...and the award goes to: McDonald's Happy Meals!

The Children's Food Awards Pester Power is the name given to marketing techniques which encourage children to nag their parents to purchase a particular product. For instance, advertisers use famous pop stars such as S Club 7 and footballers such as David Beckham to entice children into wanting their products. Link-ups with children's films and cartoon characters are another enormous money-spinner. This McDonald's Happy Meal, purchased in July 2002, came with a free Smurf character - one of nine characters which children are encouraged to collect. Children love collecting toys and McDonald's in particular have made this a key element in encouraging children to eat their food. The members of The Parents Jury were particularly critical of companies using Pester Power, and McDonald's was the clear winner of this award with more complaints than any other food manufacturer. Read what the parents had to say, below:

back to top

McDonald's bribe children by giving away nasty toys to go with the latest Disney film.
mother of two, from Stevenage in Hertfordshire

I have a particular problem with McDonald's - there is such a strong advertising campaign and the offer of Happy Meal toys. It is difficult when so many children eat there not to visit as well. Once inside there aren't really any healthy options.
mother of two, from Hailsham in East Sussex

I dislike the use of pester power marketed to create demand for unhealthy food ie McDonald's, KFC, Burger King, they link up with toy companies to offer collectable ranges.
other of one, from Isleworth in Middlesex

What is the attraction of McDonald's? My children get so excited about it. We don't go very often and they don't like the actual food that much. The chips are very popular but I think that is the salt. But there is the toy and the novelty of the packaging.
mother of two, from Harpenden in Hertfordshire

Children choosing food products because of the "free" gift - particularly with McDonald's and children's cereals.
mother of one, from London

back to top

McDonald's, Burger King, etc., all use children's movies to attract kid to their restaurants. Explaining to a four-year-old why she can't have a toy that lots of other kids will have is very difficult.
father of one, from Teesside in Cleveland

With free gifts and toys, children want the food and pester to get it purely to have the free toy. McDonald's do an 'amazing' selection of toys linked to films, to attract children to pester and pester parents. You have to eat more of the product to collect the set - e.g. Tigger, Pooh, Piglet or the Tweenies.
mother of one

My son gets sad that he can't eat at McDonald's when he sees the TV adverts which depict free toys with every kids meal.
mother of one, from Brecon in Powys

Happy meals at McDonald's are a problem. Kids want the current toys - all part of a large collection that encourages kids to keep going back to get all the toys.
mother of three, from Stone Cross in East Sussex

The Happy Meals adverts are all too persuasive. Wouldn't it be nice if they harnessed all their skills to create a healthy, nutritious meal with a toy - and sold that as well as they do burgers?!
mother of two, from London

back to top

My children have both admitted recently that they don't like the food - they just want the toy.
mother of two, from Olney

He always asks to go to McDonald's because he sees other children with the Happy Meal toys (in fact, he thinks McDonald's is a toy shop!). We haven't given up yet!
mother of two, from Stockport

'McDonald's loves mums, so can we go?' my four year old asks
mother of two, from Harrogate

back to top

Expert opinion McDonald's certainly knows how to sell fast food. The company spent £58,470,000* on advertising in the UK in 2001, and a large proportion of that budget was aimed directly at children. Unfortunately the fast food which McDonald's sells is typically high in fats (including saturated fats), salt and sugar. Whilst eating the occasional Happy Meal isn't going to damage you - frequent consumption of meals like these could compromise your future health. The Happy Meal which we describe below has more fat (19g) than protein (15g), and more sugar (27g) than fat or protein. And no fresh fruit or vegetables. In the famous McLibel trial, the judge ruled that the company does 'exploit children by using them as more susceptible subjects of advertising, to pressure their parents into going to McDonald's' (Justice Bell, High Court, 1997)

back to top

McDonald's Happy Meals - What's in 'em?

McDonald's Happy Meals carrry no ingredients list or nutritional information, so it's hard to know exactly what you're eating. A Happy Meal consists of either a Hamburger, Cheeseburger, 4 Chicken McNuggets or 3 Fish Fingers, or a New Chicken and Ketchup Burger, plus regular French Fries and a regular soft drink. The McDonald's website does give nutritional information for McDonald's products, but without any healthy eating guidelines against which to judge the information.

We used the website to analyse a typical Happy Meal - 4 Chicken McNuggets, regular French Fries and a regular soft drink - and found that the meal contains 19g of fat, 27g of sugar but only 15g of protein.

Chicken McNuggets
Chicken, Water, Flour (Wheat, Maize), Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil, Modified Wheat Starch, Salt, Breadcrumbs, Egg Albumen, Maize Starch, Maize Polenta, Raising Agents: Phosphate Salts (E450), Sodium Carbonate (E500) and Tricalcium Phosphate (E341), Modified Tapioca Starch, Spice, Dextrose, Ground Celery, Stabiliser: Potassium Triphosphate (E451), Sugars.

French Fries
Potatoes cooked in 100% Vegetable Oil. Dextrose sometimes added. Salt added after cooking.

Coca-Cola
Carbonated Water, Sugar, Colour: Sulphite Ammonia Caramel (E150d), Phosphoric Acid (E338), Unspecified Flavourings, Caffeine.

back to top

The Children's Food Awards 2002

The Children's Food Awards 2003

Join The Parents Jury

Home

* information from adbrands.net