Happy Meal toy ban prompts ban on bans in other states
Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011
Originally posted by the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco banned toys in Happy Meals, and the nation scoffed. Now that the nation is done laughing, it’s legislating.
Politicians in Arizona and Florida are pushing legislation prohibiting cities and counties in their states from casting cheap plastic figurines out of their cardboard, grease-stained fast food boxes. Yes, that’s right. They’re banning toy bans.
Legislation recently passed the Arizona House to bar cities or counties from banning any kind of incentive offered by restaurants. That includes not just toys, but a very long and detailed list of other goodies including contests, coupons, trading cards, coloring books, admission tickets, ride tokens and crayons.
Not, mind you, that any city or county in Arizona had actually proposed replicating San Francisco’s toy ban. And you thought our politicians were experts at time wasting!
“We wanted to be proactive in making sure it didn’t take place here,” explained Steve Chucri, president of the Arizona Restaurant Association, which lobbied for the bill. “To arbitrarily say a toy in a Happy Meal or crayons given to a child in a restaurant is going to predestine them to only having fatty foods in laughable.”
Supervisor Eric Mar wrote San Francisco’s legislation which prohibits toys being offered in meals unless the food meets certain nutritional standards.
A Nebraska senator recently proposed a similar ban as San Francisco’s, though the idea was destroyed faster than Chicken McNuggets in the hands of a hungry 5-year-old.
P.S. Mar was the subject of a withering critique of the toy ban on “The Daily Show.” Well, fair’s fair so we think Jon Stewart should send his team to Arizona for a segment on a toy ban ban. Would Chucri be game?
“If I get a phone call, I’ll think about it then, you know?” he said.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/cityinsider/detail?entry_id=85154#ixzz1HRAPv22Y
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Interviews Eric Mar on San Francisco’s Happy Meal Ban: Hypocrisy at its Finest
Wednesday, January 5th, 2011
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| San Francisco’s Happy Meal Ban | ||||
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Alliance for a Healthier Generation Names October as International Walk to School Month
Tuesday, October 12th, 2010
With kids back in school, a nonprofit organization called Alliance for a Healthier Generation has designated October “International Walk to School Month,” according to U.S. News Health. The goal of “International Walk to School Month” is to stop childhood obesity by encouraging children to take up daily physical activity and adopt healthy habits.
According to the article, the Alliance for a Healthier Generation offers tips to make the experience of walking or biking to school easy, fun and safe. For example, adults are urged to check out the route first to make sure that the path the children will be taking is safe for pedestrians and has posted traffic signs and signals.
They also suggest that parents talk with one another and with their local Parent Teacher Association to organize neighborhood walking groups, which provide kids with a safer and more social experience.
Read More
Detroit Radio Station Interviews Bob Cutler, CEO of C3, about FreeToChooseOurMeals.com & His Stance Against the San Francisco Toy Ban
Monday, October 11th, 2010
Thank you to Paul W. Smith for interviewing Bob Cutler about the recent news surrounding FreeToChooseOurMeals.com and the San Francisco Toy Ban legislation on News/Talk WJR 760am, a local Detroit radio station.
Here is a transcription of the first two minutes of the radio interview:
Smith: Now tell me the story here, there is a group that wants to ban the McDonalds Happy Meal’s starting in San Francisco?
Cutler: Well actually, there is a county in California, Santa Clara County, that passed a measure two months ago that banned happy meal toys being offered to consumers. They ban the toys if the meals do not meet a caloric intake requirement in the city, and if the meals meet the caloric intake as the government officials have defined it, then you can get a toy. So that’s been passed in Santa Clara County and San Francisco is looking to adopt the same legislation and impose that on a larger number of restaurants.
Smith: All right, now where does C3, Creative Consumer Concepts, in Kansas City fit into all this?
Cutler: Well, where we fit in is we have been providing those types of marketing materials to restaurants for the past 25 years. I started the business out of my basement, servicing restaurants and their marketing needs and have grown the business over those 25 years into the fortunate position where we can provide those services to over 60 chains across the country.
