Wacky San Francisco Bay Area News

Re: San Francisco Law Curbs McDonalds Happy Meal Toys

true, I think it should be okay for pedophiles to hand out candy as well

I'm going for A - even though it might well be B

Hell, even I have gone and got happy meals for the toys before, it does seem like they're handing candy out of an unwindowed van sometimes as a parent.

Re: San Francisco Law Curbs McDonalds Happy Meal Toys

I agree with you, ASF. This is ridiculous.

Re: San Francisco Law Curbs McDonalds Happy Meal Toys

It's pretty ridiculous. But some places seem happy to be the chemistry lab, to try experiments with rules and regulations and see what works and what doesn't. SF is definitely one of those places, and I'm glad we have them. Not only do we get a good laugh from time to time, but we can see if one of these crazy ideas actually does work and becomes a good policy idea for a larger scale.

Re: San Francisco Law Curbs McDonalds Happy Meal Toys

i love SF, but sometimes they're a little too far up in the kooky tree. it's called parental responsibility. are they going to ban all prizes in cereals, too? and anything you can win under the bottle cap of a soda?

Re: San Francisco Law Curbs McDonalds Happy Meal Toys

Not as ridiculous as the short-lived foie gras ban here in Chicago. I think all advertising aimed at children should be banned, which I suppose might include giving out toys to promote buying meals... Don't know.

Re: San Francisco Law Curbs McDonalds Happy Meal Toys

I have an easy solution. I don't take my kids to McDonalds. Not sure why you need a law...

Re: San Francisco Law Curbs McDonalds Happy Meal Toys

Are you nuts? The McRib is a happy meal.

Re: San Francisco Law Curbs McDonalds Happy Meal Toys

because not everyone does the smart thing. there are parents out there (my wife included) who are still contributing toward the obesity epidemic and killing their children by feeding their kids McDonald's. the government must step in and protect us from ourselves.

Re: San Francisco Law Curbs McDonalds Happy Meal Toys

Wouldn't a better solution be to educate the people on the pros and cons of eating pseudofood, instead of banning the little toys?

Chances are if you think Mickey D's is the best thing ever, you're gonna still feed that crap to your kids, toy or no toy.

Re: San Francisco Law Curbs McDonalds Happy Meal Toys

it is impossible to educate the proles. they don't know what's good for them.

Re: San Francisco Law Curbs McDonalds Happy Meal Toys

As an honest to god socialist - and not one of the lame American "socialist" kind, but someone who is considered far left in Europe - I think this law is excessive and ridiculous.

Re: San Francisco Law Curbs McDonalds Happy Meal Toys

To quote OchoCinco:
Work out how you're supposed to and you can eat what you want to eat.

Re: San Francisco Law Curbs McDonalds Happy Meal Toys

As a parent, I can tell you that the power of those damn toys is huge. My kids always want to go there, primarily because of the happy meal. I don't have a problem with it. Long ago, they allowed you to sub out the fries for some apple slices. We just ordered it that way from the beginning and our kids don't know the difference. So, one cheeseburger isn't that bad and does have protein and calcium. Then, they eat some apples and drink some milk. They probably eat worse at our house.

But to ban the toys? That's just stupid.

Re: San Francisco Law Curbs McDonalds Happy Meal Toys

If San Francisco really wants to cut down on consumption of McDonald's they should try to bring some In-n-Out's into the city. My 8-year-old thinks McDonald's is shit (we've got him well-trained) but would eat In-n-Out every day if he could, Happy Meal be damned.

Re: San Francisco Law Curbs McDonalds Happy Meal Toys

Since none of the children that the toys are aimed at are old enough to buy them, this problem stems from the idiot parents who don't know what moderation is.

Therefore a quick smack upside the head to these people would be a lot more helpful than this silly nonsense.

Re: San Francisco Law Curbs McDonalds Happy Meal Toys

Are they going to stop alkies in the Tenderloin from buying booze? ********ing stupid.

Re: San Francisco Law Curbs McDonalds Happy Meal Toys

No, but they are going to stop them from sitting on the sidewalks to drink it.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/kalw/detail?entry_id=76219

Re: San Francisco Law Curbs McDonalds Happy Meal Toys

You realize that you can't make your kids fat simply by giving them McDonald's sometimes, right? And you realize that accusing your wife of attempting to kill your children is rude, right?

You're kidding, right? Please tell me your whole post was a strange attempt at humor. kthx.

Re: San Francisco Law Curbs McDonalds Happy Meal Toys

Couple thoughts come to mind:

1) Hasn't this already been done? Is being done still? If people aren't aware that McDonald's is bad for you by now, it's certainly not for lack of public health education. I honestly can't imagine a single educational initiative you could propose that hasn't already been tried.

2) Better for whom? Who's being hurt by this law?

3) I'm with whoever posted above that this should just be a first step towards banning all advertising to children. Period.



That said, I've got a 35 minute drive home, I haven't had dinner yet, and it's almost 8pm. I have a feeling I'm about to make another in a long string of bad dining decisions.

Re: San Francisco Law Curbs McDonalds Happy Meal Toys

1- No clue, but I haven't seen a broad education campaign like the one against tobacco, for example. In any case, to be honest, I doubt that much of Mickey D's consumption comes from people blissfully unaware of how crappy the nutrition value is, but mostly from people that just go there because it's convenient and, more important, cheap. Two things that banning the toys still do not address.

2- Better for getting people to not eat there as much, which seems to be the point of the law. But like I said, unless there are other easy, convenient and cheap options for healthy food available, I doubt either education or removing the toys from the happy meals would have a sizable impact on the ammount of kids that get fed McCrap.

3- No argument from me on that one.

Re: San Francisco Law Curbs McDonalds Happy Meal Toys

Maybe there should be a little give and take--would it be better if people could use food stamps to buy happy meals.

Re: San Francisco Law Curbs McDonalds Happy Meal Toys

That would be okay. No soda, though.

Re: San Francisco Law Curbs McDonalds Happy Meal Toys

Fack I miss In-n-Out! There weren't that many around when I was a kid. Now ,when I come to California to visit my mom, I'm struck by their seeming omnipresence. Has the quality suffered? Also Tommy's in LA. I seem to remember there was only one, in the Valley, now it's like a little, mini chain.