Community

To be honest, there is a moral and social side to this promotion. There is literaly a huge problem with overweight kids. I think mcDonalds did the right thing here.

Like Herve said, obesity is a big enough problem as it is in our country. It's probably a good idea McDonald's pulled the plug.

However, this topic has got me thinking now. If we kill the "free happy meal for good grades" concept, what about Pizza Hut's "free pizza for reading books" campaign? Personal pizzas can't be much better for young kids than a McDonald's Happy Meal. Or what about throwing ice cream parties or pizza parties for students when they achieve a milestone? I think the real focus is the impact and role of food in our lives. We need to challenge ourselves to find other ways to motivate our kids.

Herve - Great point. Welcome to the Marketing News blog, and thanks for your comment!

Mike - Glad to see you're back with us.

I think this could be in the works, and it'll be interesting to see what happens with fast food, especially now that the New York City Board of Health will require some restaurants to list calorie counts.

I'm not particularly fond of the campaign McDonald's attempted, but I'm sorely disappointed that they caved in. Of course, they probably had little choice in the face of world-wide adversity.

I do believe that when you teach children to associate good behavior with food as a reward, those children are more likely to eat for the wrong reasons later in life.

But it isn't McDonald's that is responsible for what a child eats or is taught, it's the child's parents! Sure, we have an issue with obesity in this country, but maybe it's time to start practicing self-reliance and self-responsibility?

The fact is that children are unhealthy and obese because their immediate connection to moral and social discipline lies inside the home, with parents, not with the fast food chains of the world. If we have obesity problems it's because we are lazy, we don't eat healthy or we eat too much, and we don't teach our kids about eating healthy.

But we're also in denial. We'd rather blame it on McDonald's than admit to being pushovers as parents.

If we want healthy kids, we need to accept responsibility and be strong and supportive parents. It's OK to say, "No, Johnny, your father and I don't allow you to eat at McDonald's".

If we did these things, those little marketing campaigns wouldn't phase us. We're only miffed because we've been slacking so long it's easy to point the finger at a large corporation than to admit we haven't been as attentive as we should be to our kids.

Probably a good idea they pulled it. In addition to the moral dilemma, they would only put themselves on a pedestal for criticism. Didn't they learn anything from Super Size Me?

Kristine - Bravo.

While I don't think parents should block all marketing messages targeting their children, I agree with you and think they should take a stand for what they believe in, and try to address those messages.

Andrew - Ha.

Another question to raise is Blockbuster used to offer a free rental for a good report card, so is that bad since there are so many violent movies out there? There was no limitation on what could be rented.

Really, where DO we draw the line? Or should we let consumers draw it?

It's not like the promotion was a Happy Meal for the rest of the year, or some absurd thing, one simple Happy Meal. Personally my kids wouldn't go since they don't like McDonald's food. That was a consumer decision in not feeding them that stuff since they were born!

How about a wholesome food option, like apples?

...my two cents.

Rewarding good/excellent performance is a common American practice. Why should good academic performance be the exception? (It isn't really) What is a college scholarship? Perhaps the reward should not be pre-announced if being motivated by a reward rather than the "pure" motive of personal excellence is considered undesirable. So, the "reward" could be a surprise, is that acceptable? In the workplace and many other areas of American life rewards are not hidden to keep the individuals motives "pure." Why should this apply only to our young students?