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« McDonald’s responds to Hummer protest | Main | Grandpa marching on Washington for clean air and safer schools »
September 8, 2006
Hybrid happy meals: a wiser choice for McDonald's
Now that McDonald’s Hummer happy meal promo is officially over and the marketing experts who conceived it are out looking for new jobs, their successors should be hard at work searching for a toy that isn’t such a PR nightmare. The answer seems pretty obvious to Nick from TriplePundit and Al from CityHippy--Hybrid Cars.
In addition to appealing to kids’ fascination with technology, putting toy Hybrids in happy meals would be a forward step in McDonald’s quest to become the greener, more socially responsible company they claim to be. I don’t think this is asking too much of the golden arches. Heck—we’ll even waive the consulting fees this time.
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Why is McDonald’s blog not posting your comments? I have yet to see my comment posted 28 hours after submission, and I know 3 others who've met with the same result. Al and Nick have also weighed in on the ‘Open for Discussion’ Blog not adhering to the spirit of dialogue that its name implies.
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UPDATE: After more than 5 days--and critical posts on TreeHugger, AdWeek, Fast Company, Emergence Marketing, Church of the Customer blog, AutoBlogGreen, TriplePundit, CityHippy, and several others,--McDonald’s is unable to ignore the buzz calling into question the authenticity of its corporate blog. Last night, VP Bob Langert began allowing comments, but has yet to respond to any of them. Langert still needs to respond to live up to his blog’s name, “Open for Discussion.”
[Hat tip to Nick for the sweet graphic]
Comments
Question: what part did Hummer (subsidiary of GM I think) play in the toy contract? Are the corporate sponsored happy meals the ideaof McDs or the sponsor?
Posted by: Evan Belser | September 13, 2006 7:48 AM
How about instead of changing to a different car we just dont have a toy in there at all! Or if you have a toy have it be an educational one? It should not really matter what kind of car or truck it is, but rather, in what way is the toy benificial to the child besides just another piece of plastic they loose intrest in with in a few minuts.
Posted by: Vicki Smith | September 29, 2006 6:43 PM
We have done a great job teaching our children about life. What's wrong with teaching them about saving our oil resources by making a McHybrid (explaining how we can save and still look styling).
Posted by: Professor Fred Wigington | September 30, 2006 9:21 AM
McDonald's should offer educational items for children = offer a "slide rule" and
"abacus" with instructions on use; puzzles with arithmatic, spelling, history, geography, physics, languages, etc., books on care and responsibility for pets, kind treatment to all nature's creatures, etc., Random Acts of Kindness, teaching tools with the use of books, games, toys or puzzles about Le Mere: life of the oceans and seas, etc., teach them about astronomy and astronauts, art and architecture, music and musical instruments, science, nature, social graces, government, sports, international cultures, world globes,etc. Subjects that will introduce them to the world around them to stimulate their youthful interest in a variety of healthful subjects. There is no loss of decent and beneficial information and ideas for the greater good.
Posted by: Dana Fallone | September 30, 2006 12:51 PM
All this effort, over a toy? I myself, would rather see something being done (efforts being spent) on raising the quality of their food!
Posted by: Kat | September 30, 2006 1:17 PM
I agree, they need to improve the quality of their food and stop misleading consumers!
Posted by: N. G. | October 2, 2006 3:58 PM
I don't know that the toy hummers will do any great damage to our children; how many of us who played with toy guns as children grew up to be peace activists? What does disturb me about this ridiculous marketing promotion is that it clearly indicates the priorities of its creators; it sends the message (to the parents more than to the children who are too young to understand) that profit comes before the environment. Whether you think this does harm is one question, but the question that concerns me is whether it is doing good, and the answer, clearly, is that it is not.
Posted by: Carl | October 2, 2006 6:48 PM
First of all, McDonalds needs to improve the quality of food that is being served to the kids. Think, organic!
Secondly, any plastic toy is a waste of oil products. A Hummer is ridiculous! How about a toy that can go into the recycle bin when the child is tired of it?
Posted by: HILDA ARNOLD | October 3, 2006 2:53 PM
Personally, I've never understood the necessity to get a toy with a happy meal -- and that's one reason I never took my kids there -- the other was the poor food choices.
That said, if McDonalds feels they Must have a toy in the box, perhaps it could be educational and useful.
Posted by: SM | October 4, 2006 5:37 PM
Bravo Professor Wigington for your brilliant comments! I agree totally. Any ideas on how to bring this about? As a former emergency room nurse ,I've seen children rewarded for their hospital visits by parents offering them a visit to "BaDonals" as young as 9-10 months old. How do we protect the children from their parents?
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Posted by: Avalon Sowards | October 4, 2006 5:51 PM