Thursday, December 16, 2010

Happy Meal Legal Issues

Looks like McDonald's is getting sued over their Happy Meals or, more specifically, that they include toys with their Happy Meals. Says the plaintiff herself:

Parham, a 41-year old state employee, says her kids repeatedly ask for Happy Meals, mainly for the toys. "We have to say no to our kids so many times and McDonald's makes that so much harder to do. I object to the fact that McDonald's is getting into my kids' heads without my permission and actually changing what my kids want to eat."

Doesn't this invalidate all advertising for kids products-- if it's not the Happy Meal that's the problem but the "into my kids' heads" aspect of it? Further-- are doctors then prohibited from giving out lollipops after shots?

Also, the fantastically-named Center for Science in the Public Interest is along for the ride.

2 comments:

Justin Ross said...

S. Hawking wrote in his Brief History of Time that a good rule of thumb for identifying whether or not a field was a science or not is to see whether or not they use "science" in their name. "Political Science, Christian Science, and Military Science" were the examples of "not science, science" he gave to support his rule.

As a corollary, I propose that policy think tanks which use the word "science" in their name are going to be less likely to be driven by it.

Matt E. Ryan said...

Good point-- I'm a big fan of statements like this.

Any country that's the "Democratic Republic" of somewhere is very likely to be a horrible place.

Any group with "Democracy" in the title is very likely to take a strong stance against the respect of property rights. Much the same could be same for "Social Justice" and "Public Interest."