We are doing this for your own good

[Tigermike 3,427]

"We are doing this for your own good cause you are too stupid to take care of yourself the way we think you should."

The Nanny State never rests. In Santa Clara county, California (surprise, surprise) county supervisors are proposing a ban on toys in fast food meals:

Happy Meal toys could be banned in Santa Clara County

By Sharon Bernstein, Los Angeles Times

April 27, 2010

A county supervisor has created a stir with his proposal to bar the inclusion of toys in restaurant meals that contain high amounts of sugar, salt or certain fats.

The latest target in the battle over fast food is something you shouldn't even put in your mouth.

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.

Even though it's largely symbolic — the proposed ban would apply only to the dozen fast-food restaurants within the jurisdiction of the board — the proposal has caused a bit of an uproar on the Internet, where comments on YouTube and other sites say it is another example of the "nanny state" gone wild.

The California Restaurant Assn. has taken out full-page newspaper advertisements against the proposed ordinance in local newspapers. One shows a little girl with her hands cuffed behind her back as she holds a stuffed animal.

Another opponent wrote in a YouTube posting, "I want to know when the pitchforks and torches and rope is going to come out.... We need to run these Frankenstein politician monsters the hell out of town!"

Ken Yeager, the Santa Clara County supervisor who is behind the effort, says the toys in kids' meals are contributing to America's obesity epidemic by encouraging children to eat unhealthful, fattening foods.

"People ask why I want to take toys out of the hands of children," said Yeager, who is president of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors. "But we now know that 70% of the kids that are overweight or obese will be overweight or obese as adults. Why would we want to burden anybody with a lifetime of chronic illness?" (Who is “we” Mr. Yeager and what right do you have to reach down into a retail establishment and decide what it can or can’t offer to its customers? Just as importantly, since when is it the role of government to decide what is or isn’t appropriate for someone to eat?)

According to a recent congressional report, food companies spent about $1.6 billion in 2006 marketing their wares to children. About $360 million was spent on the toys included with kids' meals, incentives that restaurant marketers have long viewed as key to bringing in families with children.

"We went through a phase when my daughter wanted the Happy Meal just to get the toy," said Kristen Dimont, 37. The Sunnyvale blogger said that once her child tasted fast food, it took years to coax her back to the healthful variety. Dimont likes the idea of the ban — and thinks the supervisors should consider extending it to the play yards that also attract children to fast-food restaurants.

Rebecca Wolpinsky, 32, a mother of two, says she can't stand the toys that are included with fast-food meals for children. "The toys are crap, honestly," she said. "We end up recycling them or they end up getting left in the car."

But Wolpinsky opposes banning the toys — or blaming them for childhood obesity.

"To say that Burger King or McDonald's is the root cause or that giving toys with children's meals is a root cause is not right," she said.

McDonald's declined to comment on the proposed ban. But the California Restaurant Assn. has played a major role in the opposition.

If County Supervisor Yeager "wants to take away the toys that are making kids fat, take away Xboxes, take away PlayStations, take away flat-screen TVs," said Daniel Conway, spokesman for the industry group.

Yeager knows that even if the board passes his proposal, its effect would be small. Even so, he says, it's worth it.

"We're responsible for paying for healthcare in the whole county," Yeager said. "We pay close to $2 billion annually on healthcare, and the costs have done nothing but rise." A big part of the increase, he said, is costs related to obesity. (This is just the beginning of what you can expect to see from the food nazis (the FDA and salt?) now that government health care reform is law.)

Bob Bernstein, the Kansas City, Mo., advertising executive who helped dream up the Happy Meal for McDonald's in the 1970s, said the concept was to offer something just for kids.

"To make a child happy and to not cost Mom any additional money — that was the original idea," he said. "The toy was not the reigning reason for the child to order the Happy Meal."

sharon.bernstein@latimes.com

link

[autiger4life 3]

"We are doing this for your own good cause you are too stupid to take care of yourself the way we think you should."

The Nanny State never rests. In Santa Clara county, California (surprise, surprise) county supervisors are proposing a ban on toys in fast food meals:

Happy Meal toys could be banned in Santa Clara County

By Sharon Bernstein, Los Angeles Times

April 27, 2010

A county supervisor has created a stir with his proposal to bar the inclusion of toys in restaurant meals that contain high amounts of sugar, salt or certain fats.

The latest target in the battle over fast food is something you shouldn't even put in your mouth.

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.

Even though it's largely symbolic — the proposed ban would apply only to the dozen fast-food restaurants within the jurisdiction of the board — the proposal has caused a bit of an uproar on the Internet, where comments on YouTube and other sites say it is another example of the "nanny state" gone wild.

