Happy Meals here to stay: McDonald's

[knight_shadow]

Originally Posted by ree-Xi

I do think that the toys are the lure. If kids see ads during their cartoons/lame Disney shows (sorry, I am not a bug Disney fan) for "CURRENT HOT MOVIE CHARACTER TOY with your Happy Meal,", they may ask mom to go to McD's. But outside of that, what is the level of the appeal? Would the kids find the food itself so appealing that they would still beg to go to McD's? (Take out the factor of playing in the playground.) That's a rhetorical question, of course.

I'd like to see some statistics if they stopped using toys and/or the "happy meal" and just called it a "kid's size" without all the marketing. Try it out in a few tests markets to see if the Happy Meal and toy is actually bringing kids (their parents) in.

Granted, as a kid, I hated my mom's home-made burgers that plumped up on the broiler, loaded onto a bulkie roll with her meaty home-made fries cut from potatoes. They never stacked up to Wendy's (we never ate at McD's as kids; my mom was a fast-food snob), so I understand the preference and novelty. Then again, when I grew up, we had fast food maybe once every other month, because my mom cooked everything from scratch. We didn't even get a local Burger King until I was in high school (they put it in about 5 miles from the school in the next town during my junior year), thinking it was so cool. Yeah, lame suburban kids in a town that didn't allow chains of any kind flocked to BK as a treat.

It's all very interesting.

Sure the toys are the lure, but it's no different than any other type of marketing that's out there. The solution is in bold - parents need to set some boundaries with their children. If you give in every time your child wants something, of course they're going to beg for the "hot new thing" that's out.

I've always been fascinated by advertising and marketing, so even when I was younger, I kept up with ads. I may have WANTED a new Super Soaker or Jordans, but my parents made it clear that these things were luxuries.

[ree-Xi]

Originally Posted by knight_shadow

Sure the toys are the lure, but it's no different than any other type of marketing that's out there. The solution is in bold - parents need to set some boundaries with their children. If you give in every time your child wants something, of course they're going to beg for the "hot new thing" that's out.

I've always been fascinated by advertising and marketing, so even when I was younger, I kept up with ads. I may have WANTED a new Super Soaker or Jordans, but my parents made it clear that these things were luxuries.

Yes, a thousand times, yes! What is there to wait for these days?? This indulgent society teaches kids instant gratification. A few weeks ago, I was playing Scrabble on my iPhone (the only "gadget" I own). My 10-year old nephew asked me if I had to pay for it, and I said it was like five bucks.

He then said "I wish I could get a game on my phone. My mom won't let me". (He only has it because the 3 kids are on the bus and my sister's schedule sometimes changes and she has to be able to let them know whether to take the bus or wait to be picked up. He only can dial out 5 numbers - mom/dad/grammie/auntie (me)/911. Games will eat up minutes on this particular phone).

To which my sister said, "when you're 30-something paying your own way, you can get all the games you want" (this is the chicken nugget kid, so I was psyched to hear my sister say that!!)