A little decision in Santa Clara County, California has restaurant marketers worried. Ok, they’re not that worried. After all, it’s only one little county. However, taking away from the toys from unhealthy children’s meals is something that many people see as a dramatic step towards healthy food, or towards limits on personal choice. This depends on your point of view, of course.
I was listening to an interview with food marketers and childhood health advocates both debating the merits of such a ban. The food marketer spoke in favor of personal choice: parents should be able to choose what to feed their children. Of course, taking the toy away from a fatty meal is not restricting a parent’s choice. It’s simply changing what children ask for. Kids love little toys, and they are more likely to ask for meals with toys, even if the preschool meals have violent little toys that are geared towards ten-year-olds. Without the toy, the unhealthy meal has less cachet. Parents are certainly still able to buy them.
On the other side, the health advocates focus on the crisis of childhood obesity. Children spend a lot of time watching television, and those ads on the television promote fatty food, children’s meals that contain toys. Then the children bug their parents, and the next time through the drive through they order the children’s meal, complete with high fat content and little plastic toy. Marketing to children? Wave a toy, and they will come.
Now, I must confess to avoiding fast food restaurants, although my daughter has certainly had her share of fries. We frequent other restaurants instead, and my daughter begs for sushi. This is all right with me, since I love sushi too. We always get the vegetarian kind, as it involves vegetables. Perfect for me, perfect for her in more ways than one. We also happen to avoid commercial-laden media. This is one of the delights of the preschool age: you still have a lot of power over these choices, and they are not generally up for discussion.
What do you think about the marketing of unhealthy foods and media-linked toys to children? Are your children immune to the whims of marketers?