The California Restaurant Assn. has taken out full-page newspaper advertisements against the proposed ordinance in local newspapers. One shows a little girl with her hands cuffed behind her back as she holds a stuffed animal.

Another opponent wrote in a YouTube posting, "I want to know when the pitchforks and torches and rope is going to come out.... We need to run these Frankenstein politician monsters the hell out of town!"

Ken Yeager, the Santa Clara County supervisor who is behind the effort, says the toys in kids' meals are contributing to America's obesity epidemic by encouraging children to eat unhealthful, fattening foods.

"People ask why I want to take toys out of the hands of children," said Yeager, who is president of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors. "But we now know that 70% of the kids that are overweight or obese will be overweight or obese as adults. Why would we want to burden anybody with a lifetime of chronic illness?" (Who is “we” Mr. Yeager and what right do you have to reach down into a retail establishment and decide what it can or can’t offer to its customers? Just as importantly, since when is it the role of government to decide what is or isn’t appropriate for someone to eat?)

According to a recent congressional report, food companies spent about $1.6 billion in 2006 marketing their wares to children. About $360 million was spent on the toys included with kids' meals, incentives that restaurant marketers have long viewed as key to bringing in families with children.

"We went through a phase when my daughter wanted the Happy Meal just to get the toy," said Kristen Dimont, 37. The Sunnyvale blogger said that once her child tasted fast food, it took years to coax her back to the healthful variety. Dimont likes the idea of the ban — and thinks the supervisors should consider extending it to the play yards that also attract children to fast-food restaurants.

Rebecca Wolpinsky, 32, a mother of two, says she can't stand the toys that are included with fast-food meals for children. "The toys are crap, honestly," she said. "We end up recycling them or they end up getting left in the car."

But Wolpinsky opposes banning the toys — or blaming them for childhood obesity.

"To say that Burger King or McDonald's is the root cause or that giving toys with children's meals is a root cause is not right," she said.

McDonald's declined to comment on the proposed ban. But the California Restaurant Assn. has played a major role in the opposition.

If County Supervisor Yeager "wants to take away the toys that are making kids fat, take away Xboxes, take away PlayStations, take away flat-screen TVs," said Daniel Conway, spokesman for the industry group.

Yeager knows that even if the board passes his proposal, its effect would be small. Even so, he says, it's worth it.

"We're responsible for paying for healthcare in the whole county," Yeager said. "We pay close to $2 billion annually on healthcare, and the costs have done nothing but rise." A big part of the increase, he said, is costs related to obesity. (This is just the beginning of what you can expect to see from the food nazis (the FDA and salt?) now that government health care reform is law.)

Bob Bernstein, the Kansas City, Mo., advertising executive who helped dream up the Happy Meal for McDonald's in the 1970s, said the concept was to offer something just for kids.

"To make a child happy and to not cost Mom any additional money — that was the original idea," he said. "The toy was not the reigning reason for the child to order the Happy Meal."

sharon.bernstein@latimes.com

link

Talk about treating the symptoms instead of the problem. I NEVER went to McDonald's for the toy. Them burgers were goooood. I think most kids go for the food, family time, playground.

[Tigermike 3,427]

Talk about treating the symptoms instead of the problem. I NEVER went to McDonald's for the toy. Them burgers were goooood. I think most kids go for the food, family time, playground.

And I think if you did an informal poll most kids would say they like the food.

The parents like the price.

[Auburn85 434]

And just like booze, tobacco, and cigs... they will gladly accept the taxation or increase the tax.

[Auburn85 434]

My link

It’s a sad day for Happy Meals in Santa Clara County

County officials vote to ban toys and other promotions that restaurants offer with high-calorie children’s meals.

Happy Meal toys and other promotions that come with high-calorie children's meals will soon be banned in parts of Santa Clara County unless the restaurants meet nutritional guidelines approved Tuesday by the county Board of Supervisors.

"This ordinance prevents restaurants from preying on children's' love of toys" to sell high-calorie, unhealthful food, said Supervisor Ken Yeager, who sponsored the measure. "This ordinance breaks the link between unhealthy food and prizes."

Voting against the measure was Supervisor Donald Gage, who said parents should be responsible for their children.

"If you can't control a 3-year-old child for a toy, God save you when they get to be teenagers," he said. Gage, who is overweight, said he was a living example of how obese children can become obese adults.

But he questioned the role of fast-food toys. "When I was growing up in Gilroy 65 years ago, there were no fast-food restaurants," Gage said.

