Disney ducks link to unhealthy diet

McDonald's exclusive Happy Meal toy deal with Disney is coming to an end. Picture / Reuters

An exclusive deal that helps sell burgers and chips to children by adding Walt Disney figures such as Nemo and 101 Dalmatians is ending - partly because of worries about the fast-food link to obesity.

McDonald's food outlets globally have for a decade put plastic toys based on Disney characters in Happy Meals - to the outrage of anti-obesity campaigners, who say it successfully encourages children to eat more unhealthy food.

The exclusivity ends this year with the Disney movies Cars and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. After that, McDonald's will have what it calls greater flexibility, starting with a promotion of the DreamWorks movie Shrek 3 due out next year, and will "explore additional Disney opportunities in the future".

The Los Angeles Times reported this week, citing "multiple high-ranking sources within Disney", that one reason for the end of the deal was the company's wish to distance itself from fast-food and its links to childhood obesity.

McDonald's rejected this, saying in a worldwide statement that the report was a "misrepresentation of the truth".

"The decision to end the McDonald's/Disney strategic alliance was mutual ... "

The Disney entertainment company declined to discuss the break-up with the Los Angeles Times, but said in a statement it looked forward to a non-exclusive, case-by-case relationship with McDonald's.

A third of New Zealand children are overweight or obese.

New Zealand anti-obesity groups interpret the Disney move as revealing growing concerns among big companies, especially those wanting to project a family-friendly image, about being seen to promote unhealthy foods to children.

"I think companies are starting to get nervous," Obesity Action Coalition executive director Celia Murphy said yesterday.

Happy Meals - and sugar-loaded breakfast cereals sold in boxes decorated with cartoon characters - directly targeted children, she said. It fuelled their "pester power" over parents and was a factor in childhood obesity. Her group wanted the practice stopped.

Diabetes specialist Dr Robyn Toomath, of Fight the Obesity Epidemic, said: "I think companies like Disney are picking up on the public feeling about junk food".

"Junk food, in certain sectors, is becoming a dirty word. It's an association that savvy organisations don't necessarily want to have."

Parliament's health select committee today starts its inquiry into obesity and type 2 diabetes, with a Health Ministry briefing.

Committee chairwoman and Green MP Sue Kedgley said giving toys with children's meals would undoubtedly come up in the inquiry.

"We need to have a wide-ranging and thoughtful look at the whole question of direct targeting of children with foods that we wouldn't recommend people eat on a regular basis.

"We have to look at everything [including] cartoon characters on food packaging."

Disney's reported concerns follow the announcement last week that in the United States, three leading drink manufacturers have agreed to stop selling sugary soft drinks in all schools by 2010.