McDonalds Infiltration

[Moorf]

Oh I dunno, I think the new PC nursery rhymes are educational

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall
All of the democratically elected government’s gender-neutral health sector employees
Immediately put Humpty on an 8 month waiting list to get treatment for his slightly sprained ankle

(and Humpty sued the builders for building such a high wall....)

[Tia Maria]

Sam B wrote:

Can't they sing about "fruit and veg, fruit and veg, makes me want to sniff the hedge"

Its probably just me, but does that sound a bit rude to anyone else?

The fish and chips song doesn't bother me but as my kids want to live in Cadbury's land its probably the least of my worries.

We also probably have a few too many Happy Meal toys.

But as many have said there is no excuse for big corporations to advertise unhealthy products directly to my children. My son looked at a McDonalds drink container the other day which had a picture of a boy playing soccer on it and he genuinely said 'that must be a really healthy drink, it helps you play sport' (it was coke).

These companies spend big money to find the best way to advertise and sell their products. I agree as parents we can educate our children but it is a lot harder when they see fast food images several times a day whether it be at school, on TV or on the street.

Dawn - I asked my son today and he said there was no McDonalds promotion at his school. The commercial interests I know of are:

Yummy Apples - sticker collection for sports gear
Westfield Centre - points collecting for Computer equipment
AMI - sponser the walking School Bus

Cheers

Tia

[Sam B]

Ha ha ha, it DOES sound rude! Sorry, didn't realise. Like I said, work in progress, how about "makes me want to eat a wedge" hmmm, still sounds rude somehow... or "I'll eat more, that's a pledge!"

[Trigirl]

at least the fish and chips song doesn't have them "going down the garden to eat worms" as we were taught at school

i don't have any problem with mcdonalds as such (someone earlier mentioned having a problem with their very existence!) but i don't think they should be able to advertise to children - same for pizza, chocolate, crisps, fizzy drinks - i'm afraid i'd completely ban junk food adverts on kids tv or when kids are likely to be watching.

i went out for lunch with a friend of mine back in the uk and we took her young (maybe 2 year old? - preschool anyway) daughter with us. we went to a pub that serves a kids menu and she asked her daughter what she would like. "chicken mcnuggets" was the answer. from a kid that has never been to mcdonalds, whose parents dont go to mcdonalds and who eats the same healthy home cooked food that her parents do. purely the result of tv advertising.

[Riddley]

This reminded me that when we were in Sweden there was a massive no. of McD outlets springing up in a country that hadn't had them until relatively recently. My son started school and came home with his first "letter" written to us.it said

"Dear Mummy and Daddy

Please can we go for a McDonald's. I love you.

Patrick "

You can imagine how I felt.....I've kept the letter to use as blackmail if he ever becomes the new Jamie Oliver (he won't touch them now).

[speckythecky]

One of the things that amazed me about NZ 10 years ago when we visited was that top rugby players were advertizing Mcdonalds on TV / billboards. At the time you would never see anything like that in UK.
Having seen a program on UK TV last night on the pacific islanders diet, all fried food, including very fatty corned beef which was then fried in coconut oil, maybe mcds is health food to them.

[JoanneG]

This sort of advertising is everywhere and I doubt that New Zealand will escape it - it's just a matter of time. You only have to look at the toys now aimed at pre-schoolers - Dyson toy vacuum cleaners, Black and decker toy drills etc.

I was upset when a Leprosy charity used our school to raise funds by using 'incentives' to raise more cash. A free hat/t-shirt if they raised over x amount. My child came home (v.disturbed) saying she HAD to raise this money or someone would DIE! I was furious - she was 6 years old. In addition, the charity had given the children (some as young as 4) a list of ideas which included knocking on neighbours doors to ask for cash!

I explained to my child that if she refused the 'gift' then the money used to purchase the gift would go to help the Leprosy sufferer too - just as I had explained in the middle of McDonalds (to the amusement of parents around us) why they put toys in their boxes.

My daughter is now fully aware that this is a trick performed by companies to get more of her hard earned cash!

All we can do is teach our children to make their own choices and be aware of the marketing tricks used around them.

[Trigirl]

speckythecky - you are kidding right? you'd never see that in the uk?

http://www.foodcomm.org.uk/football.htm

[speckythecky]

I'm not saying we don't see it now, 10 years ago it was unheard of for someone like Micheal Owen or David Beckham to advertise fast food.
Now you can't get away from fast food adverts by cultural icons

[Carey]

A while ago there was a big campaign by Cadbury's who would give sports equipment to schools if they collected enough from their products......?!? Lots of local schools participated purely to gain from the gifts offered while at the same time giving pep talks to the kids about how it's ok to do this because chocolate is a treat and Ok to have a little bit and won't you all have fun with the nice new equipment that the school can't or won't afford for you.....bizarre or what!
The more worrying thing was , some parents really were totally happy with it.