Slashdot Mirror
California's Santa Clara County Bans Happy Meal Toys
WrongSizeGlass writes "The L.A. Times is reporting that Santa Clara County officials have voted to ban toys and other promotions that restaurants offer with high-calorie children's meals. 'This ordinance prevents restaurants from preying on children's love of toys' to sell high-calorie, unhealthful food, said Supervisor Ken Yeager, who sponsored the measure. 'This ordinance breaks the link between unhealthy food and prizes.' Supervisor Donald Gage, who voted against the measure, said, 'If you can't control a 3-year-old child for a toy, God save you when they get to be teenagers.' The vote was 3 - 2 in favor of the ban."
When your kids get older are you going to be in favor of a ban on alcohol as well?
Good for you. It is still unethical for McDonald's and Burger King to take advantage of kids lack of self-control. The issues are separate. Likewise, it is unethical for gambling companies to use excessive amounts of blinkenlights which they know creates irresistable urges in gambling addicts which is how they make money. Or for tobacco companies to sell lethal poison. I can't see how laws against preying on children can be a bad thing.
Football Odds
Seriously, sometimes it's about personal responsibility, but other times it's about other things - and this is one of those times. Give the 'personal responsibility' kneejerk a rest and think sometimes.
I'm a father of two, and a proud liberal from California. My boys know that if they want to go to McDonald's, or any other fast-food joint, it's because they want to eat off their menus. They have never been allowed to order "Happy Meals" or their equivalent -- only menu items with food that they really want.
Guess what? They rarely ever want to go to McDonald's restaurants. When they do, it's for breakfast, because they actually like the food. My family, and my wife's family both roll their eyes when they go out to eat with us, because their kids get to have the meal toys, and mine do not. Their kids open the toy, and rarely eat the food -- and it's quite common to hear "eat 3 more bites Gabe, otherwise you have to go to time out". My children order what they want, and they actually eat it.
I'm tired of conservatives being super self-responsibly-preachy as much as the next guy -- but in this instance, I agree with them. If you can't say no to your toddlers, then you're going to have a much bigger problem when they are teenagers (hello Bristol Palin....)
The wheel is turning, but the hamster is dead.
Why I normally want the government to stay out of my life, I actually agree with this. Anything that helps break the cycle of unhealthy food choices in this country is a good thing. The toys are in the meals for one reason, marketing has shown that it helps sell more food, so lets take away the toys. And yes there are a large number of parents who are to stupid/lazy to put limitation in place on there kids and there food intake, and unfortunately we need to have the government step in and protect their children. Some interesting figures from the Trust for America's Health (TFAH), in 2009 California had 30.5% of the children classified as obese or overweight. http://healthyamericans.org/reports/obesity2009/
I think we can all agree that health issues cost us all a lot of money not to mention what it is doing to these children physically, and if we can get even a few healthier kids by taking away some stupid plastic toys lets do it.
First or last, it is a totalitarian option.
So if I get this straight...Slashdot considers listening in to people talking to known terrorists, who would really like nothing more to kill you) an unforgivable sin.
And of course, expecting that the immigration laws be enforced is downright racist.
But they have no problem with what is essentially police state regulation. You can't have salt. You can't put Toys in Happy Meals. You can't, you can't, you can't.
You guys are seriously fucked up.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
Right next to Arizona's immigration law. The list is getting longer I guess.
belief in supernatural powers has caused more wars, more death, more tortures, more abuses of human rights than child labour ever has.
if you look at the evidence, rather than consult your prejudices, it's perfectly rational and not in the least bit delusional to believe that belief in supernatural powers is more harmful than sending children to work for low wages.
I'm going to start a restaurant called Christ-Fil-A with a corporate mission to "Deep fry God". The menu will be divided into a section for food and a section for drinks. I'll call the sections "Body of Christ" and "Blood of Christ".
Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.