The board, whose jurisdiction extends only to the unincorporated parts of the county, including much of Silicon Valley, voted 3 to 2 in favor of the ban after a contentious meeting that included more than an hour of testimony on both sides.

In favor of the item were public health administrators, parents and doctors; opposed were fast-food franchisees, other parents, and fans of fast-food toys who said the promotions are often used to provide Christmas presents for poor children.

Dr. Dan Delgado, director of a county program that targets childhood obesity, said the toys are a powerful lure for children, encouraging them to eat unhealthy food, which then helps cause obesity.

Delgado told the supervisors that parents who come into his clinic say they often buy Happy Meals and other fast food for their children because of the toys that are included. Delgado said that the obese children coming into his clinic include a 5-year-old with Type-2 diabetes.

But Steve Peat, who owns seven McDonald's franchises in Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties, said he and his wife work hard to promote healthy lifestyles for children through their restaurants. Peat said that they have donated funds for children's sports and other activities, and recently won an award for community service from the McDonald's Corp.

The toys won't disappear right away.

As a compromise to win majority support, the five-member board agreed to put off implementing the measure for 90 days, to give the fast-food industry time to come up with a voluntary program for improving the nutritional value of children's meals.

[Texan4Auburn 1,626]

"We are doing this for your own good cause you are too stupid to take care of yourself the way we think you should."

The Nanny State never rests. In Santa Clara county, California (surprise, surprise) county supervisors are proposing a ban on toys in fast food meals:

Happy Meal toys could be banned in Santa Clara County

By Sharon Bernstein, Los Angeles Times

April 27, 2010

A county supervisor has created a stir with his proposal to bar the inclusion of toys in restaurant meals that contain high amounts of sugar, salt or certain fats.

The latest target in the battle over fast food is something you shouldn't even put in your mouth.

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.

Even though it's largely symbolic — the proposed ban would apply only to the dozen fast-food restaurants within the jurisdiction of the board — the proposal has caused a bit of an uproar on the Internet, where comments on YouTube and other sites say it is another example of the "nanny state" gone wild.

The California Restaurant Assn. has taken out full-page newspaper advertisements against the proposed ordinance in local newspapers. One shows a little girl with her hands cuffed behind her back as she holds a stuffed animal.

Another opponent wrote in a YouTube posting, "I want to know when the pitchforks and torches and rope is going to come out.... We need to run these Frankenstein politician monsters the hell out of town!"

Ken Yeager, the Santa Clara County supervisor who is behind the effort, says the toys in kids' meals are contributing to America's obesity epidemic by encouraging children to eat unhealthful, fattening foods.

"People ask why I want to take toys out of the hands of children," said Yeager, who is president of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors. "But we now know that 70% of the kids that are overweight or obese will be overweight or obese as adults. Why would we want to burden anybody with a lifetime of chronic illness?" (Who is “we” Mr. Yeager and what right do you have to reach down into a retail establishment and decide what it can or can’t offer to its customers? Just as importantly, since when is it the role of government to decide what is or isn’t appropriate for someone to eat?)

According to a recent congressional report, food companies spent about $1.6 billion in 2006 marketing their wares to children. About $360 million was spent on the toys included with kids' meals, incentives that restaurant marketers have long viewed as key to bringing in families with children.

"We went through a phase when my daughter wanted the Happy Meal just to get the toy," said Kristen Dimont, 37. The Sunnyvale blogger said that once her child tasted fast food, it took years to coax her back to the healthful variety. Dimont likes the idea of the ban — and thinks the supervisors should consider extending it to the play yards that also attract children to fast-food restaurants.

Rebecca Wolpinsky, 32, a mother of two, says she can't stand the toys that are included with fast-food meals for children. "The toys are crap, honestly," she said. "We end up recycling them or they end up getting left in the car."

But Wolpinsky opposes banning the toys — or blaming them for childhood obesity.

"To say that Burger King or McDonald's is the root cause or that giving toys with children's meals is a root cause is not right," she said.

McDonald's declined to comment on the proposed ban. But the California Restaurant Assn. has played a major role in the opposition.

If County Supervisor Yeager "wants to take away the toys that are making kids fat, take away Xboxes, take away PlayStations, take away flat-screen TVs," said Daniel Conway, spokesman for the industry group.

Yeager knows that even if the board passes his proposal, its effect would be small. Even so, he says, it's worth it.

"We're responsible for paying for healthcare in the whole county," Yeager said. "We pay close to $2 billion annually on healthcare, and the costs have done nothing but rise." A big part of the increase, he said, is costs related to obesity. (This is just the beginning of what you can expect to see from the food nazis (the FDA and salt?) now that government health care reform is law.)

