In case you haven't seen this....
Mike
McDonald's Outsmarts San Francisco Pols<http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/mmMP/~3/-R_Hrkn1dxA/mcdonalds-outsmarts-san-francisco-pols.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email>
Posted: 30 Nov 2011 04:42 PM PST
SF Weekly<http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2011/11/happy_meal_ban_mcdonalds_outsm.php> -- "Local McDonald's employees tell SF Weekly the company has devised a solution that appears to comply with San Francisco's "Healthy Meal Incentive Ordinance<http://www.eatbettermovemore.org/sa/policies/policy_detail.php?s_Search=meal&policyID=361>" that could actually make the company more money -- and necessitate toy-happy youngsters to buy more Happy Meals.
It turns out San Francisco has not entirely vanquished the Happy Meal as we know it. Come Dec. 1, you can still buy the Happy Meal. But it doesn't come with a toy. For that, you'll have to pay an extra 10 cents.
Huh. That hardly seems to have solved the problem. But it actually gets worse from here. Thanks to Supervisor Eric Mar's much ballyhooed new law<http://blogs.kqed.org/newsfix/2011/01/04/the-daily-show-san-francisco-happy-meal-toy-ban/>, parents browbeaten into supplementing their preteens' Happy Meal toy collections are now mandated to buy the Happy Meals.
Today and tomorrow mark the last days that put-upon parents can satiate their youngsters by simply throwing down $2.18 for a Happy Meal toy. But, thanks to the new law taking effect on Dec. 1, this is no longer permitted. Now, in order to have the privilege of making a 10-cent charitable donation in exchange for the toy, you must buy the Happy Meal.
Hilariously, it appears Mar et al., in their desire to keep McDonald's from selling grease and fat to kids with the lure of a toy have now actually incentivized the purchase of that grease and fat -- when, beforehand, a put-upon parent could get out cheaper and healthier with just the damn toy."
HT: Stuart Anderson
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