proposal would forbid the inclusion of a toy in any restaurant meal that has more than 485 calories, more than 600 mg of salt or high amounts of sugar or fat. In the case of McDonald’s, the limits would include all of the chain’s Happy Meals — even those that include apple sticks instead of French fries.
Supporters say the ban would encourage restaurants to offer more-nutritious foods to kids and would make unhealthful items less appealing. But opponents believe it amounts to government meddling in parental decisions. The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors will consider the proposal Tuesday.
Here’s a news flash: Toys aren’t what’s causing fat children. Toys aren’t even contributing to fat kids. Parents feeding their children too much fast food is the problem, because fast food is relatively cheap and convenient. Parents also letting their children live sedentary lifestyles is also the problem.
But the problem isn’t McDonald’s or the toys it offers with its meals. McDonald’s can put all the toys in the world in those meals and they still wouldn’t sell a single one if parents didn’t want to buy them.
I know that liberals tend to see us all as acted-upon victims of the world around us, but the reality is that we the people are individuals who make conscious decisions. Not always the right decision, but decisions none the less. We either let people make those decisions, and stay a free country, or we use the power of government to coerce people into what the politicians/bureaucrats define as the right decisions and we become an authoritarian nation.
Tags: hockey, jim jordan, robert kelly, state board of higher education
