San Francisco Considers Restricting Restaurant Toy Giveaways; Advocacy Group Calls for End to Action-Figure Happy Meal Promotion
Three elected San Francisco officials recently introduced legislation to amend the city’s health code by restricting restaurant toy giveaways to only those meals that meet stringent nutritional guidelines. The Healthy Food Incentives Ordinance (10196) would apply to all San Francisco restaurants, but mostly affect fast food establishments that offer toys linked to the purchase of meals targeted to children and high in calories, salt or fat. In April 2010, Santa Clara County, California, became the first local government to enact a similar measure, highlighted in Issue 347 of this Update.
The proposed San Francisco measure would prohibit restaurants from offering an “incentive item” such as toys, trading cards or admission tickets with a single menu item containing more than 200 calories or 480 milligrams of sodium or an entire meal containing more than 600 calories or 640 milligrams of sodium. Another stipulation calls for toy giveaway meals to provide no more than 35 percent of total calories from fat, “except for fat contained in nuts, seeds, peanut butter or other nut butters, or an individually served or packaged egg, or individually served or packaged low-fat or reduced fat cheese.” The plan also requires the meals to include at least half a cup of fruits and three-quarters of a cup of vegetables.
“Our legislation will encourage restaurants that offer unhealthy meals marketed toward children and youth to offer healthier food options with incentive items or toys,” co-sponsor District 1 Supervisor Eric Mar (D) told a news source. “It will help protect the public’s health, reduce costs to our health care system and promote healthier eating habits.” A San Francisco Health Department official reportedly agreed, claiming restaurants could meet the proposed standards by reducing portion sizes or altering ingredients. “This is not an anti-toy ordinance; this is a pro-healthy meal ordinance,” he said.
The California Restaurant Association has publicly criticized the plan. “Toy bans are only proven to disappoint kids, frustrate parents and generate headlines for ambitious politicians,” an association spokesman said. See San Francisco Chronicle, August 11, 2010.
In a related development, the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) has urged parents to write letters to McDonald’s demanding that the fast food chain withdraw its current Happy Meal promotion featuring eight Marvel comic action figures. One figure, The Human Torch, depicts a man engulfed in flames while another, The Thing, menacingly roars “It’s Clobberin’ Time!” when a button is pressed.
“It’s bad enough to use junk toys to sell children on junk food,” CCFC Director Susan Linn said in a press statement. “But now, for preschool boys, a so-called happy meal at McDonald’s features the horrifying spectacle of a man engulfed in flames and a menacing figure that explicitly spurs them to violence.” See CCFC Press Release, August 4, 2010.
