Duncan Gillies: Watch out for those Mac deprived kids

Opinion

City officials in San Francisco have made a breakthrough that looks set to end their nation's obesity problem.

This week they passed a law that means from December next year, fast-food restaurants will not be allowed to give away toys with children's meals that do not meet nutritional guidelines.

That's right, children's meals will be required to have a greater nutritional value than the toys they traditionally come with.

It seems so simple. It's as if the city has worked out that the toys have mysterious powers that lead parents and caregivers in a zombie-like state to fast-food restaurants such as McDonald's to buy meals they would normally realise are no good for their children.

So powerful the toys must be that, according to a study from Yale University, 84 per cent of American parents take children to fast food restaurants at least once a week.

The law makes it illegal to give away toys with meals of more than 600 calories. An American Happy Meal with a cheeseburger, fries, and a fizzy drink is 650 calories.

So now children won't get toys with the offending meals, San Francisco parents will start serving raw spinach and mung bean salad to happy, peaceful children who will scoff it all down with a spirulina smoothie to the soothing sound of Buddhist chants.

If only it was that simple.

The reality is that the United States, like many other countries, is fighting a battle with the bulge. A third of the nation's children and adolescents are considered overweight, so San Francisco is getting tough and trying to eliminate one of the incentives to eat unhealthily.

Don't be surprised if city officials set up a secret squad of agents to sneak in to houses and take the toys of children who don't eat their greens.

Now, it's not easy getting children to eat at the best of times. It can be like trying to get running water back down a hose.

Companies such as McDonald's know this, and have invested millions in a bid to brainwash them with their branding.

A Federal Trade Commission report says fast-food restaurants in the US spent US$161 million ($207 million) in 2006 on advertising targeted at children under the age of 12. Doesn't it warm you heart how much they care about children.

And if the food isn't enough to convince child customers to badger their parents to keep coming back, the companies also spent about US$360 million on toys to be given away with their meals.

I would slap a cigarette-style warning from the surgeon general on the packaging. That might make parents think. Then you could make children eat the meals on the street with the smokers while all the children who took the healthy option enjoy themselves on the playground.

OK, that might be a bit extreme and we all know the dangers of second-hand smoke.

Of course children aren't going to be happy. There has been talk of rolling tantrums to disrupt nap times, play times and bath times across the city. They won't take this lying down. Well, they probably will, but they will be kicking and screaming at the same time.

Fast-food franchise owners are angry. They say they will lose money as families travel outside the city to buy their Happy Meals.

Next they will be worried that Mexican cartels are smuggling Happy Meals with free toys across the border and selling them in alleyways.

The only sign that criminal activity is taking place will be the cry of a 4-year-old that they want the Dora the Explorer doll, not the Buzz Lightyear figurine.

McDonald's, which opposed the law, is also upset and has defended its marketing practices.

In fact, the only one who seems to have smiled through the whole affair is Ronald McDonald.

And, after so many years in the fast-food business, he is still a shining example of good health. I suppose McDonald's knows children aren't so keen on overweight clowns.

* Duncan Gillies is the Herald's foreign subeditor