Bob Bernstein, the Kansas City, Mo., advertising executive who helped dream up the Happy Meal for McDonald's in the 1970s, said the concept was to offer something just for kids.

"To make a child happy and to not cost Mom any additional money — that was the original idea," he said. "The toy was not the reigning reason for the child to order the Happy Meal."

sharon.bernstein@latimes.com

link

Talk about treating the symptoms instead of the problem. I NEVER went to McDonald's for the toy. Them burgers were goooood. I think most kids go for the food, family time, playground.

Advertisers go after kids now more than they used to. The toys are used as part of the nag factor marketing technique. This always shows up in food/obesity documentaries.

Agree toys are the wrong place to start. They need to start in the schools with education and stop serving utter crap there cause they eat that almost daily all year except for a couple months.

Though I'm sure they have done some research on children s reactions to the toys and modern advertisement vs the food alone and aren't just pulling this out of their butts.

[BamaGrad03 0]

http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/04/28/fast.food.toys.california/index.html?hpt=C1

Damn personal responsibility and good parenting. It's the cheap plastic TOY that's causing all this. I think California's mindset is pretty much summed up in that article.

Dude I ate happy meals like they were going out of style when I was a kid. I was skinny as could be. Cause I was OUT EFFING SIDE playing with my toys. Toys that I inevitably attained from all the happy meals.

I hope McDonalds replaces the toy with a big ol' fat dessert.

[autiger4life 3]

This topic is already being talked about.

[BamaGrad03 0]

Damn. Tigermike posts eleventy billion things a day.

I'm so used to them not being relevant that I just ignore them all.

Mods please delete.

[BamaGrad03 0]

Advertisers go after kids now more than they used to. The toys are used as part of the nag factor marketing technique. This always shows up in food/obesity documentaries.

Agree toys are the wrong place to start. They need to start in the schools with education and stop serving utter crap there cause they eat that almost daily all year except for a couple months.

Though I'm sure they have done some research on children s reactions to the toys and modern advertisement vs the food alone and aren't just pulling this out of their butts.

Kids can eat all the happy meals they want...

If they go outside and play like kids did for thousands of years until parents started raising their kids with the television.

[Texan4Auburn 1,626]

Advertisers go after kids now more than they used to. The toys are used as part of the nag factor marketing technique. This always shows up in food/obesity documentaries.

Agree toys are the wrong place to start. They need to start in the schools with education and stop serving utter crap there cause they eat that almost daily all year except for a couple months.

Though I'm sure they have done some research on children s reactions to the toys and modern advertisement vs the food alone and aren't just pulling this out of their butts.

Kids can eat all the happy meals they want...

If they go outside and play like kids did for thousands of years until parents started raising their kids with the television.

Or if parents actually cooked, if most meals were not processed now, if schools still had PE and recess..... lot of if's that are not and probably won't happen. When I was kid growing up I honestly didn't know anyone that went to fast food more than two times a week.

Kids don't want to exercise either so it's not all parents. Just wrote a paper on this actually. It's a plugged in generation that's coming up.

Also don't forget the high fructose corn syrup in everything which researchers are finding to be worse than regular table sugar. Just a example: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100322121115.htm

[BamaGrad03 0]

Also don't forget the high fructose corn syrup in everything which researchers are finding to be worse than regular table sugar

There's some more studies coming out that are saying there's no difference. But HFCS was around 15 years ago too.

I think you're right about the cooking thing too.

[CCTAU 3,369]

Our kids' future:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9s7afoYI-M&feature=related

[Texan4Auburn 1,626]

Also don't forget the high fructose corn syrup in everything which researchers are finding to be worse than regular table sugar

There's some more studies coming out that are saying there's no difference. But HFCS was around 15 years ago too.

I think you're right about the cooking thing too.

The ones that I have seen which say there is no difference have been in affiliation with soda companies. It also gets annihilated in the classroom by both the nutrition and kinesiology dept here. There is a definite crusade against it so bias is possible.

HFCS has been around for a long time, but its become more and more involved in foods as time has moved on. Sure research is gonna continue to conflict on that cause HFCS is big money and all those former Kraft and General Mills cats are head of the FDA and their products dig HFCS.

In my own experience doing nothing but changing my yogurts I lost about 5lbs permanently. Dumped the Yoplaits for Stonyfield. Both have no fat, and the Stonyfield is almost double in calories but is organic. Could be a just complete coincidence of course, but I've pretty much eliminated it and aspartame from diet. Crystal lights are about the only thing I use with aspartame in it.