Today at one of our christmas expos here in Santa Clarita we had an invasion from an insidious and brilliant marketing tool. Ronald McDonald pranced around like a creep handing out pencils and telling kids to "stay in school and read" But what McDonalds is really doing is setting up emotional triggers in our kids that they will have for a lifetime. Clown=happy=cheeseburgers and fries=happy. When I worked for Mikes Mobile Windshield I went to McDonalds almost everyday and got a supersized double quarter pounder value meal. Because it was a comforting part of my daily routine. I remember Ronald and the pretty color scheme of McDonalds and their tasty fries. What did this happiness get me? Man Boobs and a gut folks! McDonalds is extremely unhealthy, their fries alone are incredibly bad for you, (would you like to supersize that?)
We have nearly banished smoking (which is great) But we have more and more morbidly obese people waddling around like some sort of giant sea lions.
Bottom line is this.....there needs to be a law against marketing McDonalds to kids. Just like Camel can't market "Joe Camel" because it is appealing to children. Smoking is highly addictive, and so is McDonalds. Here are the risks associated with smoking...Heart Disease, Cancer, Emphesema. And here are the risks of being a great big fat person....
Heart Disease and stroke
High Blood Pressure
Hypertension
Diabetes
Gout
Cancer
Osteoarthritis (joint pain)
Breathing Problems
Wake up America!!!!!!!!!
8 comments:
Am I hearing you right? Is heart disease the government's fault?
I am curious who will teach me to bathe myself. You know lack of hygiene is incredibly unhealthy. Shouldn't the government require its citizens to bathe daily?
Come to think of it, lack of sleep can be detrimental to one's well-being. Maybe we should institute nightly curfews. We could have monitors walk up and down the street making sure people are in bed on time. Just to make sure we know who they are - we could give them snazzy red arm bands.
I have no problem with your concern for things that are unhealthy. But the government is not our parent and at some point we are going to have to take responsibility for ourselves...
Brett the libertarian...you are not hearing me right at all. I am not talking about banning Mcdonalds.. I am talking about protecting children. Why don't they market cigarettes to kids...heroin....pornography?
Advertise mcdonalds all you want to adults...you have a right to eat yourself to death....but kids are different.....
As a parent you can restrict them if course...but this marketing sets them up for an unhealthy lifestyle...and it's tricky cause it's food....something we all need to live....it's not as easy to restrict diet as it is stopping them from shooting h.
Now if you'll excuse me it's time for my exercise.
Fair enough... as far as it goes, but let me point out a few subtexts in your post:
'We have nearly banished smoking (which is great) But we have more and more morbidly obese people waddling around like some sort of giant sea lions... And here are the risks of being a great big fat person....'
There was an implication that banishing fatty foods would be as good as banishing smoking. So I was not totally off base.
It is another discussion whether I think how we have banished smoking is a good thing or not or whether I think the laws about advertising to kids is good or not. Like you said, I am a libertarian.
Finally, and I could kick myself for missing this the first time through, kuddos on the Buffalo Bill allusion. Nicely done.
Oh yeah, and I forgot (in my last post) to point out your previous blog on wanting to outlaw alcohol, so I was just assuming this was another ploy to remove freedoms... :)
Sorry for reading too much into it.
Please go back and re-read my blog on alchohol because I never said I wanted to outlaw it....I said it's amazing that politicians focus on violent video games as harmful to kids when alcohol kills so many more each year....Right now alcohol is not allowed to be purchased between 2 and 6 am in most states...You can't drink it until you are 21..... And here is what I think should be done with regards to alcohol copied and pasted from my blog back in April...
1. cut off the TV advertising like they did with cigarettes in the 1970's 2. Invent a BAC meter that everyone would wear in a bar that would monitor their content.....have everyone who enters the bar surrender their keys to the bartender....if you are near .08 then you don't get your keys. 3. Prohibit the public sale until after 3:00 PM every day 4. Prohibit the sale in all sporting arenas. 5. Don't sell it in the town of Mammoth Lakes until after the mountain is closed.
(Maybe I would change it to read, prohibit sale on the mountain itself, not the town)
Interesting mindset. I read a story the other day about parents urging toy makers to stop advertising to kids because the economy is making it harder to get them what they want. This post is similar.
2 things.
1- Kids can only be marketed to, if parents let them.
2- You do not have to give kids what they want.
How are these kids being marketed to by McDonalds? I am not sure in what way they are being targeted. All the commercials I see and hear are focused on working folks going there on lunch breaks. By the way we went to McD's last night in Tehachapi when we stopped for the night on our way back from California visiting relatives. My kids looked at the picture on the wall and said who are they? They had not idea who Grimmis, the Hamburgler and the fry guys were. I am lucky my kids don't like McDonalds and would always prefer to eat at home, but we were on the road.
Now me, I love it. While in NoCal for that past few days we had Hula's Mongolian BBQ, Round Table Pizza, Long John Silvers, Taco Bell twice, Foster's Freeze and Incredible Johns in Bakersfield. Besides, Cafe Rio, all food in Utah is awful. The only thing i like about CA is the food.
Back to the point. Kids dont desire these things if the parents are acting as parents and watching our for their kids. No matter how much the corporations pay to try to get their attention.
While in California, my kids got presents from the grandparents, my nine year old got a sleeping bag/back pack thing with Hannah Montana on it and the complete first season of the show (I have no idea if the show is any good, so I will be checking it sometime this week to see if she will get to watch it). She is nine years old and had know idea who she was. She was happy to get the sleeping bag but it did not matter who or what was on it. Her cousin, who has been programed to like Hannah Montana by her parents lack of observation, acted as though my daughter was given a brick of gold or something.
We cant always go blaming businesses.
BTW,
In the picture, the young man does not seem to be all that happy to see the clown. So I dont think it is working.
Maybe if they had a walking Wii handing out burgers.
Garrett, I am truly sorry for misrepresenting you. It is clear that I have - and I apologize. All you said was " It is amazing this stuff is actually legal. Consider a day like March 17th, St patricks day, and a place like Boston. You will see people so completely wasted that they are barely able to walk, or put together a coherent sentence. And this stuff is legal!!... Why don't you hear politicians saying, "We need to ban alcohol!" Why not? Of course the first thing that pops into my head is money and lobbyist influence." You never said they should outlaw it. Rather you are just baffled why they haven't. My mistake. Please forgive me.
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