With a vote of 8 for and 3 against, San Francisco’s long-rumored ban on the iconic McDonald’s Happy Meal and other fast food children’s meals is looking more and more like reality rather than fantasy.  While Santa Clara’s ban got passed first, San Francisco’s ban is more meaningful since this will be the first time a major city has passed laws against the inclusion of toys in with high-fat, high-sodium, low-vegetable/fruit meals.  San Francisco isn’t taking aim specifically at the Happy Meal, but at all fast food marketing campaigns.

To make it clear, the Happy Meal will still be on McDonald’s menus, the kiddie meal will just be given over without toys.  The Happy Meal will never die, no matter what San Francisco and other nanny-state regions try to do to get rid of it.  Their goal, for the most part, is to make it more difficult to market to children by taking away the carrot that encourages so many kids to gorge themselves on Happy Meals in the first place (it did me back in the 80’s).

“This is a tremendous victory for our children’s health.  Our children are sick.  Rates of obesity in San Francisco are disturbingly high, especially among children of colour,” said San Fran’s Supervisor, Eric Mar, who sponsored the McDiscrimination law.  “This is a challenge to the restaurant industry to think about children’s health first and join the wide range of local restaurants that have already made this commitment.”

Tags: McDonald’s, Happy Meal, San Francisco, California, San Francisco Happy Meal ban, law bans toys with unhealthy meals, law bans toys given out with fast food meals, unusual laws, food police, Eric Mar

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