Smith: So there is a real important business angle for you and also for the rest of us this creeping government interference in our lives, they are not our parent, they are not our nanny or keeper….
Listen to the entire interview below:
Thank you UPI.com for Posting FreeToChooseOurMeals.com Press Release Regarding the Television Commercial to Stop the San Francisco Kids’ Meal Toy Ban
Tuesday, October 5th, 2010
Thank you to United Press International (UPI) for publishing our press release regarding the San Francisco Toy Ban.
FreeToChooseOurMeals.com Debuts Television Commercial to Stop the San Francisco Kids’ Meal Toy Ban
Saturday September 25, 2010 – 01:00 AM EDT
SAN FRANCISCO, CA — (Marketwire) — 09/25/10 –FreeToChooseOurMeals.com will debut its television commercial funded by Bob Cutler, CEO of Creative Consumer Concepts (C3), this weekend. The commercial was developed to educate parents and consumers about the San Francisco Toy Ban and urges them to call elected officials and request that they vote no in committee Monday, September 27, 2010.
Read more
Breaking News: San Francisco Happy Meal Toy Ban Bill Advances to Full Vote by Board of Supervisors
Tuesday, October 5th, 2010
Chicagobreakingbusiness.com reported that the San Francisco Toy Ban legislation will be voted on by the entire San Francisco Board of Supervisors in the upcoming weeks. This legislation is not supported by the Mayor of San Francisco Gavin Newsom or the majority of voters in the city.
The article reviews discussions about the legislation.
According to the article, San Francisco’s planning commission has recommended a full vote on the proposed legislation, which will take place in the next few weeks despite the fact that many people are obviously opposed to legislation that would allow the government to tell them what is appropriate for their family to eat.
In response to the results of a recent survey conducted, McDonald’s spokeswoman Danya Proud said in a statement, “Public opinion has — and continues to be — overwhelmingly against this misguided legislation,” Proud said. “Parents tell us they want to have the right and responsibility to make their own decisions and decide what’s right for their children — not lawmakers.”
Parents indeed should have the right to decided what is best for their own family. The legislation, if passed, would just invade on the rights of parents, with no promise that it will actually make a difference. The fact that it has been recommended to a full vote by the planning commission shows the blatant disregard to the many voices of opposition of this legislation.
Read more
San Francisco Supervisors Postpone Vote on Mar’s “Toy Ban” Legislation
Wednesday, September 29th, 2010
According to foxreno.com, San Francisco supervisors have postponed the committee vote on the controversial legislation that would take toys out of children’s meals, which, if passed, would effect over 50 restaurants in San Francisco.
According to the article, the decision to postpone the vote came after Mar added a few minor amendments on some of the nutritional requirements, saying that ”modest ordinance” is needed to address childhood obesity. ”Toys and other incentives are the lure that entice kids and parents to meals that are way too high in fat, sugar and calories,” Mar said at a news conference at City Hall earlier in the day.
Many came out to show their opposition to the legislation, Scott Rodrick, who owns 10 of San Francisco’s 19 McDonald’s restaurants said that while Mar’s legislation had good intentions, however overall the legislation would not only undermine parental choice and responsibility, but would cause confusion at the many local restaurants it would effect. Even the sokesperson for the mayor, Tony Winnicker said the mayor thought that Mar’s legislation would be “dictating how a private restaurant wants to market its food, some of which includes healthy choices already.”
McDonald’s executives also joined in the fight saying in a recent press release, “San Francisco’s proposed crackdown on promotional toys in Happy Meals and other fast-food offerings aimed at kids will bolster the city’s reputation as either an out-of-control nanny state or a bold watchdog for public health, depending on who is doing the judging.”
It will be interesting to see if this controversial legislation will actually pass since it has been under fire by several opponents.
