McDonald’s Happy Meals have been very successful with children by diverting their attention from the fact that what they are eating is the flesh of animals they would most likely care deeply about if they encountered them in real life.
KATE STEWART: ‘Tie-ins promote one product using the imagery of another, for example by giving away a figurine or toy relating to a popular movie with an otherwise unconnected food product. Tie-ins aimed at children often involve toys based on animals from current popular children’s culture that capitalise on children’s love of the film, TV show or game they represent. They’re given away free with boxed meals typically consisting of a burger or nuggets, fries and a soft drink. According to food writer Eric Schlosser, McDonald’s sells or gives away over 1.5 billion toys a year, accounting for almost a third of all new toys given to American children…
McDonald’s current Happy Meal promotion, which accompanies its new vegetarian meal, is the multimedia fictional creature franchise Pokemon – which features living characters that are not based on animals… Other recent promotions have featured Animal Jam and Angry Birds characters. Both of these are online animal-themed games for children that feature highly-stylised animal characters. So the risk of connection between toy, food and real animal lives that are worth protecting is minimised by the increased distance between the toy characters and real, identifiable, species…
McDonald’s has always depended on securing the loyalty of child consumers and its Happy Meals have been a very successful way of attracting them in while diverting their attention from the fact that what they are eating is the flesh of animals they would most likely care deeply about if they encountered them in real life. But now the fast-food giant – as well as many other food retailers – is realising the growing strength of the vegetarian/vegan pound. So it’s going to be interesting to watch how these companies continue to encourage their young customers to love some animals while hoping they’ll continue to enthusiastically eat other creatures’. SOURCE…
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