McDonald’s Selling Books to Kids

Published on Thursday, January 12, 2012, by Rebecca Flint Marx / Edit Post

McDonald’s latest attempt to market its Happy Meals as something other than pure dietary evil has the fast-food chain taking a page from Amazon: It’s selling books to children. According to British newspaper the Telegraph, McDonald’s is including nine million vouchers for the popular Mudpuddle Farm series in its Happy Meals sold in the UK. The meals also come with a book-related finger puppet.

Like everything McDonald’s does, particularly where marketing fried, fatty foods to children is concerned, critics are divided. Those in favor of it point to the deeply depressing statistic that one in three British children doesn’t own a book; by that measure, anything that promotes literacy (and finger puppetry) can’t be all bad. Those opposed point to the fact that, literacy aside, the books are being used to sell Happy Meals, and that is indeed very bad. There are six books in the Mudpuddle series, which means that children will pester their parents for Happy Meals at least six times between now and February 7, when the promotion ends.

McDonald’s could, of course, appease both sides and have a more lasting effect on the quality of children’s lives by selling them better food. But then one could also argue that if politicians made education a greater priority than, say, military spending, fast-food chains wouldn’t have as much room to do double duty as school libraries.

Although McDonald’s hasn’t announced plans to sell books in the States, Chick-fil-A already beat them to it. Through a partnership with Random House, the Atlanta-based corporation hands out book vouchers with its kids’ meals. Given Chick-fil-A's track record, the chain might win over skeptics by promoting titles like Heather Has Two Mommies, Eating the Alphabet: Fruits and Vegetables from A to Z, or The Berenstain Bears and the Bully.

Image source: HarperCollins

CHOW contributor Rebecca Flint Marx eats and writes in New York City. You can follow her on Twitter. Follow CHOW, too, and become a fan on Facebook.

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POST A COMMENT |7 Comments

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  • I'm with you justagirl99. My son eats fast food weekly, but would also eat grapes and yogurt as much as he could as well. I actually have to limit his fruit intake to avoid bathroom issues! And when given a choice between applesauce or french fries as a 'side' he will most often pick applesauce or fruit.

    a.) It's all in moderation.
    b.) Healthy activities are indeed part of the equation. (A...+READ

    I'm with you justagirl99. My son eats fast food weekly, but would also eat grapes and yogurt as much as he could as well. I actually have to limit his fruit intake to avoid bathroom issues! And when given a choice between applesauce or french fries as a 'side' he will most often pick applesauce or fruit.

    a.) It's all in moderation.
    b.) Healthy activities are indeed part of the equation. (A few weeks ago, Burger King had a bouncer in front of the restaurant and my little guy spent a very happy hour jumping like a nut on it)
    c.) It's the job of the PARENT to teach their child about healthy CHOICES. Parents want to cry that it's everyone else's job (educators, corporations, food service industry) to offer the best options to their child. No. It's the PARENT'S job to make educated choices for their child and teach their child to do the same.
    d.) I'd much rather have a book come with a Happy Meal than a plastic piece of crap I'm going to throw out a week later.-COLLAPSE

  • My 5 yr old daughter eats doughnuts, chicken nuggets, fries, cookies, lollipops, corn dogs weekly. And as I love chocolate, she also consumes chocolate in one form or another daily. But she also eats tofu, baked chicken breast, whole-wheat bread, oatmeal, apples, and spinach weekly. Half the equation of healthy living is what we consume, THE OTHER HALF is PHYSICAL ACTIVITY. When I take her to...+READ

    My 5 yr old daughter eats doughnuts, chicken nuggets, fries, cookies, lollipops, corn dogs weekly. And as I love chocolate, she also consumes chocolate in one form or another daily. But she also eats tofu, baked chicken breast, whole-wheat bread, oatmeal, apples, and spinach weekly. Half the equation of healthy living is what we consume, THE OTHER HALF is PHYSICAL ACTIVITY. When I take her to McDonald's, I make sure it's the one that has the playground; for the hour or so we spend there she's running around, having fun and O-M-G... eating a happy meal. It's the parent's or guardian's responsibility to make sure their child maintains a healthy weight.

    I think it would be great if McDonald's included books in their happy meals, especially here in Texas where the educational system is lacking, and many children lack books at home as well. All those toys that pile up, get lost, break apart... a book would be much better imo.-COLLAPSE

  • I like the title of this article "...Selling Books to Kids." This title seems to imply that there are no parents involved!! I can't imagine that children in the Happy Meal age range would be getting into their cars or hopping on a bus and taking themselves off to MacDonalds and buying a Happy Meal on their own. There has to be a parent involved at some stage of this process and those parents do...+READ

    I like the title of this article "...Selling Books to Kids." This title seems to imply that there are no parents involved!! I can't imagine that children in the Happy Meal age range would be getting into their cars or hopping on a bus and taking themselves off to MacDonalds and buying a Happy Meal on their own. There has to be a parent involved at some stage of this process and those parents do have the ability to say no.

    Good on McDs! Why is this any different to giving away toys with their Happy Meals? When I was a kid a book was just like a toy - something to keep me occupied and entertain me. That statistic about 1 in 3 British children not owning a book is very saddening and this is a brilliant way to go towards addressing this.-COLLAPSE

  • Calling Happy Meals "evil" is needless hyperbole, but I suppose it's fashionable to do so. I ate Happy Meals growing up in the 90s and somehow I survived. And yes, I enjoyed them. And no, I'm perfectly healthy today. Is that what we consider evil these days?

    I hate to echo the conservative mantra but it's really about parental responsibility. If we police fast food, these parents will just...+READ

    Calling Happy Meals "evil" is needless hyperbole, but I suppose it's fashionable to do so. I ate Happy Meals growing up in the 90s and somehow I survived. And yes, I enjoyed them. And no, I'm perfectly healthy today. Is that what we consider evil these days?

    I hate to echo the conservative mantra but it's really about parental responsibility. If we police fast food, these parents will just find some other unhealthy food for their kids. We cannot possibly police everything. Freedom has negative consequences, but the solution is not to curtail it.-COLLAPSE

  • If you can't stand up to a four-year-old, not the world's problem.

  • How about serving a side of "Food Inc." with their happy meals?

  • This has a bit of "food police" tone to it. To me, anyway.

    Making fast food purveyors dietary evil-doers may be all the rage today; but seriously, parents have more culpability in the childhood obesity epidemic than any multi-national food chain. Learn how to say "No", gently, firmly and with a dash of love.