Read more
FreeToChooseOurMeals.com Debuts Television Commercial to Stop the San Francisco Kids’ Meal Toy Ban
Wednesday, September 29th, 2010
SAN FRANCISCO – FreeToChooseOurMeals.com debuted its television commercial funded by Bob Cutler, CEO of Creative Consumer Concepts (C3), this weekend. The commercial was developed to educate parents and consumers about the San Francisco Toy Ban and urges them to call elected officials and request that they vote no in committee Monday, September 27, 2010.
Cutler, who is the CEO of one of the largest, kid-smart, brand marketing agencies to the restaurant industry, said he wants this issue stopped prior to the vote Monday. “This toy ban legislation is not respectable, nor is it even worth a vote, which is why we created the commercial and are fundraising to air it across the country. These elected officials including Supervisor Eric Mar need to realize that the majority of parents do not support this bill. The fiscal impact has yet to be fully reviewed, and the implications to restaurant owners, who are required to participate if this passes, may want to rethink opening future restaurants or conducting business in San Francisco when elected officials such as Mar are in office,” said Cutler.
The commercial reviews the negative news media attention that the San Francisco Toy Ban has generated nationwide for elected officials. It also includes the online polling results from the August 2010 San Francisco Chronicle poll, which revealed that 65 percent of voters opposed the ban. San Francisco Board of Supervisors members, Eric Mar and David Campos and the president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, David Chiu are targeted in the ad for sponsoring such ridiculous legislation.
FreeToChooseOurMeals.com is for anyone who wants to choose what they eat! Twitter: @ChooseMeals for more information about what you can do to protect consumer choice. ObesitySolvers.com is a place for discussion regarding the childhood obesity battle, why we need solutions and why we don’t need more issues about what we choose to eat.
FreeToChooseOurMeals.com & Bob Cutler, CEO of C3, Featured in SF Weekly Article
Tuesday, September 28th, 2010
Thanks to Joe Eskenazi from SF Weekly for featuring Bob Cutler, CEO of Creative Consumer Concepts (C3), and FreeToChooseOurMeals.com in a recent article: Happy Meal Legislation Will Be Back for Seconds.
San Francisco Supervisor Eric Mar made several provisions to his outrageous proposal that would prohibit restaurants from including a toy in kids’ meals. The bill will be debated again next week. Mar, seemingly the only government official in favor of the ban, only provides fuel for the debate regarding how much regulation the government should have concerning Americans right to eat what they want.Mar’s amendments will not only seize kids’ toys from Happy Meals, but also implement a required serving of fruit with breakfast meals. Bob Cutler, CEO of C3, the company that provides toys for happy meals and keeps children smiling, is leading the fight against the ban.
‘Happy Meal’ Legislation Will Be Back for Seconds
After the introduction of perhaps the first “multigrain amendment” yet brokered in City Hall, Supervisor Eric Mar’s controversial proposal toforbid restaurants from including toys with Happy Meal-like menu itemswas yesterday continued, and will be debated again next week.
In addition to the groundbreaking multigrain compact, the following provisions were attached to the bill:
- The required vegetable serving has been lowered from 3/4 of a cup to half a cup;
- A requirement that no item in the meal exceed 200 calories was nixed;
- A requirement mandating breakfasts to have half a cup of fruit and half a cup of vegetables was lowered to just requiring fruit.
News Media Sites Posts FreeToChooseOurMeals.com Press Release Regarding the TV Commercial to Stop the San Francisco Kids’ Meal Toy Ban
Tuesday, September 28th, 2010
Thousands of news sites, blogs and websites reposted the FreeToChooseOurMeals.com press release over the weekend regarding the commercial to stop the San Francisco Happy Meal Toy Ban Sponsored by Supervisor Eric Mar. allvoices.com, King5.com and business.cbs13.com were some of the sites, among the thousands, that picked up the press release.
The commercial reviews the negative news media attention that the San Francisco Toy Ban has generated nationwide for elected officials. It also includes the online polling results from the August 2010 San Francisco Chronicle poll, which revealed that 65 percent of voters opposed the ban. San Francisco Board of Supervisors members, Eric Mar and David Campos and the president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, David Chiu are targeted in the ad for sponsoring such ridiculous legislation.